Casa de Laga Plantation

Location of Casa de Laga Plantation.

Casa de Laga Plantation was a moderate sized cotton plantation of 1228 acres (5 km²) located in west central Leon County, Florida, USA established by George A. Croom. It was also known as the Ball and McCabe Place and later as Shidzuoka.

Location

Casa de Laga was located along the southwest shores of Lake Jackson. Today the plantation's grounds are the neighborhoods surrounding Harriet Drive, Longview Drive, Faulk Drive, Shady Oaks Drive, and slightly across N. Monroe Street or U.S. Highway 27.

1860 plantation specifics

The Leon County Florida 1860 Agricultural Census shows that the Casa de Laga Plantation had the following:

• Improved Land: 800 acres (3 km²)
• Unimproved Land: 428 acres (2 km²)
• Cash value of plantation: $15,000
• Cash value of farm implements/machinery: $500
• Cash value of farm animals: $5850
• Number of slaves: 70
• Bushels of corn: 3,000
• Bales of cotton: 200

Croom had 96 head of cattle, 100 sheep and 100 swine. He also produced 200 pounds of wool and slaughtered livestock valued at $3000.

Owners

George Alexander Croom was born October 7, 1821. He married Julia M. Church on February 13, 1843. He died July 5, 1890.

In 1883 Casa de Laga was sold to H. D. McColloch of Wisconsin. McColloch then sold the plantation 6 months later to Professor E. Warren Clark of Narragansett Pier, Rhode Island and Austn M. Purvis of Philadelphia. Clark would eventually turn the plantation into a game preserve. In 1891, a Charles T. Wilson of Cincinnati opened the Lake Jackson Hunting Lodge on the property.

References

• Rootsweb Plantations
• Largest Slaveholders from 1860 Slave Census Schedules
• Paisley, Clifton; From Cotton To Quail, University of Florida Press, c1968.