Florida Historical Markers Programs - Marker Detail

Description: This is the homesite of the first Euro-American settlers in this area, Peter and Louisiana Raulerson. The couple moved southeast from Basinger to “The Bend,” a region along Onoshohatchee River (Taylor Creek) and a few miles north of Lake Okeechobee, in October 1896. The original boundaries of the Raulersons’ 160-acre homestead were the Onoshohatchee River to the east, the Kissimmee River to the west, and Lake Okeechobee to the south. They first constructed a barn to house both their family and livestock. In 1899, a group of friends arrived and, in three days, helped the couple construct a two-room log cabin in the dogtrot style. In this log cabin, Peter and Louisiana lived with their children Lewis, Adline, Harmon, Melville, Faith, Ada, and Cornelius. Mattie, the Raulersons’ eldest child, was married and had remained in Basinger. In 1916, the family built a larger house directly east of here, and Peter lived there until his death in 1947. Elements of the original log cabin are preserved within the structure of a new house, built for the family in the 1920s. The house was occupied by the Raulersons’ descendants until 2018, when the Okeechobee Historical Society purchased the house to preserve this historical site.