Florida Historical Markers Programs - Marker Detail

Description: Side One: Rye was once a thriving settlement along the Manatee River named after Erasmus Rye, who moved to the area in the mid-1840s from Hanover County, Virginia. In 1861, Erasmus married Mary Lucebia Williams, whose family owned the largest homestead in the area. In 1862, Erasmus joined the Confederate Army, and his absence interrupted his and Mary’s plans to homestead in nearby Oak Knoll. Mary went to live with her parents, and remained in the area. During this time, Mary and Erasmus’ daughter, Mollie, was born. In 1863, Erasmus was taken prisoner of war by the Union Army in the aftermath of the Battle of Missionary Ridge in Tennessee. Two years later, when the war was over, Erasmus was freed during a prisoner exchange in New Orleans. Erasmus returned to his wife's family homestead along the Manatee River. In 1878, Erasmus, his son William Rye, and local carpenter Levi Thomas built a wood-framed, Cracker-Vernacular style home beside a clear stream, later known as the Rye Branch. In the years that followed, small logging, citrus, and turpentine industries grew around the Rye homestead. Side Two: The developing Rye community was difficult to reach by road; residents had to use the Manatee River as the primary means of travel and trade. For a time, Rye was the primary river crossing for residents traveling to the county seat at Pine Level, in present-day DeSoto County. In 1879, the Manatee County Commission allocated $150 for the construction of the first bridge across the Manatee River at Rye. In 1910, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredged the Manatee River, allowing steamships access to the Rye settlement. During this time, the community flourished, reaching its peak of 72 families with a general store, a post office, a sawmill, and a school. However, as travel by train and car became popular in the early 20th century, steamship lines serving the Rye community started to close. Once again isolated, the town of Rye began to shrink. By 1929, the post office closed its doors and many families moved away. In 1988, the last remaining building, the Rye family cabin, was destroyed by a suspicious fire. The Rye family cemetery is all that remains today of this historic river community.