Rosewood

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Rosewood was settled in 1845 nine miles east of Cedar Key, Florida, located near the Gulf of Mexico. The growth of the timber industry and nearby farming of citrus and some cotton allowed a train depot and a post office to be built in 1870. Local industry also included two functioning pencil mills in Cedar Key. Initial residents were both black and white establishing both black and white churches, but after the closure of the pencil mills, by 1900 the population was predominantly black. The largest population counted was 700 in 1915 but was never all black.

In 1920, Rosewood had three churches, a black school, a large black Masonic Hall, a black-owned turpentine mill, a black-owned sugar mill, a black-owned general store, a white-owned general store, and a black baseball team. Plank two-story homes were located in the town numbering two dozen or so, as well as several small plank structures that were unoccupied.