On this page you will find info from:
From The Pleistocene to The Late Holocene
Discovery by Captain Jordan de Reina
The Revolutionary War to War of 1812
The Antebellum Period— Robledal’s First Family, The Axelsons
From the Pleistocene to the late Holocene
The last ice age peaked about 18,000 years ago driving sea levels to new lows and allowing Paleoindians to cross a land bridge at the Bering Straits. These newcomers quickly dispersed throughout the New World. By the close of the Pleistocene 11,000 years ago these Paleoindians were in Florida.
In the shallow seas of the late Pleistocene, Florida was twice its present size. The shoreline lay as much as 85 miles out beyond the coastline we have today. It is not difficult to see why Florida Paleoindian coastal sites are yet to be discovered – they are submerged miles offshore under hundreds of feet of water. What little we know about these early people comes from studying their artifacts and the geological record. Bone and shell tools have dissolved away in Florida’s acid soils.
The North Florida highlands during this period were covered with pine forests interspersed with stands of oak and hickory and isolated prairies. Robledal was part of those ancient highlands. Then about 15,000 years ago, as the glaciers melted and the sea level rose, barrier islands began forming along the new coastline. Some 4000 to 5000 years ago the land area where Robledal now sits was cut off from the Gulf as Santa Rosa Island formed from quartzite sediment flowing down the Choctawhatchee River from the Appalachian Mountains. Our beautiful white beaches came not from the sea but from the quartz-laden inland mountains.
The earliest humans in Florida were probably nomads living on wild plants and shellfish and hunting small game. As their hunting prowess developed, they killed larger animals as well. Their prey included animals like the mastodons, mammoths, giant sloths, and saber-toothed cats whose fossilized bones are now scattered throughout Florida.
The ever-retreating ice sheets, however, brought about vast environmental changes in Florida’s climate, geology and living creatures. By 10,000 years ago, these changes allowed living in more stationary settlements. And by about 7,000 years ago Florida and its ecosystems looked much as they do today. The area’s canopy trees were predominantly southern magnolia, Magnolia grandiflora; red bay, Persea borbonia; sand live oak or twin live oak,Quercus geminata; laural oak, Quercus hemisphearica; pignut hickory, Carya glabra and slash pine, Pinus elliottii. Just as now. It was then that the humans, whose artifacts we find today, began to move into what has become South Santa Rosa.
None of the late prehistoric sites on Eglin Air Force Base, Thompon’s Creek in Santa Rosa County, Gulf Breeze, or the Live Oaks Preserve have much evidence of extensive agriculture. The Indians depended on coastal resources such as fish, oysters and scallops, small game, and wild plants. They seemed to live in small groups led by a single chieftain. Their middens of oyster shells and broken pottery line the embankments along Robledal’s shorelines. Any digging in the shoreline area almost immediately uncovers shells and broken pottery from these early Indian settlements.
It was one of these small bands that Captain Jordan de Reina met in 1686.
Discovery by Captain Jordan de Reina
The first written record we have of Robledal comes from Captain Jordan de Reina who visited the area in 1686. De Reina noted the heavy stands of oak and named the area Robledal (Spanish for oak grove). On that first visit de Reina’s crew surprised a group of Indians living along the shoreline. The Indians immediately ran off but de Reina left an offering of metal tools and a cross before exploring farther up the bay. Upon his return he discovered the Indians had reciprocated with an offering of buffalo robes and another crudely made cross of wood.
The Revolutionary War to War of 1812
In the 1790s the USS Constitution “Old Ironsides” and the USS Constellation were built from wood cut in the Live Oaks Preserve. Perhaps from Robledal oaks as well.
The Robledal area as shown in a 1 Aug 1780 map.
Note the now missing inlet SW of Tom King Bayou.
The Antebellum Period
Robledal’s First Family—The Axelsons
The first non-aboriginal settler of Robledal was Frederick A. Axelson who settled here in 1856. Pioneering in the Panhandle by William James Wells says Frederick entered a lawsuit against Edward Remer for work done on the schooner Doris by Axelson Shipyard in Axelson Cove between 15 Mar and 15 Jun 1860. He eventually bought about 600 acres along the coastline and built a shipyard in the deep cove behind historic Axelson Point (some residents today mistakenly call this Diana’s Point.
One of the earliest United States records of the Axelsons is the birth of their son in Louisiana in 1854. Here is that record:
Soon after Frederick Junior’s birth the Axelsons moved to Santa Rosa County and began buying land in the Robledal area. Here are records from the Bureau of Land Management on some of their purchases:
On this land Axelson started his own shipyard and built schooners that plied the Gulf to Central America hauling timber and other goods.
