Media Release

3:30 p.m.

ALACHUA COUNTY - The Alachua County Department of Parks and Recreation is creating an interpretive park on 3 acres of the former Scott Plantation on Hawthorne Road. The Scott-Phifer House Committee and the Alachua County Historical Commission are holding a Town Hall Meeting at Grove Park Community Christian Church located at  5717 SE 152 St. Grove Park, Florida on Sunday, October 21, 2007 at 2:00 p.m.

(Directions: travel east on Hawthorne Road and turn right at 152nd Street.)

Meeting organizers are seeking senior citizens and other people who know about, or have heard  stories of, the former owners or relatives of the home such as the Scott's, Wait's, or Phifer's.  They are very interested in hearing stories about and/or names of  descendants of enslaved African Americans who worked on the plantation prior to emancipation or as farm sharecroppers after the civil war.  If you have any information about this plantation or activities surrounding it, please attend.

The event is free.

A copy of the original bill of sale, which lists the names and ages of the African American slaves who worked in the area and on this plantation from 1855 to 1865, will be available at the event.  Attendees may find their relatives on this document.

Please bring any historic documents or pictures.  Of  particularly interest are:

• Old family bibles with births or deaths of area families
• Locations of old or unmarked graves or cemeteries in the area
• Old pictures of people or houses in the Grove Park/Hawthorne/Alachua County area
• Old farming tools, implements, or relics  
• Any information about descendants of former African American slaves anywhere in Alachua County

For more information call Melanie at 377-4217 or email kendragillum@hotmail.com

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