Burnsed Blockhouse: Florida's Last Frontier Fort

The Burnsed Blockhouse is the last surviving example of its kind in Florida. Built in eighteen thirty-seven at the order of President Andrew Jackson, it was part of a line of log fortresses with gun ports cut into the walls to protect pioneer settlers during the Second Seminole War. Most were eventually torn down or rotted away.

This one survived because James Burnsed, who arrived around that time, converted the military structure into a home by adding bedrooms and a dogtrot kitchen. It is believed to be the oldest surviving structure in Baker County. In nineteen seventy-three it was added to the National Register of Historic Places, and the building was later relocated from its original site in Sanderson to Heritage Park in Macclenny, where it stands today.