The Bluff's Rich Sponging History

Sponging fleets off the coast of Pasco County at Baillie's Bluff

Situated about 5 miles southwest of present day New Port Richey, most know Bailey’s Bluff for its upscale, high-end, subdivision. But for more than 50 years the bluff played a significant role in the local sponging industry.

Today, driving along the nicely paved streets of the Bailey’s Bluff subdivision, it’s hard to believe for nearly half a century this small section of coastal land was the scene of considerable activities, which played a significant role in the beginnings of the Tarpon Springs sponging industry.

Traces of this grand operation are scant, but its mark on our local history is great.

According to one account, the birth of sponging along Pasco’s west coast can be traced to the year 1852, when one Walter Lowe went in the schooner Chestnut to Anclote Keys, and, in several days, secured a cargo of sponges.

This catch brought such large profits that other men soon embarked in the new venture.

However, the Civil War brought many new challenges for these Gulf coast spongers and growth of their new industry was significantly inhibited and eventually ceased until the war ended.

On November 20, 1867, the bluff’s namesake Peter Karr Baillie received title to the 22 acres of high prime coastal land now known as Bailey’s Bluff-- purchased from the state of Florida.

Upon this land Baillie built a small home and established one of the first known businesses in west Pasco, a mercantile business trading with local fishermen, who visited the excellent Anclote fishery.

Research reveals by 1869 the taxable value of the Bailey’s Bluff property was $300 or $13.64 per acre, most of this value likely in improvements. Baillie also owned one horse and carriage, $50 in household furniture including dishware, and was in debt for $25.

For reasons unknown, between 1870 and 1871 P.K. Baillie sold his bluff enterprise to Eugenea I. Stephens. It’s not known what improvements, if any, existed when the bluff property sold, with a reported taxable value of only $30

But, for the next fourteen years Eugenea retained ownership of the land.

By the mid 1870s the waters off Bailey’s Bluff and Anclote became a well known fishery to harvest the abundant sponges. A correspondent from June 1877, by a Mrs. R.H. provides descriptive insight into these early coastal activities, she wrote:

“North and south of Anclote Keys are land locked harbors which vessels… can find anchorage in any kind of weather. In summer we have the Key West schooners, some thirty or forty in number, sponging in these waters.

On Saturday morning they may be seen skimming away like white winged birds to their different crawls* and on Saturday afternoon and Sunday lying anchored close in shore. On Monday morning they weigh anchor, hoist sails, and are off to the [sponge] beds again, giving a lifelike appearance to our otherwise lonely waters.”

These trim, but jaunty craft were well rigged schooners, varying in size from 5 to 20 tons. Some painted black, some green, but the prevailing color was white with a narrow red stripe.

During this period, nearly all of Florida’s sponging vessels belonged to Key West.

In 1879, the Nebraska Advertiser reported the safe harbors around Anclote were widely known as only one of two locations along the entire Florida west coast where the sponge schooners stored and cleaned their catches.

For this purpose, the bay spongers kept a concentration of crawls on the north end of Anclote Key, but with time the Bailey’s Bluff mainland would become the more significant site for their operations.

These fishermen soon realized their north Anclote Key crawls were exposed to the full force of the wind when blowing from certain directions.

On several occasions considerable loss was sustained by storms washing the sponges from the crawls and out to sea-- a hard lesson learned, perhaps during the 1888-89 hurricane season when two storms made landfall near Crystal River.

Following the death of bluff owner Eugenea Stephens in Jacksonville, Florida on February 16, 1886, then known as Eugenea Nason, ownership of the land transferred to her legal heirs.

In 1890, under ownership of Captain Charles Floyd, the crawls were moved from the more venerable Anclote Keys to the Bailey’s Bluff mainland, and for the next 7-years Floyd retained ownership of this successful enterprise.

In 1891, our coastal sponging industry was met with entrepreneur John King Cheyney’s newly established Anclote and Rock Island Sponge Company.

Cheyney’s company was determined and vowed to “create a reform in the Florida sponge business,” stating there had always been deception in the industry.

