Pioneering on the Lower Alafia and the Early Settlement of Peru

Map of Hillsborough County, Florida, compiled from U.S. Land Office, U.S. Coast Survey, and special surveys, by the Florida Land Improvement Co., Nov. 1882. J.J. Treveres, Jacksonville, FL, 1882. PIONEERING ON THE LOWER ALAFIA AND THE EARLY SETTLEMENT OF PERU By NORMA GOOLSBY FRAZIER wagons, alligators in varying sizes up to twenty feet in length, first appearing as fat, dark brown logs, lay sunning themselves on the Alafia riverbanks. In the distance, dusty gray colored whooping cranes with their crimson crested heads, could be seen in the swampy area nearby, as they perched erectly on their thin, stilt-like legs, their young strolling casually nearby, poking among the small rocks and shells as they searched for food, oblivious to the alligators who were lurking nearby. The Florida Indians called the cranes, which are said to reach six feet in height, "Wartola-lacha," their croaking or whooping sounds echoing for a great distance. The cranes were often seen feeding in the high lands as well as savannas, feeding like a deer.1 Hunting expeditions in the vast wilderness Benjamin Moody lying east of Tampa Bay and in the proximity of the Alafia River had long been In 1843, the year after the Second Seminole favored by the Florida Indian tribes with a War ended, adventurer and Indian fighter bounty of fresh game available. The Benjamin Moody and his family arrived in peaceful and winding river was not only the Alafia River area, then a wilderness of favored for its beauty; its waters held an thick pine forests, abounding in fresh game. abundance of fresh fish for food, and within a five mile radius of the site of an early The Alafia riverbanks, surrounding marshes Indian village, where Peru would be and swamplands were the habitat of founded, crystal clear water flowed wildcats, panthers, wild hogs and a variety profusely from an underground "silvery of animals native to the area, including deer, spring" first known by white settlers as cat squirrels, rabbits, and wild turkeys. McLaughlin Springs, now known as Lithia Springs. In a westerly direction at the mouth As the Moody family slowly made their way of the Alafia, lay rich oyster beds, not only a through thickets of bushy palmettos and favorite of the Indians but settlers as well. stands of tall, yellow Pines, all their worldly goods packed into horse-drawn covered According to oldtimers, many kinds of people have lived along the lower Alafia in John Barnes and wife, Dee Brewer Barnes, early settlers of Peru, the settlement which existed on the south bank of the Alafia River. The Barnes family shared early Hillsborough County with the Seminole Indians whom they considered not only as neighbors but also as William Ben Moody Jr. (born 1861, died 1935, friends. grandson of adventurer and soldier, Benjamin Moody who came to the Alafia Section in 1843. William Ben Moody, Jr. was an early Timucuans; their village was located near its Hillsborough County Commissioner, owner of mouth, bordered by Tampa Bay. The the Alafia Hotel, general store and postmaster Timucuans, Calusa (Caloosa), Apalachees, of the first Riverview Post Office which was established November 19, 1891 (photo taken and Ais, were early Florida tribes. The circa 1930.) Calusa and Timucuan tribes were two large tribes in early Florida with the chief and main town of the Timucuans being located years past with stories having circulated on Tampa Bay. The Caloosas were about a colorful deerskinner. They say that congregated further South, mainly near the he made his abode in a crude hut beside a mouth of the Caloosahatcheee River, while branch of the river located just east of the the Timucuans reigned from St. Augustine Rice Creek bridge in a swampy area at the southwesterly to the headwaters of Peace base of the hill on what is now McMullen River, and along the west bank of the Loop. Deerhides and also fresh deer meat Caloosahatchee to the Gulf. The northern were said to have been traded or sold by the boundary of the Caloosas was the east bank early Peru swamp dweller. of the Peace River to its head and in a northeasterly direction towards the east The beautiful and peaceful Alafia, coast to a point near Cape Canaveral. The "Alafeah," "river of fire," was believed to Peace River was the dividing line between have been named by the Indians as it the two tribes with the river being neutral appeared to them at night as a river of fire 2 and holy ground. due to the high phosphoric content of its waters. The beauty of the Alafia’s tranquil waters later drew the Creeks fleeing the conflicts The river which had long been desired by which took place north of the Georgia the Florida Indian tribes whose