Florida Cattle and Cracker Cowmen | Untold Stories | Florida History

Long before Florida was famous for its oranges, beaches and tourist industry, there was the cattle trade. North America's first cattle were introduced in Florida in 1521. Over the years, the state's cattle industry thrived through numerous wars, The Great Depression, insect invasions, hurricanes and land development. This is the story of the people and places that made it possible.
The sunshine state has a rich and colorful history. For hundreds of years the state has attracted dreamers, opportunists, inventors and fortune-seekers. WGCU's Untold Stories aims to preserve the history of Southwest Florida communities.
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Florida Cattle and Cracker Cowmen | Untold Stories | Florida History
WGCU PBS & NPR for Southwest Florida
#UntoldStories #WGCU #SouthwestFlorida

[@wgcu]

***Where did the term "Florida Cracker" come from? **kzbin.info/www/bejne/d3PVgqOsitd_l7c** ***

[@kingdaviYT049]

See my note below. The OED is SLIGHTLY more reliable than Wikipedia!

[@dixieboy5689]

Thanks for helping. Too many Yankees and flatlanders have no idea what this word means.

[@dixieboy5689]

Wikipedia ?? Now there is an indisputable purveyor of their own truth. I'll stick with OED and other sources for truth, as well. . Thx.

[@seymourwrasse3321]

@@dixieboy5689 flatlanders? as opposed to the mountaineers in Fl.

[@johnedward-yk6rt]

Surprisingly no one has touched upon the definition... The word cracker come from the cracking of the whip to round up the cattle... I'm not a native Floridian although I've lived here for 53 years I was born in Duluth Minnesota and even I know that...

[@karenstrawbridge6473]

My family ran cattle in Florida from 1820 till 2005. When I moved to Tennessee. If Florida was able to go back in time, when I was a child . I would move back asap. I miss the old Florida where there was lots of woods, not houses. I still run cattle here in Tennessee. Have lots of woods and no near neighbors. Proud to be a 6th generation Cracker. No matter where I live will always be a Cracker.

[@darlenehoover6577]

Born and raised a Florida Cracker. Nowhere I wind up, my heart remains in old Florida.

[@keithqueen352]

You lost you're cracker card when you left Florida.

[@glossymoss03]

Well it's even worse now. I grew up in the country in Brooksville and it has built up so much now there's barely any woods left anymore😭😭 I miss it terribly 😔

[@lamontpearce170]

@@glossymoss03 Myself as .Have deep roots in Hernando county in the Spring Lake area. I remember hwy 50 as 2 lane shell based. I miss the old FL ...

[@tobyhorn9641]

@@darlenehoover6577 like me with Arkansas

[@williamjones3462]

I grew up in Arkansas, daddy was a farm mechanic. The farmer allowed us 1 acre for a garden and 5 acres for pasture. We raised our food (except coffee, sugar and flour) We slaughtered our cows, pigs and chickens. That is a reality check leaning nothing in life is free except sunshine and rain

[@leanneadams2549]

That lady said it ALL. All there will be in Florida is people. No food being raised just people !!! WOW

[@Jerseydaves]

I’ll keep it short… thank you for your time and speaking about this. My first hand experience as a meat cutter that’s been in the business for 45 years 34 of it spent with one supermarket I’ve noticed the decline in the product that comes in !especially from national beef packing where they’re just where they used to trim a lot of the fat off of like the boneless top chuck especially the top round super fatty ! Excel trimmed off the sides just like take it off the sirloin and where it falls it falls horrible. Besides small heard … fat cattle and packers selling fat !! Not like it was! I’ll show pictures if interested. Thanks again!

[@kv2723]

Environmental extremists do not want meat available to ppl. Period. This shortage and these outrageous prices is intentional. China is buying up our farmland. It's all intentional.

[@bcn365]

I'm 33, grew up in Cape Coral & Fort Myers until I was 20. I love these old Florida Untold Stories docs so much. So nostalgic ❤️

[@lordthunderchicken4636]

The development of the county I live is heartbreaking. The big cattle families sold out and now storage lots and dollar store are there now. Where there was once pastures its multi family units and pools. I didnt grow up in a farming family but I have a strong drive to move my family into that. Hopefully it happens so I can pass on that tradition.

