The History of Highlands County

An Ancient Island and the First Peoples

In ancient times, the Lake Wales Ridge was an island. Lake June-in-Winter Scrub Preserve State Park sits on that ridge. Early Cracker pioneers called habitats like the ones in this park scrubs.

Mastodons once lived on the land that is now Highlands Hammock State Park. The Jororo people are believed to have lived in the park area. Several mounds in the park, thought to be Jororo, were ruined before archaeologists could study them. The Calusa people also visited the Sebring area.

Sources: Florida State Parks: Lake June-in-Winter Scrub Preserve State Park History; Highlands News-Sun: A short history of Highlands Hammock State Park (Bobby Lee, Sebring Historical Society, June 3, 2026)

Cow Camps, Citrus and Avon Park

Settlers began to move into the area after the three Seminole Wars. Captain William Hooker set up a cow camp near today's Highlands Hammock for his large cattle business, and the place became known as Hooker's Hammock. The Skipper family, headed by Johnathan Skipper, bought out Hooker's claims sometime between 1850 and 1880. A WPA history says the land of today's Highlands County was used mostly as cattle range until about 1900.

In 1869, Thomas Knight set out the first citrus trees in the Lake Placid area. Oliver Martin Crosby came in 1884 to study Everglades wildlife, and the City of Avon Park calls him its first permanent settler. Enough newcomers had arrived by 1886 for the settlement to be incorporated, and many came from England. An Englishwoman who had settled there told Crosby the place was like her old home of Stratford-upon-Avon, and she talked him into renaming the settlement Avon Park. Two hard freezes struck in 1894 and 1895, and Crosby left along with many townspeople.

In 1912, an Atlantic Coast Line passenger and freight train came to Avon Park twice a week. Citrus packing houses and crate mills brought steady work. Avon Park became an incorporated city in 1926.

Sources: Highlands News-Sun: A short history of Highlands Hammock State Park (Bobby Lee, Sebring Historical Society, June 3, 2026); Florida Memory: A Brief Sketch of the Creation and History of Highlands County (WPA); Highlands News-Sun: From Wicco to Lake Placid ... a history of the town (Mat Delaney, March 25, 2026); City of Avon Park: Avon Park: Then and Now; Highlands News-Sun: History of the 'City of Charm'

Highlands County Is Created in 1921

In 1921, a set of bills split DeSoto County into five counties: Highlands, Hardee, Glades, Charlotte and DeSoto. Both houses passed them on a single day. A WPA history says Governor Cary A. Hardee signed them on April 21, 1921. A University of South Florida page gives April 23, 1921, as the day the county was established, and calls it Florida's 56th county. The same page says the name comes from the many hills in the area.

The county government began work on May 23, 1921. The act that created the county made Sebring the county seat for the time being. In an election set for November 21, 1922, voters chose between Avon Park and Sebring for the permanent seat, and Sebring was selected. Bonds paid the $212,000 cost of the courthouse, built in 1926. Its builder, D. J. Phipps of Roanoke, Virginia, won the contract on March 17, 1926, after cutting his bid to $201,000.

Sources: Florida Memory: A Brief Sketch of the Creation and History of Highlands County (WPA); Florida Memory: Historical Sketch of Highlands County (WPA, compiled by Ellen Cooper Jarratt); University of South Florida, Exploring Florida: Highlands County Maps; Florida Memory: WPA Highlands County, Florida (county government records, 1921 to 1926)

Highlands Hammock and the CCC

Federal officials looked at the hammock in February 1930 as a possible national park and judged it too small. Margaret Shippen Roebling gave $25,000 to buy the land and later added another $25,000. When she died in October 1930, John A. Roebling II, her husband, promised to complete the park in her memory. The park was dedicated in March 1931 and opened to the public.

Two companies of the Civilian Conservation Corps, set up in 1934 and 1936, carried on Roebling's work. Florida State Parks calls Highlands Hammock State Park Florida's first state park, opened officially in August 1935. The CCC men planted thousands of plants and built roads, dams, bridges and buildings. CCC work there ended in November 1941, with World War II drawing near.

In Lorida, the CCC rebuilt the Sunnyland School from its original plans after a 1933 hurricane destroyed it, and the school reopened in April 1934. The botanist Carol Beck worked at the park from 1949 to 1965 and was the Florida Park Service's first naturalist. In 1976, the park's old CCC recreation area was turned into a museum. The park's Civilian Conservation Corps Museum tells about the young men who built the state's eight CCC parks.

Sources: Florida State Parks: History of Highlands Hammock; Florida Department of State: The Lorida School House historical marker; Highlands News-Sun: A short history of Highlands Hammock State Park (Bobby Lee, Sebring Historical Society, June 3, 2026); Florida State Parks: Highlands Hammock State Park

Hopewell School and Highway Park

Under segregation, Black children could not attend school with white children. Hopewell Elementary, built in 1926 in the Jim Crow era, was the first public school in Avon Park for Black students. Students had to share books, and the school had no gymnasium or air conditioning.

Its principal, Earnest E. Sims, was well regarded by people of both races and worked hard to get the school what it needed. A street in Avon Park is named for him. Hopewell closed in 1968, and its Black children had to move into the white school.

Highway Park is a mostly African American community about one mile south of Lake Placid on U.S. Highway 27. Its cemetery lies at the south end of the community. The oldest headstone there dates to 1947, but the cemetery is believed to have begun in the 1930s. Most of the community's churches have long supported it, and it was later named to the National Register of Historic Places.

Sources: Highlands News-Sun: Hopewell Elementary School educators encouraged Black students to excel; University of South Florida, Black Cemetery Network: Highway Park Cemetery

Since 1990: A Scrub Preserve, Historic Landmarks and Porsche One-Two Finishes

The state acquired the land for Lake June-in-Winter Scrub Preserve State Park in 1995. In 2002, the 12 Hours of Sebring marked its 50th anniversary with a third straight Audi win, and the Sebring Hall of Fame was started. Archbold Biological Station at Red Hill joined the National Register of Historic Places on July 20, 2007. In 2018, Archbold bought Buck Island Ranch.

A Florida historical marker for Hendricks Field Memorial Park went up in 2016. There, the original 72-foot flagpole at Sebring International Raceway marks the center of the old airfield. On October 16, 2018, Highlands Hammock State Park joined the National Register of Historic Places. In 2022, a Florida historical marker went up for the Lorida School House, which the community had restored in 1976 for the U.S. Bicentennial.

In 2025, Porsche Penske Motorsports took the top two places at Sebring, raising Porsche's record of overall Sebring wins to 19. On March 21, 2026, Laurin Heinrich, Julien Andlauer and Felipe Nasr drove the No. 7 Porsche 963 to victory in the 74th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. The car finished 1.515 seconds ahead of the team's No. 6 Porsche. It was the second straight Sebring one-two finish for Porsche Penske Motorsport.

Sources: Florida State Parks: Lake June-in-Winter Scrub Preserve State Park History; Sebring International Raceway: Track History; Florida Department of State: Archbold Biological Station at Red Hill historical marker; Archbold Biological Station: History; Florida Department of State: Hendricks Field Memorial Park historical marker; Florida State Parks: History of Highlands Hammock; Florida Department of State: The Lorida School House historical marker; IMSA: Porsche Penske Motorsport Completes Second Straight Sebring 1-2 Sweep (March 21, 2026); Highlands News-Sun: Porsche wins 12 Hours of Sebring (Allen Moody, March 22, 2026)