During the 1830s, the Florida area was still a U.S.Territory. Along the coastal peninsula, Henry Cruger and William DePeyster cooked up a plan for a new business venture. They purchased 600 acres to grow and process sugarcane. African-American slaves were brought in to plant the cane and erect the processing building. The slaves remained on the plantation to process the cane. Heavy crushing machinery was brought in from New York. And just like any new venture, converting sugarcane into refined sugar, took a great deal of time for set-up and slow to turn a profit.
     Before any real profit was realized, 1835 warring Seminole Indians, aided by the plantation's slaves, chased off the overseer, John Sheldon, and destroyed the building, cane fields, and burnt the town of New Smyrna.
     Almost 60 years later, a New York stockbroker, Washington E. Connor, purchased 10 acres of property that including the old mill ruins. Conner's wife, historian Jeanette Thurber Conner, had great interest in the sugar mill and its short lived history. The New Smyrna property was conveyed to the Florida State Park Service in 1929.