[@jonathanwoodham4165]

My family is still involved in Cattle Ranching in South Okeechobee. Still have My Great Grandfather's Bull Penis Bull Whip over 100 Years old...still works.

[@earth_ling]

Lived there for years. Did you know the Aerietta’s that ranched in Port Mayaca. Two brothers from Puerto Rico started it. They were there for decades as ranchers. Grew up with their kids.

[@lao1634]

My prayers to you & your family what our government is doing to American farmers is horrible What development is doing to Florida is awful Thank you for holding on to old Florida ❤🙏

[@znmcg]

@@earth_lingwe have the palm tree farm in port Mayaca now where there was a orange grove. Small world

[@earth_ling]

@@znmcg Man I think that I spent most of my youth around Port Mayaca. There’s a grave yard beside hwy 76…a lot of folks around there believe that there are “haints” around it…and some have been known to speed up when going by so as to keep them from catching a ride in your car with you…lol. A good friend of mine was a State Trooper around that area and heard that from several speeders that he had stopped along that road. A good friend of mine hit a herd of cattle on that stretch of road in the middle of a heavy fog. Almost killed him. He was coming back to his home late…they had got loose and were standing in the middle of the highway. He was Cowboying somewhere heading back to Okeechobee.

[@sarahmiller3941]

I'm related to the Kilpatricks through my maternal grandmother.

[@russpost2557]

Look at Babcock ranch , that is where we are going. It took them 10 years to get the permits they needed to destroy one of the original ranches of the day . Gone and never going to be able to replace .

[@lynnchaney5258]

Babcock Ranch does have a plan to maintain and operate cattle operation there. I have toured it. very interesting. Not every ranch in Florida offers tours to the public.

[@mjford6152]

There is corporate farming and not many family farms survive that. Whimsical fun is the substitute. Lobbyist are not our friends. Vote

[@monicaridlehoover3599]

A good historical fiction book that covers several generations of Crackers is called A Land Remembered by Patrick D. Smith.

[@dixieboy5689]

I love that book.

[@dixieboy5689]

I was at a reading of his works ,by his son, in Cedar Key , Fl. a number of years ago. It was a wonderful evening and the packed house was a tribute to his fathers works. And we all got some insight to who Patrick Smith was. He was a remarkable man, and I can recommend anyone to read some of his works. It will give a clear picture of what was what , back then.

[@tamarlicalzi6184]

Florida Born and Raised. Love my state. ❤️

[@lisatowe778]

Generations cracker, grew up around cattlemen and small rodeos. Florida was great then, but i have to admit my ancestors were tough, if you didn't have screens the mosquitoes would eat you alive. We had a little window unit for the whole house, no heat of course. Lot of folks didn't have air conditioning at all. Orange groves, cattle fields, the beaches were wild even then, not crowded like they are now. I miss it, now when I want that kind of feeling I go to the Carolinas or Georgia, Tennessee etc. One of these days I will leave and not come back, this kind of crowded rude humanity makes it no longer what it once was. I can imagine California was like this, I saw it in the beginning of the 80s and could only picture it 20 years before that.

[@JeffEarnest]

It's a crying shame what the greedy political idiots did to this state. I am a 5th generation Florida native and all of my relatives are spinning in their graves. It does my heart good to hear that you know the truth about our proud native Floridians that still live here. We are getting less and less and that's a shame. We're going to try to educate you how we do it in the south. But you will understand what the truth is.

[@dixieboy5689]

I dated a woman from central Florida years ago. She had horses, beef, goats and a 3 legged donkey. The name of her operation was Cracker Hammock Ranch. This Yankee from coastal Maine sure learned alot from this country girl. She gave me the book " A land Remembered "" and said there would be no more kisses , until I read that book !! I was a speed reader for sure. She was a good kisser. So yeah, I was motivated. I love ranch life. What a wonderful welcome to another of the aspects Florida has to offer.

[@jamesbass7981]

My Family hunted wild cattle in a place called San Pedro Bay Florida, Madison FL.

[@samflower31]

My great grandfather was a cattle rancher in the Kissimmee\StCloud area, I am an 8th generation Floridian on one side, from the Raulerson family line.

[@hampton4454]

I am enjoying these videos. I am a descendant of Captain F.A. Hendry.

