THE LEVY COUNTY PIONEER WALL

November 16, 2020

by Toni Collins

The Levy County Historical Society plans an open house at the headquarters building purchased in December 2019 located at 397 E. Hathaway Avenue, Bronson.  Shortly after the purchase, the viral epidemic shut the doors and halted all the activities that were planned.

However, on Saturday, November 21, 2020, at 2:00 PM, the Historical Society will open up to present the 2^nd program in the three-part series entitled FLORIDA IN WORLD WAR II.  We invite you to come listen to local historian and author, Toni C. Collins present THE SPIES AMONG US.   Toni will weave the tale of the four German saboteurs who landed in Ponte Vedra on Florida’s east coast in 1942.

In addition, visitors will be introduced to the LEVY COUNTY PIONEER WALL. Local artist Ed Rowe of Bronson, has finished his painting on the west wall of the presentation hall.  Depicted on the wall are the labors which brought the early pioneers to Levy County.  Phosphate mining, farming, cattle ranching, timber, turpentine, and early on ~ cotton, enticed many early families to migrate and settle in our area.

The Society is seeking 13 families who would like to join Wayne R. Coulter, Esq., a fourth generation descendant of William R. Coulter, and have their family names memorialized in a leaf on the wall. 

Following the Civil War, the Coulter family migrated from South Carolina and settled in Levy County.  In 1876, William R. Coulter and Lydia J. Brewster, his wife, provided land to the Levy County Board of County Commissioners to build a courthouse,  provide a place of learning and a cemetery.  Also land to build a church for the people of Levy County.

Pictured here:  Bronson artist, Ed Rowe and Wayne R. Coulter, Esq. view the Levy County Pioneer Wall. Mr.
Coulter is trying to select the leaf and branch on which his family name will be painted.