City: Homosassa   County: Citrus   Year: 2024
Location: 3625 W Oak Park Blvd

SIDE ONE: Turpentine camps were found throughout Florida in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Working in teams of 10 to 20, men scraped strips of bark from the longleaf pines and collected the resin in waiting containers. The resin would then be moved to nearby stills and refined into tar, pitch, rosin, and turpentine. These were vital to many products, including paints, medicines, soaps, lamp oil, and cosmetics. Because they were used extensively in the maritime industry, turpentine products were called “Naval Stores.” Florida once led the world in the production of naval stores. The harvesting of turpentine was labor intensive, and camps were established so that people could live near the work sites. Camps often relocated to untapped forests. As the naval stores industry declined, many turpentine camps shifted to lumber production or were dismantled and abandoned. The industry exploited both workers and the environment, forcing laborers, mainly African Americans and incarcerated people, to work in harsh conditions while also impacting millions of acres of pine trees. SIDE TWO: From 1898 to 1926, Etna was a turpentine and lumber camp. It reached peak operation in 1905, with over 200 predominantly African American workers living in the camp. At that time, Etna consisted of over 50 structures, including a post office, two turpentine stills, a sawmill, a blacksmith shop, a cooperage for making barrels, an eight-mile tram line, and a company store. In 1993, surveyors for a natural gas pipeline discovered the remains of the camp. The Etna Turpentine Camp Archaeological Site was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2009. Reconstructed remnants from one of the turpentine stills (pictured below) were relocated and incorporated into an exhibit at the Withlacoochee State Forest Visitor Center in Brooksville.