The Mission of Preservation
Our mission is to educate the public and preserve the rich heritage of Florida's early history. We are dedicated to safeguarding the cowboy culture and the lands that shaped our state's unique identity for future generations.
The Legacy of Florida's Early History
Preserving Florida's historical ranch lands is more than a nostalgic endeavor; it is a vital act of cultural stewardship. By protecting these landscapes, we safeguard the stories of the early cow hunters and the unique cowboy culture that shaped our state's identity.
Authored Works
Florida Cracker History
A History of the Celtic Frontier Culture in Pre-1840 Florida
Florida Cracker: A History of Celtic Frontier Culture in Pre-1840 Florida tells the story of a people forged in hardship, shaped by the wild frontier, and rooted in the Celtic traditions of Independence, storytelling, and survival. This book explores the rich cultural history of the Cracker settlers who carved out a life in the swamps, pinewoods, and prairies of early Florida.
Structured across 31 chapters, this manuscript provides a comprehensive narrative of Cracker Life-their roots in the British Isles, their cattle culture and homesteads, their conflicts with colonial powers and the Seminoles, and their legacy in folk tradition and literature. It weaves together primary sources, scholarly analysis, and vivid historical detail to paint a portrait of Florida's original frontier people.
The book is intended for historians, cultural scholars, and general readers alike who seek to understand how a rugged and often misunderstood group of settlers helped shape the identity of Florida. Through their hardships, stories, and survival, the Cracker left an indelible mark on the land and the culture they called home.
Cracker Cowhunters to Rodeo Cowboys
A Cultural Geography of Arcadia traces the remarkable journey of a Florida town whose cattle trails, pinewoods, and prairies became the stage for one of the state's most enduring traditions - the Arcadia Rodeo. Long before the first bronc was saddled or arena gates swung open, the open-range cowhunters of Desoto County were forging a unique way of life shaped by rugged independence, endurance, and the rhythm of the land.
Through vivid storytelling and grounded historical research, this book explores how Arcadia's Cracker cattle culture evolved from the 19th- century frontier into the rodeo heritage celebrated today. It reveals how the geography of the Peace River basin, the hardiness of Florida Cracker cattle and ponies, and the spirit of the people themselves gave rise to a tradition unlike any other in the American South.
Drawing from archival records, oral histories, and first-hand accounts, Donald L. Saba paints an intimate portrait of a community whose identity has been shaped by both hardship and celebration - from the early cow camps along the Peace River to the cheering crowds of the modern Mosaic Arena. Along the way, readers will meet families whose names have become woven into local legend, explore the cultural blending of pioneers, Seminoles, and settlers, and witness how the rugged Cracker spirit continues to define Arcadia's people and its rodeo today.
This is not just the story of a rodeo- it is a chronicle of endurance, transformation, and pride in place. Through the lens of geography and heritage, Cracker Cowhunters to Rodeo Cowboys captures the timeless connection between land, livestock, and the enduring Florida spirit that still rides in Arcadia's arena dust.
Pioneers and Vigilantes, Sarasota Before 1900
In the winter of 1884, the quiet frontier settlement of Sarasota, Florida, became the scene of one of the most mysterious and violent episodes in the early history of Florida's Gulf Coast. The killings of Charles Elliott Abbe, the settlement's respected postmaster and merchant, and the earlier murder of Tip Riley sent shockwaves through the small pioneer community scattered along Sarasota Bay and the pinewoods stretching inland toward the Myakka and Peace River country.
What followed was a story of suspicion, secret meetings, vigilante justice, and a dramatic series of arrests and trials that drew the attention of newspapers across Florida and beyond. In an isolated frontier where formal law was still fragile, settlers sometimes took matters into their own hands. The result was a conspiracy that revealed the tensions simmering beneath the surface of Sarasota's early pioneer society.
Pioneers and Vigilantes: Sarasota Before 1900 delves into the early geography and history of Sarasota and reconstructs these events through the accounts of early settlers, contemporary newspaper reports, and the historical writings of regional scholars. This book places the murders within the broader context of Florida's frontier culture - where cattle ranges, land disputes, and isolated settlements shaped the lives of the pioneers who lived there.
Watch "Another Life Rememberd
by Donald L. Saba
