Shiloh Tenant Cabins | Marion County, FL | c. early 1900s
These modest cabins have stood along a picturesque back road in North Florida back road almost 100 years. And while they’re no longer in use today, they’ve become a favorite landmark for people who pass through this area. But without a historic marker, few of their admirers know the story of these buildings. A story of a small community that used to be here and a Florida boom industry that many have never heard of.
Early History of Geiger, later known as Shiloh
Although it’s an unincorporated area today, the place where these cabins stand has gone by a few different names, first Geiger and then Shiloh. Previously inhabited by various native tribes like the Timucua and Seminoles, settlers of European descent started migrating to the area from Georgia and the Carolinas in the 1840s as a result of the Armed Occupation Act. Land parcels were granted to families in North Florida and here in present-day Marion County, a group of families laid down roots that still reach through local residents today.
According to census information, these early settlers were mostly farmers and over time, they cleared forestland to plant crops and raise livestock. They found the soil of the area to be favorable for growing citrus, cotton, sugarcane, and many different kinds of vegetables.
The community flourished until the Civil War when many of its sons went off to fight and the rest were left to fend for themselves during trying times. After the war was over, families persisted here but would face more challenges in the 1890s when devastating freezes hit their crops in back-to-back years, wiping out most of the area citrus.
In the early 1900s, their cotton crops were hit by the boll weevil, dealing another big blow to area farmers who struggled to make ends meet in many cases. But a new industry was emerging in Florida and across the south that brought new jobs into the small community of Shiloh; turpentine.
The Turpentine History in Florida
The turpentine industry began to boom alongside the naval supply stores that used their products and the vast pine forests of North Florida were a lucrative ground for harvesting gum sap to make turpentine. Between the 1920s and 30s, hundreds of turpentine camps popped up on the Florida maps to house workers who came to harvest the pine gum. They would cut ‘cat faces’ into the trees where small buckets would gather the pine gum that came from the cuts.
Zetrouer Farm History Turpentine Workers and Sharecroppers in Shiloh
As this new industry emerged, Shiloh resident, Daniel Remshart Zetrouer, saw an opportunity and took it. He hired two local men who were neighbors of his, Cecil Pardee and J.C. Mixson to build 12 cabins across his property for turpentine workers and sharecropping families who worked on his farm. They were constructed of wood harvested from trees on the same farm. Thought to have been built between the 1920s and 30s at least 8 of them still stand today, scattered along the roadside and hidden in the woods.
The Little Family Home
As the turpentine industry faded away, the homes were rented to people who were looking for work and needed housing who could work on Zetrouer’s farm. One such family was the Little Family who lived here, H.B. and Mattie. Both of their families had come here from Georgia and they lived in tenant houses next to each other here growing up, before they married and made a home here themselves.
H.B. worked as a carpenter on the Zetrouer Farm and Mattie, who always kept her front door open, was fondly remembered for her hospitality, as well as the biscuits and gravy she cooked. H.B. and Mattie also kept a garden in the woods behind their house where they grew cabbage and collard greens and a hand pump with water so cold, their granddaughter said it was like it was from a fridge. H.B. was remembered for bringing rabbits, possum, and raccoons home to eat that he had caught with his beloved hound dogs.
1950-Today
The farm went out of operation in 1951 when Daniel passed away and the land went to his descendants but H.B. and Mattie continued to live in the house until the 1960s or 70s. They’re buried next to each other, one mile from these houses.
Today, the land is still an active farm, owned by descendants of the Zetrouer and Leitner Families. The buildings are all on private property and well looked after.
DO NOT TRESPASS HERE!
