Sugar Mill Ruins Offers Sweet Trip Into the Past

Tucked away in a hard to find sliver of land off of Old Mission Road is one of NSB’s oldest landmarks. It’s also one with a confusing but interesting past.

For years, locals proclaimed that the site was an Old Spanish Mission, and most of the population referred to it as such. There were even early rumors that Columbus himself had built a chapel there. By the time of the 1930’s, property owner Jeanette Connor ran with the version that it was an old Spanish Mission and advertised it as such. It wasn’t true, but it was good for business.

The story was so widely spread and believed that the road the old Sugar Mill sits on is called “Old Mission.” Truthfully, the Spanish Mission idea is a more romantic version than reality, but having 200 year-old Sugar Mill ruins in our city is pretty damn cool, too.

The coquina ruins are still generally in pretty good shape considering that the Mill was built in 1830. With equipment shipped from upstate New York the new construction at the Cruger-dePeyster Sugar Mill must have been an impressive site. Unfortunately, it was also an attractive target for Seminole Indians who attacked and destroyed the Mill in 1835 during the Second Seminole War. Slave labor was used at the mill, and there are stories that the local slave population partnered with the indians during that battle.

After that brief five-year history, the mill was abandoned and nature started to take over. There were also raids on the property for building materials over the year which has resulted in a few of the exterior walls being removed.

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places fifty years ago. Major restoration efforts in 2007 helped to preserve the site to the compelling state you find today.

If you have 30-45 minutes, check it out. The site is relatively small, but there’s some cool stuff there. The highlight are the ruins from two buildings, but there are also a handful of interesting period artifacts located throughout the property. In addition, there’s a quick nature walk through the surrounding woods. The short trail is loaded with pretty epiphytes.

If you are going, the biggest challenge is finding the entrance. The entrance is a small dirt road directly across from the Old Mission Road / Mission Road intersection. It’s a tight squeeze driving in, so be wary of other vehicles.

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