History

David Levy Yulee was a member of Florida's first constitutional convention in 1838-39; and in 1841, was elected as a territorial delegate to the Congress. When Florida became a state in 1845, he was chosen as its first U.S. Senator.

When the Civil War began in 1861, the mill served as a supplier of sugar products for Southern troops, and his mansion became a supply stockpile.

In May 1864, a Union naval force burned his home. The mill escaped harm, but never reopened.