
Springhill Methodist Church - Traxler, FL
N 29° 52.142 W 082° 32.301
17R E 351426 N 3305266
Old church located on a deadend road (thanks to I75). Area is listed as a 'ghost town'
Waymark Code: WM1KT0
Location: Florida, United States
Date Posted: 05/28/2007
Views: 120
Contains less than one hundred graves.
Five men, including Simeon Dell and Fernando Underwood, acquired this land in December of 1860 for this church, which was soon built using locally-sawed lumber. It served both the whites and the black slaves. The wooden sanctuary survived the September 1896 windstorm, and was replaced by the present structure in 1915. The nearby cemetery contains the graves of many of the pioneer settlers of the area.
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William H. Traxler, son of settlers from South Carolina, was born near the natural bridge in Columbia County in 1854. In the 1880's he acquired property in Alachua County on the Bellamy Road, opened a general store, and began farming. He married the daughter of Simeon Dell, Mary Lelia, in 1889. Prospering, he increased his holdings and enlarged the commissary. The post office, established in 1891 with Mr. Traxler as postmaster, was discontinued in 1906. At one time the community had a one-room school, a number of tenant farm homes, a cotton gin, grist mill, and church.
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