South of Anclote River, on what is now Point Alexis, the A & R.I. Sponge Company operation became widely known as the little town of Sponge Harbor, consisting of comfortable houses for the fishermen, a church, school, and packing house.

Cheney’s company created significant competition for the Bailey’s Bluff crawls, and, on May 31, 1897, with $300 down and a bond for title for an outstanding $300; Captain Charles Floyd sold the bluff enterprise to local resident Samuel Baker.

Within a few months the entire scene would change.

On account of the waters around the bluff being too rapidly used by the large number of fishermen and for other unknown reasons, in July 1897 reports in the Home Furnishing Review stated the black crews of the sponging vessels were removing their crawls from Bailey’s Point, back to Anclote Key.

Some might speculate the 1897 move was a result of change in ownership, or perhaps was due to the start of the Anclote channel dredging project.

But, by 1899 there were approximately 125 crawls located at Bailey’s Bluff, all kept under the keen eyes of watchmen Samuel B. Baker and Benjamin Baker.

However, in 1900 certain spongers became dissatisfied with Bailey’s Bluff and established about 40 new crawls half a mile closer to the Anclote River at John Sawyer’s place, commonly called the Cabbage Kraals.

This seemed to only encourage the Baker’s to make their Bailey’s Bluff operation more alluring to the coastal workers.

To entice the fishermen, in March 1900 Samuel B. Baker, Elizabeth Baker, his mother, and other family members deeded an 80’ by 105’ lot to the Pavilion Church and Reading Room, pictured right, which became a reality within a month.

Two months later, on July 16, 1900, Baker also received approval to establish a post office on the bluff. He called the new office Security, a name truly understood by the fishermen who found safety from storms along the Anclote Anchorage and security for their catches at the Baker crawls.

For the fishermen, the Bakers also operated a small mercantile store in conjunction with their various other ventures.

But, by 1905 some 500 Greek divers had arrived to Tarpon Springs following A. & R.I. Sponge Company advertisements of guaranteed work in the ever developing sponge industry.

This influx significantly changed the local scene and created a vicious rivalry between the decades’ old Key West Conchs and the newly arriving Greek Divers.

In November 1912, for $900, the Baker family sold their Bailey’s Bluff property to young sponge house worker Joseph M. Blackburn, the result of a court order to render care for two minor children.

As Tarpon Springs became the preferred headquarters for the west coast sponging industry, Bailey’s Bluff eventually ceased as a central location for the numerous sponging crawls.

The exact date the bluff activities halted is unknown.

In January 1956, the first unit of six in the upscale Bailey’s Bluff subdivision was surveyed and platted into home lots. The natural harbor of the bluff, now called Sleepy Lagoon, was dredged to create a deep boating channel for easy access from these homes to the Gulf waters.

Today, the waters off Bailey’s Bluff are filled with boats of a different kind-- those that utilize the Gulf waters for pleasure instead of the livelihood of harvesting sponges like our pioneers of the bluff day’s past.

Pasco’s Lost Lineage of Ancient Nobility-- The Equivelley's

Countess Donna Blanca d’Equevilley 

with sons Gerald and Goree (From author's private collection)

Today, when we reminisce of Pasco past and history, our imaginations might conjure up scenes of cows, crackers, orange groves, and alligators amidst the backwoods swamp.

But, our history can lend much more to the imagination then just the backwoods of Florida.

How about a story of mid 19th century European royalty-- A story of mystery, intrigue, and knightly deeds?

That’s right royalty right here in Pasco County.

This story behind Pasco’s royal connections begins in Segedin on March 6, 1856, with the birth of the Countess d’Equivelley — then known as D. Baroness Von Feilitzsch.

Born into one of the oldest family’s of European ancient nobility, the first records of the Feilitsch family name date to the year 1296 — recognized for their knightly deeds and acts of valor.

Among their lineage was Mortiz Feilitzcsh who was named as a knight of the Holy Grail.

Following the birth of the Baroness Von Feilitzsch in 1856, her father, O. Baron Von Feilitzsch, was given charge of Reus in Hesse, and, accompanied by his family, took his residence at the castle in Gettenbach.

