Princess Place Preserve is a unique historical and environmental treasure containing the oldest standing homestead in Flagler County.

1788 - Francisco Pellicer was among the first to obtain a land grant from the Spanish government. The original land grant consisted of 1,105 acres emcompassed in the Princess Place Preserve. Pellicer came to Florida at age 15 from the Island of Minorca as a member of the Andrew Turnbull colony at New Smyrna. He is well known in Florida history for leading the escape of the Minorcans from Andrew Turnbull's plantation to St. Augustine. After obtaining the land grant, Franciso lived on the land for 38 years. Twelve of his 18 children wer born there. Known in the mid-1820s as "Pellicer Plantation," the property was a working farm growing cash crops of sugar cane, corn and cotton.

Over time, most land grants were often divided up and sold off in smaller parcels or absorbed into other nearby land grants. Today there is probably not a single Spanish land grant existing in East Florida that is in its natural state or in the same configuration and size, as when it was originally granted - except for the Francisco Pellicer grant. The Pellicer family never divided the property. If historically verified, this fact would significantly enhance the historical importance of this land tract. (Courtesy of Donald F. Pellicer, a fifth generation descendant of Francisco Pellicer)

1840s-1889 - Matanzas and the surrounding area were largely a wilderness. Economic development was inhibited by geographic isolation, lack of marketable cash crops, and the absence of transportation. Timber and turpentine production were the major economic activities.

1885 - Henry Flagler, a partner with Rockefellar Oil Trust, visited St. Augustine and envisioned the city becoming a winter resort area for wealthy northerners. He built two hotels there, the Ponce de Leon and the Alcazar. He also purchased a third hotel, the Cordova.

1886 - Henry Cutting, a shipping magnate and prominent New Yorker, who often visited St. Augustine, purchased the land from H.C. Sloggett calling the place Cherokee Grove. Cutting constructed a large hunting lodge with a pool, riding stables and tennis courts. Cutting also sought to establish a major commercial citrus grove, estimated to be the largest in the area.

1888 - Henry Cutting married Angela Mills in January 1888 in an impressive ceremony at Grace Church in New York. Angela Mills Cutting was born in New Jersey in September 1864. After their marriage, Cherokee Grove was the center of many social activities for many socially and financially prominent people in the east.

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