The Delk Plantation

The Delk Plantation. Historic Ethel Trail. William S. Delk was the largest plantation owner in the area and grew cotton, rice, sugar cane and corn around Rock Springs. His first home, a log cabin, burned down when he tried to smoke out fleas with fire. The next house was built on the hill on the south side of the springs. Around 1861, Delk built a dam across the stream to funnel the flow to a water mill which powered a grist mill, cotton gin and sawmill. Other farmers paid him a part of their crop to grind their corn., As a Union supporter, he refused to support the Confederate war effort and in 1864 he was arrested. He escaped, freed his slaves, and rode off to Jacksonville where he rounded up cattle for sale to the Union Army., After the war, he returned to his plantation and continued to farm for twenty years before his death in 1885. On hearing of Delk's death, his former slave Joseph Robards said, "I came here and put the old man in a rough box, the best we could do, and the body was taken to Apopka and buried in a small cemetery there.", (captions) , The only known image of William S. Delk as a young man. c. 1835., Water mill diagram, Cotton gin diagram, Delk’s consent for a minor to join the Union Army in 1864., An artist’s rendition of what Delk would have looked like c. 1860. Courtesy of artist Gary Schermerhorn., The battle flag of the 21st regiment., Typical Civil War soldier’s outfit.