The Civil War to the Close of the 19th Century
From Brian R. Rucker’s The Unionists of West Florida:
Some local Unionists fared rather well under the circumstances. Some were apparently employed along East Bay in Santa Rosa County to make shingles for the hospital being constructed at the navy yard. Frederick A. Axelson, who owned a shipyard on East Bay, became friends with Union officials in the area. They described Axelson as bearing the “character of a good, loyal citizen.” Axelson received permission to run his sloop Hopebetween East Bay and Warrington (adjacent to the Navy Yard) for the purpose of “bringing down vegetables.” Axelson traded regularly with the Federal officials. In one case, he took a barrel of flour and 25 pounds of bacon to his East Bay home for his own use. He returned a few days later with a cargo of shingles. Axelson was even allowed to take his vessel to Union-held New Orleans and bring back supplies for a store in Warrington. Footnote 54:
54 Official Records, Navy, I, 20: 656; and William James Wells, Pioneering in the Panhandle (Fort Walton Beach, Florida: Melvin Business Services, 1976), 18. Axelson was from Sweden. Floridians originally from the North or from Europe often espoused Union sympathies.
The Early 1900s
Photo from Archival material in Pace Library’s Special Records Collection.
Captain Gustav Axelson facing starboard on the fantail of his Schooner, Doris. Could that be the ship’s cat sitting by the taffrail in the lower left?
CAPT. GUS AXELSON IS DROWNED AT SEA
The many friends of Capt. Gustav Axelsen, who was well known and loved by hosts of friends both in Milton and all this part of the country, were shocked to hear of his untimely death by being swept overboard from the schooner Doris, of which he was master, during the prevalence of a heavy storm on the Gulf of Mexico about December 10. His sad death is sincerely regretted here, further particulars of which we have not space to give this week. He is survived by his wife, who resides in Pensacola, and a number of other relatives. Milton Gazette, Friday, January, 1911, p. 1
Sometime during the period of the Axelson Shipyard the town of Bilowry was formed in what is now Robledal. This map from 1890 clearly shows Bilowry to be in our area. It was connected to Santa Rosa Park by a road back then.
In fact, Bilowry even had a post office from 1886 to 1891. Like the Bilowry Baptist Church that still exists in south Santa Rosa, the town probably got its name from Bill Lowry who was listed right next to the Axelson Family in the 1880 census. The story of how the Bilowry Baptist Church got its name was that the handwriting on the paperwork was hard to read and the clerk wrote down Bilowry instead of Bill Lowry. Makes sense since there was a Bill Lowry living near the Axelsons. At least this gives us a rare chance to see on a map exactly where a family was located when the 1880 census was taken. It certainly appears that the Axelsons and Lowrys lived west of the present lake in Robledal.
Our next look at Robledal history begins with the voyage of the Peep O’ Day in the early part of the last century. In the book, Log of the Peep O’ Day: Summer Cruises in West Florida Waters, 1912-1915 by F.F. Bingham, Patagonia Press, Bagdad, FL, Bingham recounts a visit to the old Axelson homestead. This interesting book is still available for purchase on the Internet or may be checked out of the Pace Library at UWF.
Axelson’s Cove
Included in the log is a sketch made of Axelson Cove. It has been colorized for clarity.
The remains of the Axelson house are shown above the bluff. Today, of course the beach is overgrown with trees and the bluff is no longer visible. The Peep O’ Day is shown sitting in the cove with another boat. The point in the foreground is where the power lines cross the bay today. The next point in the distance is Axelson Point.
Bingham tells of finding the Axelson vineyards laid out in geometric perfection not far from the house; of the clear, cold spring behind the house; and of the old Axelson graveyard across from the spring and situated on a small knoll about 600 feet back from the shoreline. The house was in ruins and the property strewn with rusting sheaves and chains and rotting timbers from ships left unfinished. Today Margaret Axelson’s scuppernong vines continue to sprout up in the yards just above this bluff. And somewhere inland an unsuspecting family lives in a house sitting atop the old graveyard.
Robledal’s early 1900 history parallels Navarre’s. Development in this area began in 1925 Colonel Guy H. Wyman, who grew up in nearby DeFuniak Springs, retired from the Army as an engineer and returned to this area to survey and plot the first subdivision and parks. Colonel Wyman named the community after the Navarre province in northern Spain, supposedly one of his wife’s favorite places. Even today the Navarre area is replete with Spanish names on its streets.
Navarre, however, remained sparsely populated. In 1931 the first bridge across Pensacola Bay connected the peninsula to Pensacola and increased traffic along highway 98 between Pensacola and points east.
Here is a map of our area from 1940.
You’ll note that 399 extended from the east only to Tom King Bayou and had no jog north to border Robledal as it does today.
This next map is from around the 1950 timeframe and shows the only road in Robledal – the Old Axelson Road. Remains of this road are still visible where it enters Avenida de Galvez from the west side of the lake about 100 feet inland from the benches near the levee. The contours on this map clearly show the depression that became Robledal Lake when the levee was put in.
