1853 & 1858 - A pair of items related to the "Father of Florida Tourism," Hubbard L. Hart: one letter to Hubbard regarding the purchase of a pocket watch and one Waybill from the Florida State Line

Tampa, Florida, 1858. Unbound. Very good. The one-page stampless folded letter is datelined "New York Dec 24/53". In nice shape It was sent by Robert Rail of New York to Hubbard L. Hart in Savannah, Georgia. It is franked with a 3-cent Washington stamp (Scott #11). It concerns a chronometer Hart had purchased. It is likely that this watch was related to running a stagecoach line between Savannah and Darien that Hubbard had recently purchased.

The slightly later document is a partially printed Way Bill is from the Florida Stage Line that Hart established in 1855. It ran from Palatka to Tampa with connecting steamboat service to Charleston, (truncated) Savannah, New Orleans, and Key West. The waybill documents a trip from Tampa to Starke begun on January 12, 1858. 14 passengers made at least part of the trip, and 12 of them are identified by name. Two traveled from Tampa to Orange Springs and paid fares of $10.50. One traveled from Ocala to Micanopy and paid 25 cents. Two traveled from Micanopy to Starke and paid $5. And the remainder traveled from Gainesville to Starke and paid $3.50. The stage also hauled light freight including a sack of oats and a jar of lard. . Hart, a native of Vermont, was a pioneer in developing Florida's tourist industry. He first moved south in 1848 and there was awarded a contract to carry mail between Savannah and Darien, Georgia. In July of 1855, he moved to Palatka, a growing Florida transportation hub where he opened a general store and began a shipping business. He also purchased The Concord Stagecoach Line which ran along the Tampa Post Road and included a 100-mile segment of an even older military road which had run from Fort Brooke (Tampa) to Fort King (Ocala). He acquired a Post Office Contract: "Florida Route No. 6804 from Palatka to Tampa, 159 miles, twice a week. . .." While traveling along that route, Hart became enamored with the beauty, climate, and springs of the region, and realizing its potential to attract northern tourists and invalids, he acquired two river boats to provided easier visitor access. Business boomed after the Civil War, and he soon owned several Ocklawaha River steamboats, a cypress lumbering business, orange groves, and one of the most fabulous manor houses in the South. In addition to providing simple transport of goods and people, some of his boat trips included tours of orange groves, opportunities to shoot alligators, and swimming in Florida springs.

(For more information, see Lera's Hubbard L. Hart's Influence on Stagecoach and Steamboat Travel and Commerce in Central Florida, the "National Register of Historic Places Registration Form for the Orange Springs Methodist Episcopal Church and Cemetery" available online, The Florida State Gazetteer & Business Directory 1884-1885, and Webb's Sanford Directory 1887 available online.)

Rather scarce. At the time of listing, nothing similar is for sale in the trade. The Rare Book Hub reports a group of bank statements sent to Hubbard has appeared at auction. OCLC reports a "small set" of business papers, photographs, and ephemera related to Hart's business operations are held at the University of Florida, and an even smaller collection of Hart family papers related to is business operation in Georgia is held by the Georgia Historical Society. . (Inventory #: 010329)