Bedingfield Inn

History of Stewart County

Stewart County was named for General Daniel Stewart of Revolutionary War fame. On December 23, 1830, Stewart County was made from a portion of Randolph County. It included the land districts of 18 through 25 and parts of 31, 32 and 33. At this time much of the land that formed the county was inhabited by small bands of wandering Indians. Many of them were hostile, still seething in anger because of the treaty between their chief, McIntosh, and Governor Lumpkin in 1825, which gave all the land between the Flint River and the Chattahoochee River to the State of Georgia. There were small settlements, trading posts and villages already in this territory prior to the signing of the treaty in 1825. One with which we are most familiar was Roanoke, which was located on the Chattahoochee River banks on what we know as the Eugene Thompson plantation. This is about three miles south of the Florence Marina. It has been properly marked by the Daughters of the American Revolution. The village was burned by the Indians in 1836. This same year the Indians staged their last battle with the whites at Shepherd’s Plantation. This battle site also has a DAR marker.

Another village, called Florence, had a population of over a thousand by 1840. It had an academy approved by the legislature in 1837. Before 1886 it had banks, churches and a cotton seed oil mill. It had a newspaper and at one time had a big warehouse and 20 to 25 stores, 8 barrooms and even a race track. It was at Florence that Osceola and McIntosh smoked the peace pipe. There are many interesting anecdotes in the History of Stewart County. The Book may be purchased at the Inn.