Sumica - Ghost Town

SUMICA

NAME: Sumica
COUNTY: Polk
ROADS: 2WD
GRID: 3
CLIMATE: Hot in Summer
BEST TIME TO VISIT: Fall, Winter, or Spring.

COMMENTS: No Residents. The Sumica tract was purchased by Polk County and the South Florida Water Management District (SWFMD) as a wildlife mangement area. Vehicles are not allowed but there is a 1.7 mile trail and a 3.5 mile loop trail through the scrubs and the oak hammock where much of Sumica was.Take SR 60 East out of Lake Wales and one mile east the bridge over Weohyakapka Creek (Walk-On-The-Water Creek) look to the right and you will see a small parking area and the trail head. If you need further landmark, the road goes from a 4 lane to a 2 lane at that point. At the present time all areas with artifacts are not accessable and off limits in order to protect the area from vandals and treasure hunters. You can access the area with permission but must be escorted in by a county official.
REMAINS: Rows of concrete piers, old rail bed, bricks, clay floors and shallow wells

In January 2007 Mike Woodfin reunited then 80 year old Dr. Roger Scott with the town of his birth. Read the article here .

Sumica was a turpentine mill town and a sawmill town. Sumica stands for Societe Universelle Mining Industrie, Commerce et Agriculture. The post office was established in 1917 and the town flourished until 1927. There was a sawmill, 50 houses, a commissary, church and school, and a railroad depot. The town even had it's own currency for the company store. Apparantely when the pine forest was gone the commerce was gone and so was Sumica. The post office was moved to Lake Wales Submitted by: Mike Woodfin

Old Railroad Bed Through Sumica
Courtesy Mike Woodfin

Sumica Canal and sawmill
Courtesy Mike Woodfin

Sumica Florida 1925 Photo of some of the mill workers and families at TT Scott Sawmill. TT Scott was the 39 year old owner of the sawmill at which these and others worked. He can be found as the second white man in the top left corner. This is only one of about four pictures that we believe exist from Sumica. The picture, obviously, was going to church on Sunday. Notice the ladies with hats and the boys with bare feet. The two white boys in the front were the sons of TT Scott.
Courtesy Mike Woodfin

This is the exact same Sumica mill when it was rebuilt in Kenansville. It would have looked the same at Sumica. When Sumica was played out the mill was dismantled, placed on the train, and transported to Kenansville, FL to be reassembled.
Courtesy Mike Woodfin

January 9, 2007 - Retired Dr. Roger Scott, the only living resident of the ghost town Sumica, gives a lecture to reporters, videographers, county historians, and BayNews 9 on his first visit back to the place of his birth.
Courtesy Mike Woodfin

Sawmill
Courtesy Mike Woodfin

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