The Frontier Arrives

The arrival of the first settlers in Brevard: Brevard County's first non-indigenous settlers began arriving in the 1840s and 1850s, after Florida became a U.S. state in 1845 and the Seminole Wars pushed the Seminole people south, opening the land for homesteading. The land they found: The settlers found a landscape of pine flatwoods, palmetto scrub, oak hammocks, and cypress swamps, threaded by the Indian River Lagoon. There were no roads, no towns, no stores. Wildlife was abundant — deer, turkey, bear, otters, and enormous flocks of birds. The lagoon was full of fish, oysters, and clams. Getting here: Most early settlers arrived by boat — sailing down the coast and into the Indian River Inlet — or by rough trails cut through the scrub. A few came overland with wagons. The journey was long, difficult, and sometimes dangerous. Who they were: The first settlers were a mix of cattlemen, farmers, fishermen, and their families. Many came from other parts of Florida, Georgia, and the Carololas; some came from the northern U.S. and even from Europe. They were willing to endure hardship for the chance of free land and a fresh start. These first families settled along the lagoon — where land was accessible by boat and the soil was workable — and began the slow, hard work of turning a wild frontier into farms and homes. The towns that would later become Titusville, Cocoa, Rockledge, Eau Gallie, and Melbourne all started as a single family's homestead on the lagoon.