Celebrating Yulee Days

KRISTINA ORREGO/Alachua County Today

Loud booms and billowing smoke accompanied Archer Historical Society member Robert Kasicki's firing of a 19th Century style cannon.

ARCHER – The whistles of the trains in Archer were once loud enough to distract children as they sat in school. The noise scared chickens so much they stopped laying eggs.

Ann Green, a member of the Archer Historical Society, said the people of Archer didn’t have the easiest time getting used to the Yulee Railroad when its line was completed through Archer in March of 1858.

Yet nearly 160 years later, it’s a reason for a festival.

Local families and vendors came out Saturday for Yulee Day, an event held every March in Archer to celebrate the Yulee Railroad.

A line-up of cars, men on motorcycles from the Gainesville Shrine Club and an Alachua County fire truck all made their way through the street for a parade during the afternoon.

Boisterous booms left heavy clouds of gray smoke in the air as Historical Society member Robert Kasicki fired 19^th Century-style canons outside his home.

The Archer Historical Museum was open to visitors to peruse 19^th Century relics and featured a miniature model railroad, which continuously coursed around while children watched on in awe.

Mayor Corey Harris said he was excited about the event because he considers it to be a great way to show Archer’s rich history.

“Yulee Day is an opportunity for the citizens to host a number of families and individuals from surrounding communities and showcase and highlight what the city of Archer is all about,” he said.

David Levy Yulee, born June 12, 1810, founded the Florida Railroad Company and served as its president from 1853 to 1866. It was the first cross-state railroad and ran from Fernandina Beach to Cedar Key, according to Green.

Green said the railroad became the way Yulee, owner of Cotton Wood Plantation just outside of Archer, could transport cotton either to Fernandina or Cedar Key, where it would get put on boats and sent to Cuba or Northern states.

Yulee also studied and practiced law in St. Augustine. He served as a U.S. senator from 1845 to 1851 and 1855 to 1861.

“The sentiment around the railroad is it’s about the main thing we have right now that we celebrate on an annual basis,” Green said. “[The railroad] doesn’t run anymore, but it’s still marked.”

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