It was there the young Baroness Von Feilitzsch became a lady-in-waiting to the Princess of Eisenberg, a cousin of the former King Louis XVI of France.

Through the influences of the young Princess, the baroness then received her appointment as lady-in-waiting to the court of the Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. In these duties she attended on Princess Louise Marie of Belgium, the eldest daughter of King Leopold.

From Coburg, the Baroness returned to Dresden-Saxony where she attended the Princess of Solms, until the fateful day of the princess’ suicide.

After those tragic circumstances the Baroness Von Feilitzsch left her duties to care for her ailing father who was recuperating in Mantenvers, France from injuries sustained after falling from his horse.

This is where our noble story blossoms into one of romance.

There, she met a young French nobleman who was studying forestry with the intent of receiving an appointment on the estates of Compte de Rochambeau-- this young Frenchman the D. Count de Equevilley, son of D. Marquis de Equevilley from the noble lineage of Ecquevilly, France.

The two young people fell in love and, much to the dismay of the baroness’ father, were married in September 1878.

While political troubles in France were on the rise, the Count d’Equevilley’s appointment to the estate of Compte de Rochambeau failed to materialize.

Soon after their marriage, the countess received a letter from her brother, A. Baron Von Feilitzsch, asking the newlyweds to join him in Florida where he had recently invested in considerable acreage and grove lands in the Lake Weir community of Marion County.

They graciously obliged the offer and soon after purchased a home in the little town of Summerfield, Florida.

And, keeping with the customs of their home country, the walls of their new abode were adorned with the family’s ancestral arms — an intriguing sight to most of the locals.

In Summerfield, Count d’Equevilley took to farming while the countess became a house wife-- a seemingly simple life.

In September 1883, they had their first child, a male, who, in the traditions of the aristocratic titles, would have become the Viscount Guy d’Equevilley.

But, in their new southern life-style, they attempted to avoid these pomp royal titles and became widely known among the Summerfield community simply as Mr. and Mrs. Count.

The d’Equevilley’s remained residents of Summerfield for nearly 25-years, but in 1906, four years after the count purchased 40 acres of pine land in Hudson, they decided to move to Pasco County.

Settling in the little Catholic town of San Antonio in east Pasco, where they knew no one, they formally dropped their royal titles and quietly became Mr. and Mrs. Equevilley.

Madame Equevilley made significant investments in San Antonio real estate.

For $250, she purchased two lots northwest of St. Anthony Catholic Church from Mary L. Scott Gailmard — now the location of the Jiffy Store and Deli at the intersection of State Road 52 and College Avenue.

She also acquired 20-acres just west of town and a small bungalow home on two-acres of prime real estate on the north side of the San Antonio town plaza.

In 1915, Goree Acosta, the youngest Equevilley son, enrolled at St. Leo College for what would be his only semester — dropping out after a nasty land dispute between his father and St. Leo Abby over 40 acres.

Following this 1915-16 land dispute which eventually ended in a favorable court ruling for St. Leo Abby, Count and Countess Equevilley separated, but were never legally divorced.

While Count Equevilley returned to his farm in Summerfield, purporting to most that he was a widower, the Countess Equevilley remained in Pasco County with the boys — Romaine, Goree, and Gerald Allen an adopted son.

Following a dispute between the school board and the St. Anthony Catholic School, in September 1918, she became the saving graces of public education in San Antonio — offering her downtown bungalow to the school board for use as the San Antonio public school.

After the school board visited San Antonio, an arrangement was reached and Madame Equevilley agreed to sell the lot and bungalow home situated on the west side of today's Joe Herrmann Drive, near McMullen Drive.

In 1926 she made her only return trip back to her home country for business. However, after settling in Pasco County in 1906 she would always consider the backwoods of Florida her home.

In 1944, at age 88, Madame Blanka Von Feilitzsch- d’Equevilley died at her San Antonio home and was afterwards cremated.

Following her death, her son, Viscount Romaine F. Equevilley, became Pasco’s last surviving male descendent of the noble Feilitzsch- d’Equevilley families.