villages were border during Andrew Jackson’s campaigns; found on its banks, including the some of whom fled to the beautiful woodlands lying east of Tampa Bay. Peter between Tampa and Sarasota in the 1800’s. McQueen, uncle of the great Osceola, and He was also employed on the "Pohanet" and McQueen’s followers, were among those the "Manatee," and was an oiler on the who came in the early part of the nineteenth "General Timothy," a government steamer century to McQueen’s Village, found on the which ran from Tampa to Egmont Key. This east side of Tampa Bay with Low-Walta was during the time when a fort was Village and Red Town at Tampa Bay, maintained on the Key. Captains Brophy believed to have been in the same vicinity, and Bob Starton were sea captains who as stated in a letter addressed to a settled on the Alafia riverbanks, the latter Committee of Congress in February 1821 being the captain of the "General Timothy." from Captain John H. Bell, Agent for the These early seafaring men, together with the Indians in Florida, naming the Indian early Barnes, and Duzenbury families were villages which existed at that time.3 numbered among the first white settlers in the settlement of Peru. The Florida Indians, who no doubt loved the area no less than its later residents, left many Following fifty years with the Bull evidences of their habitation and lifestyle Steamship Company as its commander, such as chippings of flint used by the Captain Tom Thebald made his first home Indians to make arrowheads to obtain food ashore on the banks of the Alafia River in and to provide protection , which were the mid 1800’s. Warren Hall, owner and found by early settlers. Indian villages master of the steamer, "Ancient City," which which existed in central Florida included was reportedly quite a novelty in that a villages found at the mouth of the Little figure made of brass, highly polished, and Manatee River and at Bullfrog Creek. Many holding a bow aimed and ready to shoot, pilings of shells accumulated over a long appeared on the large vessel’s pilot house. period of time by the Indians who hauled Captain Hall, who was also an engineer, oysters from the nearby bay, would later be when short of crewmen, would hire a boy to used to build roads in southeastern steer the vessel and take on the task of Hillsborough County over the dusty trails stoking the boilers himself. In later years, which had earlier carried oxen and the "Ancient City" made three or four trips horsedrawn wagons. Many of these Indian weekly between towns lying on the Alafia trails would carry supply wagons of River and Tampa, bringing needed supplies volunteers and soldiers who fought during to the early settlers.4 the Seminole Wars and were the beginnings of roads which exist today. Soldiers from Ft. Brooke (from which Tampa grew, established in 1824 on the east The Alafia would later be seen and admired bank of the Hillsborough River), who would by riverboat captains and seafaring men fight in the Second Seminole War whose vessels plied the waters of Tampa (1835-’42), so impressed by the beauty of Bay; many of whom would fulfill their vow the forests, savannas, and meadowlands to settle on the riverbanks found on the found in central Florida, would also vow to south bank of the Alafia in the early return and bring their families and earthly settlement of Peru. John Pixton used to possessions for a "fresh start" on the Alafia steamboat on local waters; he was a fireman riverbanks and the wilderness that lay on the tug, "Resolute," a fireman on the beyond. "Clark," and the "Mistletoe," which ran One early pioneer soldier was Benjamin Moody, who settled in 1843 along the Alafia. Few white settlers had ventured that far south at that time, but the Barnes family, believed to have been the earliest settlers in the tiny community of Peru, made their home in rustic dwellings near the shoals of the Alafia River, now known as Bell Shoals. Peru was the name of the pioneer community established on the south side of the Alafia River during the mid-1800’s. The area was a virtual wilderness when the Moody family arrived with many tall, lean "cabbage palms," their crooked "necks" hanging low, casting a dark shadow over the dark waters, amidst centuries-old oaks draped with Spanish moss, flowering bay trees, hickories, and waxy green leaved palatka holly trees ablaze with clusters of shiny red berries, growing nearby. Wild Elizabeth McDonald Moody, wife of William plums, persimmons, mulberries, and guavas Ben Moody, Jr. and member of the pioneering were found growing not far from the McDonald family of Hopewell in eastern riverbanks, proving to be a further Hillsborough County.

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