The text below is from the home owners.

 

The beauty of the area is often overwhelming and it becomes easy to forget its rich history. The name of the town is Dade City which was named after Major Francis Langhorne Dade, who was a U.S. Army officer that was killed by Seminole Indians at the beginning of the Second Seminole War. The battle that took the life of Major Dade occurred on December 28th 1835 and has since become known as the Dade massacre. The Indians in this area had become increasingly furious by the attempts of the U.S. army to forcefully relocate them to a reservation out west. Major Dade was commanding a resupply and reinforcement party headed to Fort King in present day Ocala when his party was ambushed. Major Dade was shot off his horse by the very first round of the battle that was fired by Chief Micanopy. Out of the 7 officers and 110 men in Major Dade’s party only 3 survived the battle with just two making it back to safety. Aiding the Indians were escaped Negro slaves that were employed as translators or had joined the tribe. According to survivor, Private Ransome Clarke these 40 to 50 Negroes rode in on horseback and stripped and butchered the remaining wounded men in Dade’s party. Afterwards and by the end of 1836 the Indians burned all but one plantation reaching all the way to present day Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

 

Within about 8 miles from our home is the location of 8 historical markers. One of these is right across the lake from our home and notes the location of the Townsend house church and cemetery. In the late 1840’s Captain John Townsend and his wife Nancy moved to the area and brought their family and slaves with them. Reports state that when the Indians would become restless the surrounding settlers would all gather at the Townsend’s log home until things settled down. After 1865 the Townsends move from their home to another one nearby. The remaining settlers then built another “Townsend House” that they used for a Methodist church and school. The cemetery has been in use since before 1854. The marker goes on to state that the area was a substantial Indian settlement in the sixteenth century.

 

A few miles away another historical marker makes note of the Bradley massacre. On May 14th 1856 a Seminole Indian war party attacked the home of Captain Robert Bradley of the Florida foot volunteers. Two of his children were killed before the Indians withdrew. This was the last such attack on a settlers home east the Mississippi.

 

We have seen a lot of weird things happen during the few years we were here. We have been witness to items flying off the shelf and go sailing across the room, numerous dark shadows that dark back and forth, doors closing on their own and then opening, footsteps, and so forth. When we have guests, they often become surprised by what they see. Some have actually jumped and screamed “did you see that?! To us, it has become a daily fact of life and we do not give such occurrences a second glance.

 

We also have several pets and normally pets are curious creatures, especially cats. But our pets and those that visit never step foot into certain rooms of the house. We would often watch as the animal would sniff around, get close to the door opening, and then turn away never to enter certain parts of the house. Neither food nor treats or no amount of coaxing would entice the pet into the room. After a while, our cat would stay in the TV room and not leave. We ended up placing the food and the litter box in there.

 

Then things at the house became worse. Bodily harm started to affect the woman of the house. She started to suffer from severe three and four claw scratch marks found on different parts of her body. During this time the man of the house suffered an illness that left him bed ridden for slightly over a year. All the while the aggressive nature of the entity or entities increased.

 

Finally we could take it no more so we left. As soon as we did our health vastly improved. Our new home has been perfect and life is now back to normal. We simply cannot describe the feeling of peace we now both share, something that we had been missing for quite some time.