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Deep in the scrub forest of central Flagler and southern St. Johns counties, this 10-mile stretch of red-brick, ghost highway once brought a regular stream of ‘Tin Can Tourists’ in Model-T Fords from as far as Chicago to the exotic, tropical wilderness of Florida.
Welcome to the Old Brick Road, one of the few remaining segments of the original Dixie Highway. This portion was completed in 1916 but became obsolete within 15 years. What remains is a rugged (and sometimes bumpy) trip down memory lane.
Travelers embarking on a journey down the Old Brick Road from the ghost town of Espanola are warned to take care. While a four-wheel drive vehicle isn’t necessary, the frequent potholes, ruts and sandy stretches require care.
The Dixie Highway was a massive project that brought together private industry and state governments to create a network of paved roads from Chicago to South Florida. The leader was Carl G. Fisher, who had previously created the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (‘The Old Brickyard’). The network connected 10 states with more than 5,000 miles of paved road.
The 10-mile stretch of the Old Dixie Highway in Flagler County once brought more than a hundred tourists a day to exotic tropical Florida in their Model T’s and ‘Tin Can Trailers.’ Today many sections are covered in sand and marked by potholes.
At 9-feet wide, the Old Brick Highway has only room for one car. Fortunately, this forgotten stretch of Florida is not heavily trafficked. On this trip we didn’t encounter any other cars as we traveled past mile after mile of slash pine and palmetto.
This ghost highway once connected Jacksonville to Flagler Beach. A hundred years ago the small turpenine and potato-farming communities of Spuds, Byrd, Hurds & Dupont dotted the road. Espanola, now forgotten, was a welcome rest stop with its hotel, restaurant, barber shop and post office.
Many of the highway’s red bricks are debossed with the words GRAVES B’HAMALA. It’s the maker’s mark of bricks that were produced by the Graves Brick Company in Birmingham, Alabama. (You’ll also find some of these bricks in the streets of St. Augustine.)
Completed in 1916, the Old Dixie Highway paralleled the railroad in this region, and it was soon supplanted by US Highway 1 and State Highway 100, which connected Bunnell to Flagler. By 1926, just a few years after it was completed, the Old Brick Road became obsolete. Some of its bricks were used to build the Bunnell Elementary School gymnasium.
Photos: Michael Warren
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Old US 27 also used to be a unique drive.
G es, So. of Leesburg on U S 27 is the beginning of the “Ridge”, a nice size Billy ridge that runs So. until the flat Everglades region!!
When I was seven years old my mother had to go into a TB sanitarium in Orlando. Every Sunday morning we will go to Orlando and back then Highway international Speedway Boulevard was called Highway 92 it was all red brick road to deland, Then we went to Sanford from the land and I want to Orlando and the best of my memory most all those roads were red brick. There are still red brick roads in Orlando.
My Grandfather was also in a TB sanitarium in Orlando. It was around 1945, I believe.
I used to live on Greely Street in Orlando. It is just off Edgewater Drive. The street is still red brick today.
When was the old railroad built and abandoned that runs along the turnpike in ft.drum? The bed still exists today in places and it goes right into where the fort used to be.
Join the Dixie Highway history Facebook Group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/DixieHwy/
My dog Penny and I traveled this beautiful old section of the Dixie Highway this past week. I am an American History teacher of 41 years so this trip was a real treat for me. Now that I am retired I travel historical places across the state and write short history lessons with photos and post them on Facebook. Some teachers use my posts in their classroom. Others just enjoy the posts. Please see my post on the Ghost highway by finding me on Facebook. Search for Bill Krause. If you enjoy my post please like it and share. I even have a short video taken while driving down the Old Brick Road.
Which Bill Krause are you on Facebook? I went to see the video of the Old Brick Road but can’t find it.
Thanks for your interest Marty. I’m the Bill Krause that is a retired teacher from Orange County Schools. Picture shows me and my grandson and picture of me with Eiffel Tower in background. I live in Orlando Florida and studied at the University of Central Florida. This should help you find me. Please like and share post if you like. Video in post already has over 400 view. I want to return to the Old Brick Road soon
Thanks. There was other Bill Krause facebooks and didn’t know which you were. I will watch the video and maybe meet you on the road sometime.
Have you been to Floral City. Our town is a beautiful historical town with a scenic main street called Avenue of the Oaks. Just beautiful. Citrus county is full of history. The first weekend of December is Heritage Days. Worth the visit. You can tour 8 to 10 historical homes.
I’m not on facebook but I sure would be interested in reading about some of the places you have visited in Florida. I am a native Floridian, born here in 1954, lived all over the world on 3 different continents, but returned here as Florida will always be home to me.
The red brick streets of Sanford can be seen in the 1991 film “My Girl” – I rode my bicycle on the same streets almost 40 years ago.
Loved seeing these places …planning to go now .. Thanks very much !
Thanks for the history. I’m a St Augustine resident heading to ride it by motorcycle later this week.
FROM CANADA. Drove down the old brick road (north to south) today. I cannot imagine both the number of bricks used and the amount of labour it must have taken to build this road at the turn of the 19’th century. A bit bumpy in places but entirely passable as we did it in our 1995 Oldsmobile convertible! We even met a couple having their wedding pictures taken on one of the better portions. With all the money local governments spend on other things it would be a great idea if they took over one of the remaining stretches that are still in good condition and maintained it as an historical site.
I was there just a few days ago. The old Espanola Post Office is now located at The Florida Agriculture Museum just up US 1 from it’s original location. It is one of my talking points on our guided tours.