[@pamshewan9181]

This is a great series. I am a fifth generation Florida Native and did not know a lot of this in the video. Thank you.

[@rogerdevero8726]

Pam, I imagine you've read, "A Land Remembered" A 'must read' for everyone who loves this state. John 3:16

[@katherinemoore52]

My sons are 9th generation Floridians. My great-great-grandparents settled on the land that is now Highlands Hammock State Park. They were Florida crackers that drove cattle to Punta Rassa ( near Sanibel Island) and sold it to men who were taking it by boat to Cuba. I am so thankful to have many of the photographs of their time while they worked the cattle. I am so thankful for this video and have shared it with my children and grandchildren. Thank you

[@JeffEarnest]

Not many of us left

[@kjnest]

Love this series!! Thank you!! I am new to fl. And like hearing about the history!!

[@dadpop795]

I love this, my dad was a cowboy in his late teens in Clewistion for a short time.

[@Chris-vp2lm]

There's a good book called "Florida Cowman" with a lot of history. It's leather bound with a cowboy popping a whip on the cover.

[@Ravenoflight2275]

This is awesome. I live in Tallahassee been here since I was 5 from North Carolina never knew we have cowboy’s in Florida . I moved to Texas for 4 years to the outskirts of Houston and came back to Tampa then back home to Tallahassee with my first cowboy hat 😅.

[@Bobman4671]

Id love to hear about the old time and blues traditions from the State.

[@asullivan4047]

Interesting/informative/entertaining. Excellent still pictures/drawings/maps/reenactments/guest speakers sharing their knowledge & experience. Pertaining to the past & present cattle industry.

[@reecedobson4740]

Awesome documentary I love Florida history

[@leighallen9255]

I grew up in Miami and sure would love to go home but it would have to change

[@deborahbreeden4394]

My uncle rented a spot from 1000 acres in Lutz in the late 1960s to raise hogs. I drove by there in 2023. It was all houses. I used to ride my cousin's pony. I'd spend the whole day exploring the land. It was a blast!

[@robertbachelor6993]

Most cracker cattle swam ashore when storms sank the galleons along the florida east coast during the 15 hundreds,and horses too.and hogs.they had couple hundred years and became numerous.and tough.

[@johndekoyer7588]

Seminole in the Creek language means "Runaway"

[@marialuizasantos7336]

Top as histórias desses bravos homens ABÇS a VCS amigos Cowboy Americanos Do Netao

[@FLORIDAHOODVLOGS]

i saw let them raise cows, the more cows they have.. the less the panthers will eat our poodles

[@BobF510]

This is a thoughtfully presented piece. A book with parallel material I read inspired significant personal changes. "The Silent Bridge: Echoes of the Unspoken Past" by Emma Wick

[@tyranhepburn600]

Many don’t know Florida used to be all back waters 30 years ago

[@ZarpeParadise]

"Seminole Wind" song John Anderson I remember the 50's on

[@brassmonkey7566]

Tampa was a cow port during the Spanish American War shipping cattle and men to cuba

[@rbnhd1976]

Thanks for uploading these films!

[@robbierussell5964]

Is there a part 2? I didn’t see anything about the Partin’s.

[@Flacowboy4hire]

Great info of the hidden Cattle industry in Florida

[@AmericafromthegrindWolfe]

Which was a good educational video I really appreciate it. Born and raised here in Florida 45 years. I'm always trying to figure everything out. And I find the history to be so important in The Way of Life. As a carpenter making most money in the new construction and is 3 I sympathize with the old times the old ways because it's just so much common sense. There is so much over developing taking place. This new construction is just BS to me. I wish it would stop so we could preserve as much as we can. By now. I watch so much of this state. Just go to ruins. I miss the forest that I grew up in the Saint Lucy river. There's a mud hole now, and so many other ones. Are the Indian rivers bend destroyed for the most part? I just makes me so sad, it's so horrible to watch.

[@lizgibson5266]

Cattle ranches are dissappearing as fast as orange groves. Everybody's growing houses now. You only get to sell them once.

[@freddyhernandez4914]

What is the song at the end

[@grahamhuls2716]

Delete the fountain of youth statement, Ponce was looking for Bimini & gold ..he and Colon didn't realise the lands the Taino were describing was the Yucatan. The various Spanish historians sensationalised Ponce' trip with the fountain of youth story almost 20 years later.

