{"id":114904,"date":"2026-01-12T11:55:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T11:55:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/114904\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T11:55:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T11:55:16","slug":"floridas-oldest-highway-has-vanished-heres-whats-left-of-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/114904\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida\u2019s oldest highway has vanished. Here\u2019s what\u2019s left of it"},"content":{"rendered":"

FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 Those who find themselves on the backroads along Central Florida\u2019s east coast may happen upon what used to be the oldest highway in the state.<\/p>\n

In fact, this road is so old that it predates Florida itself \u2014 as well as the rest of the nation.<\/p>\n

But nowadays, only a trace of it yet remains: Old Kings Road.<\/p>\n

According to the Flagler County Historical Society<\/a>, the route was first conceived in 1765 by Col. James Grant, the first governor of British East Florida, to help keep his command linked together.<\/p>\n

A historical marker provides more details about the Old King’s Road (Anthony Talcott)<\/p>\n

At the time, British investors liked the idea of building profitable plantations along the east coast, so plans were developed to build a roadway following old Indian trails.<\/p>\n

\u201cEngland found that the Spanish had pretty much left Florida, and it was this wild, empty place,\u201d senior Flagler County historian William Ryan<\/a> told News 6. \u201cThe British were very desirous of expanding and had given out huge tracts of land to influential politicians in England.\u201d<\/p>\n

A map by historian Bill Ryan highlighting the route of the King’s Road (Bill Ryan)<\/p>\n

As a result, one of the first major roads in America was born, extending from St. Augustine to present-day Jacksonville and up through Georgia across the St. Marys River. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis was later called the \u2018King\u2019s Road,\u2019 and it was completed shortly before the American Revolution,\u201d Ryan added. \u201cNow, I found out that there were almost limitless stories that everything that we know of building the American Dream occurred on that King\u2019s Road.\u201d<\/p>\n

View showing wooden bridge on Old Kings Road in Jacksonville, Florida (c. 1953) (Public Domain)<\/p>\n

Agricultural production exploded, with nearly 20 plantations being built along the route. And thanks to its proximity to the Atlantic coast, trade with Europe was also better facilitated.<\/p>\n

In fact, the route was such an important tool that it helped cement one of Florida\u2019s oldest settlements: the Turnbull Plantation<\/a>, Ryan claimed.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because many Europeans at the time were trying to escape the continent\u2019s endless wars by fleeing to the Americas, paving the way for the settlement in New Smyrna, which was built on indentured servitude and connected along the King\u2019s Road.<\/p>\n

The “Turnbull Ruins” in New Smyrna Beach, some of the last remaining traces of one of Florida’s oldest settlements (Copyright 2024 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n

However, harsh treatment and starvation stirred rebellion in the New Smyrna colony, leading to its downfall.<\/p>\n

\u201cBasically, the New Smyrna effort blew apart when the indentured people heard about the American Revolution,\u201d Ryan explained. \u201cThey all went up the King\u2019s Road to St. Augustine, and there, they did very, very well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Building something the size of these ruins out of coquina would have taken an extreme amount of time and energy, leading some experts to question its origins for years. (Copyright 2024 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n

Over the years, the King\u2019s Road endured wars, battles with natives, colonization efforts, and even the region\u2019s very own tumultuous climate.<\/p>\n

When the U.S. reclaimed Florida in 1821, large chunks of the old path were reclaimed by the wilderness, so it had to be rebuilt before the territory could be viable again. <\/p>\n

But all these years later, the original King\u2019s Road has effectively disappeared.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo my knowledge, there\u2019s no dirt section left. I do have videotape and film of it, and at various times, people tried to rebuild the King\u2019s Road because it is such an important part of America\u2019s history…\u201d Ryan explained. \u201cIt would make a marvelous thing, but it just basically never happened. Every time someone tried, it just went to poopoo.\u201d<\/p>\n

A stretch of Old King’s Road near Pellicer Pond (Anthony Talcott)<\/p>\n

Nowadays, the fully paved Old Kings Road pays homage to the original highway, running parallel to U.S. Highway 1 along the Atlantic coast.<\/p>\n

However, some markers near the highway provide travelers with information about the history of King\u2019s Road, including one near Pellicer Pond in Palm Coast.<\/p>\n

A plaque posted outside Pellicer Pond in Palm Coast (Anthony Talcott)<\/p>\n

Ryan himself has also done extensive work researching the history of King\u2019s Road, working with a civil engineering group to publish the route of the ancient highway. <\/p>\n

He documents his search for the King\u2019s Road in his 2014 book, \u201cThe Search for Old King\u2019s Road,\u201d which can be purchased here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 Those who find themselves on the backroads along Central Florida\u2019s east coast may happen…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":114905,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4717,28,4566,30,29,2457,17140,2546,729,2261],"class_list":{"0":"post-114904","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-flagler-county","9":"tag-florida","10":"tag-florida-fables","11":"tag-florida-headlines","12":"tag-florida-news","13":"tag-history","14":"tag-palm-coast","15":"tag-strange-florida","16":"tag-traffic","17":"tag-volusia-county"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}