In the late 1880s, several farmers settled on small farms and homesteads in this area. The families of W. Brown, J. Cannon, A. O. Espy, W. Geoffrey, and J. Gray called their small agricultural community Brownsville. By 1893, these settlers had been . . . — — Map (db m272377) HM
In 1892, William Edward Geoffrey, an African American man from Darlington, South Carolina, came to work on the Florida East Coast Railroad in Gifford. The town's first school was built in 1898, but only served white children. In 1901, Geoffrey . . . — — Map (db m127810) HM
In 1901, William E. Geoffrey, a black man, donated this land for a black school in Gifford. Funded with help from the Julius Rosenwald Foundation, which provided support for hundreds of black schools across Florida and the Southeast, the Gifford . . . — — Map (db m213229) HM
This cemetery opened in 1924 as a private burial ground for the Vero Cemetery Association was disbanded during the depression years. There were few burials and most were relocated to a city owned cemetery in Vero Beach. Some of the large headstones . . . — — Map (db m272379) HM