[@siksika4603]

I don't think the tanio were in Florida.

[@morgandarby2364]

@@siksika4603 no ponce de leon was governor of Puerto rico and visited cuba many times and those places (the greater Antilles) had taino people lived on those islands. And he spoke with them.

[@siksika4603]

@@morgandarby2364 gotcha

[@grahamhuls2716]

@@siksika4603 yes they were, 2 Taino guides from San Juan with Ponce at 1st landing of Florida

[@grahamhuls2716]

The Taino knew very much about Florida, and lands abutting the gulf of Mexico, conducted trade

[@lorrainemjavorsky6140]

Do you have a TWH now or still ride a Cracker?

[@werepat]

Hey, it is pretty awful that you try to rename the Trail of Tears to the Trail of Wars 11:04 Is this another restriction imposed on the education system by your government?

[@kingdaviYT049]

Cracker" ACTUALLY appears in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) and dates from the 1500's! But the folk tales about it are too popular to bother actually doing any research!

[@michaeldinkins9145]

William Shakespeare used the term cracker

[@pvb876287]

Absolutely great doc. Valuable knowledge for the citizens of Florida. Incentives to develop the cattle industry in Florida, while preserving natural habitat.

[@davidash2727]

Good site PBS quality

[@DoIoannToKnow]

the most recent flood of new yorkers have no idea that florida is historically one of the most yeehaw places in the country and thats just sad

[@laurastewart9877]

And we actually have a little town called Yeehaw Junction!

[@DoIoannToKnow]

@@laurastewart9877 I pass through it on route 60 often. I always shout yeehaw passing the cows

[@lao1634]

Yes it is

[@stevewilson1388]

@24:01 "by the late 1800's Florida was considered the last frontier in the US"?? Really?

[@Victorio-f9y]

So who is the Ponce de León that lived in El Paso Texas?

[@thepamela050]

I came from the Parkers where Bone Mizelle was their cattle foreman...

[@jimhurleywhitakerjr]

Love the Taylor Guitar Co. Music album tracks

[@rfs2942]

Lovely

[@chrisrogers5814]

Florida had the largest uninterrupted ranch in north America

[@lizgibson5266]

I remember when Kissimmee was a cow town.

[@michaelsorrentino-yp7nb]

Born in Dade County in the mid 50s and never knew all of this fascinating history. Very interesting stuff right here !!

[@vakkerdame8557]

Some of this seems so barbaric, but history tends to be. Interesting info regarding our sunny states past.

[@jesslynrooks4468]

This is how we lived. It's not bullshit Yellowstone . We rolled out Before day light 😂 You took care of those cows and they took care of you

[@nevertoopoortotour.3033]

Ft Myers what's up

[@chrisrogers5814]

Abilene Kansas to Kissimmee FL I get it

[@lizgibson5266]

We grew bramer cows in my neighborhood. We had no idea what a brahma was 😂

[@evelitalian]

Did they have to whip the horse?

[@Bella-bz7fq]

Scru worms🤔😔

[@TheWizardGamez]

shoutout nell gammage for saying that shit with her chest. i was agast for a couple seconds but hey. what can i expect rip probably

[@AmericafromthegrindWolfe]

Another display of how mankind is the enemy to the world. It is blows. My mind what's amazing that this world is even still here right now

[@krazyykuban31]

The sheer ignorance and racism that naturally came out of Nell G, she said what’s gunna happen is one day we’ll be like the people in India, or Africa , we not gon’ have any food. 🤣 awe man

[@lizgibson5266]

As a Florida native I understand where she's coming from. Farmlands, groves, and ranches are disappearing at an alarming rate. They are being replaced by golf courses and neighborhoods. I remember when you didn't see foods from other countries in the grocery stores. Most of what you ate was grown here in Florida.

[@peterburke8650]

Great story thanks.

[@squarecracker]

Greenbelt law-allow me to pay almost 0 taxes on land I'm trying to sell for $500k per acre. Absolute joke.

[@Cat-ik1wo]

Sad, that they use a white man colored up to re enact the natives. This cut is too deep to heal.

[@buckodonnghaile4309]

Then wallow in your misery or get busy living. Why is looking forward so hard for many?