By Starr Munro Riverbend News
Florida's 14th and 15th counties were created the day after Christmas, in 1827, nearly 194 years ago. Madison County, named after James Madison, the fourth president of the U.S., was carved right out of Jefferson County, with the picturesque area resting on Florida's northern border with Georgia. The small area of Greenville, found in Madison County, is famous for being the childhood home of R&B legend, Ray Charles. Hamilton County, named after the first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, is also located on the northern border of Georgia. and lies directly east of Madison County. Hamilton County is home to the famous Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park in White Springs, where the annual Florida Folk Festival has taken place since 1953.
The majority of Florida is not typically made up of counties that are around 200 years old. A large portion of the state was still largely undeveloped and unrealized around the same time that both the Hamilton and Madison Counties were officially put on the map. A huge part of the state is fairly new compared to what lies in areas found in the Suwannee Valley, which makes the more northern part of the state so special.
Here's a list of everyday items we use that were invented after 1827, and are therefore younger than both Hamilton and Madison Counties:
Photography
Tinned food
Sewing machines
Postage stamps
Antiseptics
Morse code
Propellers
A Florida without propellors is a Florida without fast boats going down the river or up the bay. It was a time before photography, a time when dolphins were seen and only remembered by memory.
Many of the great American icons who helped create the national identity of the citizens of the United States were born years after Madison and Hamilton were already fully realized, people like:
Emily Dickinson
Louisa May Alcott
Annie Edson Taylor
Andrew Carnegie
Mark Twain
Levi Strauss
Henry Flagler
The American entrepreneur Henry Flagler is arguably the reason Florida was ushered into more prosperous times and how the state became what it is today. Both Madison and Hamilton Counties were born long before the future of Florida had begun. The counties that lay in the Suwannee Valley reflect the true "Old Florida," a place that so many have quickly forgotten. Before Flagler went down south with his railroads, Florida was largely known as a wild place with no future prospects. But it was a time and place where nothing was certain, meaning anything could happen.
Today, Hamilton County is home to 15,000 residents, and Madison County has over 18,000. When Florida officially became a state in 1845, it hosted 60,000 people. Today, there are over 21 million people who call Florida home. Less than 200 years have passed, and so much has happened already, one can only wonder what else will happen in the next 200. The citizens of places like Madison and Hamilton continue to hold their history close and their 400th birthday is sure to be a day of honor and reflection too.