He lived the remainder of his life in Hudson with his wife, Dora, and three children — Baroness Shirley d’Equevilley, Baron Goree J. d’Equevilley, and Baroness Astrid d’Equevilley.

Having dropped their noble titles, few in Hudson knew of this family’s royal lineage.

Today, the story of Pasco’s lost lineage of ancient nobility may be one of mystery and intrigue, but is well deserving of its place within our history books.

Pasco County’s Namesake-- Samuel Pasco

Today, 67 counties comprise the state of Florida, most of which carry the name of a state or national political dignitary, or of a natural feature synonymous with the respective county.

So how did Pasco County get its distinct name?

Prior to 1887 there was no Pasco County, instead we were part of what was then known as Hernando County-- encompassing all of today’s Citrus, Hernando, and Pasco Counties.

On June 2, 1887, because of its sheer size and an enthusiasm among the residents for division, Florida Governor Edward A. Perry signed into law a bill to divide the County of Hernando and make there from the Counties of Citrus and Pasco.

In a letter written May 25, 1927, by Florida Legislature Dr. Richard Bankston, he recalled the processes it took to divide the county, and wrote:

In 1887, “Enthusiasm was spontaneous and hope ran high. The result was a mass meeting which was attended by nearly all our male citizens, and was very representative, there being present people from every precinct in the southern end of the county. Unanimous sentiment was for division. After deliberation, it was resolved that a committee of two be named to go to Tallahassee in the interest of the desired end… Mr. James Grady moved that we be instructed to call our county “Banner” county.”

It was late in the legislative session, and things looked doubtful for the local delegation, charged with securing the new county with a proposed name like “Banner.”

Most favored the forming of the new counties, but the proposed name “Banner” received great opposition since everyone believed that their county was a “Banner” county.

It seemed as though the bill was dead, until inspiration struck.

Earlier, the joint session in voting for United States Senator had, very enthusiastically, elected Samuel Pasco to the position.

Bankston soon realized if the joint session had voted so favorable in electing Pasco to the senate seat, then how could they deny a name like Pasco?

So, he immediately went to work on revising the bill with the new, unobjectionable name, that neither session could refuse — Pasco County.

Introduced by Representative James Latham, the revised bill passed the senate and house with only two dissenting votes. Bankston’s change worked.

On June 2, 1887 the bill was signed into law by Governor Edward A. Perry, and on August 16, 1887 public lands officially transferred from the Hernando County government to the newly formed counties of Citrus and Pasco.

So, who is the man behind the name?

Born June 28, 1834 in London, England, Samuel Pasco’s family migrated to the United States in 1844 and settled in Charlestown, Massachusetts, where he graduated from the Charleston High School in 1854.

After high school, Pasco obtained higher education at Harvard University, where he graduated in the Class of 1858 with a bachelor in arts.

His graduation came with high recommendations to a group of wealthy planters in Florida who wrote the college seeking someone qualified enough to organize a school in their small neighborhood, about 20 miles east of Tallahassee.

In January 1859, 25-year-old Samuel answered that written request and moved to Jefferson County. There, he took charge of the newly established Waukeenah Boy’s Academy, as its principal and primary educator.

For the first few years he lived in Waukeenah’s town hotel, but his quiet life of hotel living and teaching at the boy’s academy would soon end and he’d be forced to face the difficult decision of enlistment during the Civil War.

Speaking of Pasco, Gen. B. W. Partridge once said,

“In the third year of his life in the South—the call to arms and War Between the States startled this great land of ours. Samuel Pasco—without a drop of kindred blood south of Mason and Dixon’s Line—without a penny of investment in the South—with loved ones and influence and wealth at home in Boston—with nothing to offer but a splendid manhood and spotless life—faced the problem of a choice. With that calm temperament that always characterized his conduct in life he left the quiet school house—not alone—carrying with him fifteen of the young men—whose fathers were satisfied to give them up to the care of their worthy preceptor.”

Enlisting as a private with Company H, 3^rd Florida Infantry, Pasco and his students engaged in some of the most historic battles of the war including Perryville, Jackson, and Chickamauga.

