BASINGER
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BASINGER |
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NAME: Basinger COUNTY: Highlands & Okeechobee ROADS: 2WD GRID: 3 CLIMATE: Sunny BEST TIME TO VISIT: Anytime |
COMMENTS:
Highway 98 on the Okeechobee County (Basinger) and the Highlands County side (Fort Basinger). Check out the Edna Pearce Lockett Homestead and the school in which she taught. From Orland-take Florida Turnpike South and get off at Yeehaw Junction exit. Go west and turn left onto Hwy 441 south...Ft. Drum is approx 5-10 miles from light. keep heading south on 441 and turn right on Hwy 68 West.it dead ends on Hwy 98..take 98 west for about 3-5 miles Fort Bassinger is on your left when you go over the bridge. REMAINS: Various "Cracker" farm buildings, Edna Pearce-Lockett Homestead, Basinger School UPDATE: September 2014. The site is now closed to the public. It is now part of SFWMD and they have been unable to find someone to operate and restore the site. It will be going up for public auction and may be lost. Jim Dourney The Snookguy |
| Ft. Basinger was a fort, named after a lieutenant killed in the dade massacre, from the seminole wars during the 1830's. The kissimmee river fort site is on the lockett homestead however, there are no remains. Basinger, on the okeechobee side, is literally the seat of civilization since it was the first part of present-day okeechobee county where white settlement is recorded. The first settlers moved here after the civil war and by the turn of the century basinger was a "bustling" cowboy community. The town boasted of two hotels, a general store, clothing stores, and a post office. There were two town periods, one during the 1800's and another during the early 1900's. The majority of the settlers were cattlemen, who also hunted alligators and "coons". The chief weapon of the florida cowboy was a strong whip, 12 to 18 feet of braided buckskin fastened to a handle of 12 - 15 inches long. The pop or crack resulting from its use sounded like a rifle shot and is claimed to have resounded for several miles. The name "cracker", applied to natives of georgia and florida, is said to have originated as a cattle term for those who used the whips. Early, 1870, settlers to the area were parker, holmes, raulerson, chandler, and underhill. Settlers on the highlands county side were the daughtreys and the pearces. There was a steam boat business that traveled up and down the kissimmee river from 1894 to 1920. It died when the highway system went in. When the railroad past up the area for the town of okeechobee the town slowly disappeared. Submitted by: Mike Woodfin |
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