The Navarre Bridge, constructed in the 1960s, brought further change. Population nudged upward along with property values.
The Axelson Family Tree
Frederick A. AXELSON was born on 29 Dec 1825 in Oland, Sweden [S1]. Died on 19 Oct 1883 in East Bay, Santa Rosa County, Florida [S2]. Buried in St John’s Cemetery, Pensacola, Florida. Frederick and his wife were originally buried in the Axelson Family.
The old Axelson Cemetery lay behind the shipyard about 600 feet back from the water. Since the Axelsons were rumored to be pirates, the locals vandalized the cemetery looking for treasure to such an extent that John Newton Axelson had the whole cemetery moved to St Johns in Pensacola according to Pioneering in the Panhandle by William James Wells.
Frederick married Margaret HUNTER. Margaret was born on 18 Oct 1825 in Orkney, Scotland [S3]. Died on 31 Aug 1887 in East Bay, Santa Rosa County, Florida [S4]. Hunter name from Pioneering in the Panhandle by William James Wells
Frederick and Margaret had the following children:
i. Frederick AXELSON was born on 11 Jan 1854 in New Orleans, LA [S5]. Died on 21 Jan 1933 in Pensacola, Florida [S6]. Buried in St John’s Cemetery, Pensacola, Florida.
ii. Marguerita AXELSON was born on 26 Jun 1856 in Milton, Florida [S7]. Died on 2 Jul 1937 in Pensacola, Florida [S8]. Buried in St John’s Cemetery, Pensacola, Florida.
iii. Agustus Gustave AXELSON (see more below)
iv. Berger Swen AXELSON was born on 1 Dec 1860 in East Bay, Santa Rosa County, Florida [S9]. Died on 16 Nov 1909 in Tampa, Florida [S10]. Buried in St John’s Cemetery, Pensacola, Florida.
v. Christina AXELSON was born in Sep 1863 in Florida [S11]. Died after 1900.
vi. Hjlmar Deberg AXELSON [S12] was born on 4 Jul 1864 in East Bay, Santa Rosa County, Florida [S13]. Died on 16 Jun 1890 in Milton, Florida [S14]. Buried in St John’s Cemetery, Pensacola, Florida. Died as a result of a wound he received in the shipyard. He developed tetanus from the cut of an adze. He was buried in the Axelson Cemetery but his body was stolen the night after the interment
SECOND GENERATION
Agustus Gustave AXELSON was born on 10 Apr 1858 in East Bay, Santa Rosa County, Florida [S15]. Died on 8 Dec 1910 in Lost at sea off Belize Honduras [S16].
He married Esther NEWTON on 17 Jan 1888 in Axelson Cove, Santa Rosa County, FL. Town location from Axelson records in Pace Library and Pioneering in the Panhandle by William James Wells. The wedding was performed by the bride’s father. Esther NEWTON was born in Jul 1861 in Florida [S17]. Died after 1900.
They had the following children:
i. Christina AXELSON was born in Sep 1892 in FL [S18]. Died on 8 Jun 1971 [S19]. Listed as Sophomore in the 1909 Annona of Pensacola High School.
ii. John Newton AXELSON was born in Aug 1896 in FL [S20]. Died on 19 Sep 1964 [S21].
SOURCES
1. St John’s Cemetery Records.
2. St John’s Cemetery Records.
3. 1860 census data for age and 1900 Pensacola, page 212, for place of birth per children. The 1869 census listed Sweden as place of birth via a ditto under her husband’s place of birth but appears to have been an error in view if the 1900 data. Pioneering in the Panhandle by William James Wells lists birth date and place as shown.
4. Pioneering in the Panhandle by William James Wells.
5. St John’s Cemetery Records.
6. St John’s Cemetery Records.
7. St John’s Cemetery Records.
8. St John’s Cemetery Records.
9. St John’s Cemetery Records.
10. St John’s Cemetery Records. It is believed that he too was lost at sea.
11. 1900 Pensacola census, page 212. She is listed as sister to Gustave.
12. Hjlmar from Pioneering in the Panhandle by William James Wells.
13. St John’s Cemetery Records.
14. St John’s Cemetery Records.
15. St John’s Cemetery Records.
16. St John’s Cemetery Records.
17. 1900 Pensacola census, page 212.
18. 1900 Pensacola census, page 212.
19. Pioneering in the Panhandle by William James Wells.
20. 1900 Pensacola census, page 212.
21. Pioneering in the Panhandle by William James Wells.
This page is being updated as new material comes in. If you have anything to add, please send it to the Webmaster. Special recognition and appreciation goes to resident Mr. Jerry Merritt for researching this material.
Robledal Estates & Oak Haven 