Pasco worked his way through the ranks serving as a company clerk and eventually as sergeant.

In July 1863, under the heavy fire of the Battle of Jackson, Mississippi, Pasco witnessed one of his students, Pvt. Thomas L. Pettus, fall on the battle field after being struck by a Minnie ball or piece of shrapnel.

Writing in his diary, Pvt. Clarence W. Smith recalled that fateful day when Pettus went down. He noted how Pasco rushed out among the wounded and dying to retrieve his wounded comrade.

Pettus died the next day and for his gallant service, Confederate Vice-President, General John C. Breckenridge, recognized Pasco for his selfless acts on that horrific day.

But, in November 1863, Pasco himself would receive wounds during the Battle of Missionary Ridge, which resulted in him being taken prisoner.

Imprisoned at Camp Morton, Indiana, Pasco refused to take an Oath of Allegiance to the U.S. and remained in prison for 14 months, until paroled at war’s end.

In 1865 he resumed his position at Waukeenah Academy, until being elected to his first political seat — Jefferson County’s Clerk of the Circuit Court.

While having his deputy clerks tend to most of the duties, Pasco devoted his attention to the study of law, and, on October 5, 1868, was admitted to the Florida Bar. He then joined his wartime commander, Col. D.S. Dilworth, in forming the Monticello law firm of Dilworth-Pasco.

In September 1869, Pasco inherited Dilworth’s interest in the firm, most of which he was able to retain. He also accepted a position as a trustee of the Jefferson Academy and soon after became known as a distinguished and prominent Mason in his community.

Today, Pasco’s name appears among the top 10,000 famous Freemasons in the United States.

In 1869 he was elected to the Monticello town council, serving the position for nine years and only after declining a re-election in 1878 to enter a new career in state level politics.

But, not before returning to Harvard to further his education by earning his A.M. degree (Arts Master) in 1872 — the same year he was seated on the Florida Democratic Executive Committee, a position that allowed him to move up through the political ranks.

Political Offices & Positions Held by Samuel Pasco

1866-1867- Jefferson County Clerk of the Circuit Court

1869-1878- Councilman, Town of Monticellow

1872- Florida Democratic Executive Committee

1876-1886- Chairman of the Florida Democratic Executive Committee

1880- Member of Democratic National Committee

1880- Elected Presidential Elector for Democratic Ticket

1885- President of the Florida Constitutional Convention

1886- Democratic Nominee for Governor’s Race (withdrew)

1886- Florida House of Representative

1887- Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives

1887- U.S. Senator, elected by Florida Legislature

1893 Appointment by Governor Mitchell to serve U.S. Senator ad interim

1899-1905- Member of the Isthmian Canal Project (Presidential appointment)

Samuel Pasco visits Pasco County Florida.

With his public and political life, serving as Grand Master of the Florida F. & A.M. Lodges, and with family living in Tampa, it’s likely that Samuel Pasco passed through or came to Pasco County on several occasions.

However, we have very few documented instances of his visiting to the county that bears his name, and the few that we do have were no grand affairs.

On Oct. 24, 1891, the Bismarck Daily Tribune reported one of the only known documented visits by Samuel Pasco to the Pasco County.

Pasco’s 1891 visit was one of business, arriving to Dade City to attend a lengthy Florida Farmers’ Alliance meeting where the topic of discussion was reform of the organizations treasury plan.

During the meeting, Pasco went on the record against the proposed plan, which, after five hours, was endorsed by the Dade City chapter.

After his service on the Isthmian Canal Project, Pasco retired from public life to his home in Monticello, Florida.

In his retired life he devoted much of his time to giving public addresses, including one before the Grand Lodge of Florida F. & A.M. in 1905.

He also enjoyed research and writing history including a book titled Jefferson County Florida, 1827-1910.

On March 13, 1917, at age 83, Samuel Pasco died at the home of his daughter Mrs. J.C. Tims in Tampa. His remains were returned to his home town of Monticello, Florida where he was buried in the town’s cemetery.