Ellaville, Florida: A Sawmill Empire Where Two Rivers Meet

01Where the Suwannee and the Withlacoochee Meet

The town stood on the west side of the Suwannee, where the Withlacoochee meets it. According to the state historical marker, the sawmill ruins lie on the west bank of the Withlacoochee near that confluence, and US 90 ran through the town. The setting made sense for lumber. Rivers carried timber, and a railroad crossed the Suwannee here.

The settlement's postal history is older than the name Ellaville. A post office was established at Columbus on February 17, 1842. In 1867 it moved across the Suwannee, and in 1872 it was renamed Ellaville. George F. Drew was postmaster from 1867 to 1883, which tied the town's civic life to its principal industrialist from the beginning.

Drew is the central figure. Around 1865 he built the largest sawmill in Florida at Ellaville, the "sawmill and manufacturing complex" the state marker, erected in 1972, credits him with establishing in the mid-1860s. Drew and Louis Bucki later ran the operation together as the Drew & Bucki Lumber Company.

The name raises its own question. Two sources say the town was named for Ella, Drew's longtime African-American servant. Wikipedia's infobox instead credits Ella Bucki, wife of Drew's business partner, and nothing else found supports that. The question appears to be unsettled.

02Drew's Mill, Mansion, and the Town Around Them

The mill was the town. Beyond lumber, one source lists turpentine and railroad-car building among the local industries. The State Archives notes that the Drew family was also involved in mercantile and railroad business.

Drew went on to serve as governor of Florida from 1877 to 1881. The marker says his mansion, built in the late 1860s, had parquet floors and formal gardens and was among the first homes in the area with modern utilities. A WPA-era history of Madison County, written in the 1930s or 1940s, described the house as still standing. After his term, Drew reportedly sold his shares to Bucki and moved to Jacksonville, though that detail comes from a secondary source.

How many people lived here is disputed. The state marker says "several hundred." One ghost-town directory says about 1,000 at one time, and that figure appears without sourcing elsewhere. Census bulletins from 1900 and 1920 list a "Precinct 2, Ellaville," which confirms the community was counted, but the excerpts reviewed were unreadable, so no figures can be given.

The town's history also includes violence. A 1919 NAACP compilation lists three lynching victims on May 19, 1895, all in or near Ellaville: Samuel Echols at Ellaville, and John Brooks and Simeon Crowley near it.

03What Happened to Ellaville?

No single event ended the town. The mill burned in 1898 and was rebuilt, but the supply of yellow pine was dwindling, and the rebuilt mill closed around 1900 when the pine ran out. The state marker says the town declined after 1900. Floods and the Depression came afterward.

The post office outlasted the mill by decades. The marker lists the later postmasters:

• Robert L. Millinor, 1893–1912
• Frederick Stroud, 1914–1922
• Mrs. Pearl E. Noegel, 1929–1942

According to Abandoned Florida, Pearl's husband Henry C. Noegel ran the Camp Suwannee store that housed the post office, and he was shot to death on January 6, 1929. His widow then took over as postmaster. A Florida Memory photograph shows the post office as a former camp cottage, nicknamed "Tiny," moved near the bridge. A Madison County Historical Society marker says it was cited by Ripley as "The Smallest Post Office in the World."

The state marker says the town "ceased to exist" when the post office closed in 1942. The mansion survived the town. Abandoned and vandalized, it was destroyed by fire in 1970, nearly three decades after the town itself had gone.

04Can You Visit Ellaville Today?

Yes, on foot. The site lies within the Twin Rivers State Forest and the Suwannee River State Park Annex, and trails lead to the ruins. Natural North Florida describes a walk past the sawmill remains and Suwannacoochee Spring, which supplied the town's water.

The Hillman Bridge is the most visible structure. Florida Memory describes it as a through truss built as a federal aid project in 1925–26 by the R.H.H. Blackwell Co. of East Aurora, New York. It carried US 90 over the Suwannee until it was bypassed and abandoned in 1986. HistoricBridges.org notes that it remains open to pedestrians.

Abandoned Florida says the Suwannee River Store nearby was built in 1928. That single-source detail is worth checking locally before you go.

05What Remains of Ellaville Today

Ellaville is a place of ruins and trails, not buildings. The mansion's brick foundations and steps sit in the woods northwest of the state marker, and the sawmill ruins lie along the riverbank. The Hillman Bridge still spans the Suwannee, open only to walkers. There are no streets, houses, or commercial buildings. Visitors should treat what they find as a historic site and leave it as it is.