County pioneer honored

Palm Coast Observer
Neighbors

A group of about 60 people relived history April 7, at Bings Landing County Park. The park is the site of a nationally recognized archeological excavation of the plantation home of Gen. Joseph Hernandez. County Attorney Al Hadeed posed as William Broadnax, Hernandez’s foreman, in a presentation.

The event was a part of Flagler County’s Lunch In The Park series. Three direct descendants of Hernandez attended the event and were recognized April 4, by the Flagler County Board of County Commissioners.

Sally Walker French, Lucia Walker Fairlie Pulgram and William Fairlie, great-great grandchildren of Hernadez, and their spouses attended the event and added their experiences to the presentation.

Hernandez’s Mala Compra Plantation home was located at what is today Bings Landing County Park. The plantation was destroyed during the Second Seminole War. The Hernandez Plantation Homestead is now an archaeological dig within the park. Other parts of his plantation are part of Washington Oaks State Gardens Park and Flagler County’s Mala Compra Green Way.

Hernandez was the first person of Hispanic decent to serve in the U.S. Congress. He also was a mayor of St. Augustine.

French was the driving force behind gathering the far-flung family back together again and sharing and promoting the history surrounding Joseph Hernandez. She said it was Hernandez’s fine china passed down from family member to family member that brought them together.

“After my mother died, I went through her things and began calling numbers in an address book,” French said. “Our parents didn’t share all the historical and family information.”

After phone calls and an Internet search, French got in contact with Pulgram.

“When we exchanged pictures, we found out that we both had pieces of china that matched,” French said. Both Lucia Pulgram and French have donated some of that collection to Flagler County and the Flagler County Historical Society. A display of the collection is in the lobby of the Government Services Building.

The next Lunch In The Park is planned for late June, at Flagler County’s River To Sea Preserve.