Welatka is about 1hr and 30 minutes from our home. As I approached the town I began to get a feeling of excitement and a feeling of awe knowing. I was about to see everything I had read about in the book. To actually stand on the ground they stood on and visit their actual gravesite's.
The first place I went looking for was "White Cottage". This was the home of my Great Great Great Grand Aunt Octavia (Bryant) Stephens family and later in life, her. Unfortunately once I tracked its location down via a map drawn by my Great Great Great Grand Uncle Winston Stephens himself I found the home was no more.
Only a large vacant lot remains. I am curious as to owns the property now and would like to walk the property with a metal detector and see what I find.
Our next mission was to find a playground to let Mason play a little. Quickly we discovered a PLAYGROUND!
After Mason stretched his legs and got some energy out we headed to find the family gravesite's.
Just a short drive North we discovered Oakwood Cemetery. The final resting place of many of the characters in the book Rose Cottage Chronicles including Winston and Octavia Stephens, their Daughter Rosa, son Winston Jr. and Baby Belle who died as an infant.
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As I studied the map I had I was able to locate Clark and Augustina's home. It is off old Welaka road on a beautiful piece of property. I will be back to see if I can convince the current owners if I could take a tour of the home.
All in all the trip was a success! Nothing like taking your son along to discover your family history.
Directly behind their graves is the Bryant and Stephens family plot where many other family members are buried. My other Great Great Great Grand Uncle Clark Stephens is buried here along with his wife Augustina of the Fleming family in Jacksonville. Fleming Island is named for this family.
As I studied the map I had I was able to locate Clark and Augustina's home. It is off old Welaka road on a beautiful piece of property. I will be back to see if I can convince the current owners if I could take a tour of the home.
All in all the trip was a success! Nothing like taking your son along to discover your family history.
Hello my name is Mike mehaffey I retired to welaka full-time two months ago and you can only fish so much I got into the history of welaka after reading a couple of small history books and Octavia was quite the lady I have old maps where homes were and property she owned and that others like the Bryant's and other pioneer families but there are there buildings on them and the vacant lot you shared I don't even know where that's at, the old house you shared, that belongs to the parents of a woman I go to church with and soon to be torn down unfortunately, every piece of property that was recorded that Octavia on has a building on it or I can't find it from the old maps where was that picture taken can you remember that if you could help me I would be glad to help you in any way I can.can Winston Stevens survived the battle of olustee only to be killed in Jacksonville in a spot where I used to go boating by all the time I am from Jacksonville Beach and he was killed in a small skirmish over on Cedar River where we used to go boating. no one around here seems to be even the slightest bit involved in the history of welaka which is really disheartening because I knew everything about the Jacksonville Beach area and this place has got so much more history and I just want to find out all I can.. kindest regards Mike
ReplyDeleteHi, I'm doing a museum exhibit on Octavia and her family. If you have any information that might be helpful to add to the exhibit, please let me know. I'm using her book as my primary guide. Thank you
ReplyDeleteI dont think the house shown was Clark and Tinas...
ReplyDeleteNew Welaka Mayor is doing some research on this. Any additional information you can provide would be helpful. Thank you 😊
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