Author: John Cotey

As Wesley Chapel grows and adds shiny new housing development after shiny new housing development, businesses as far as the eye can see and all the comforts of modern living, it’s hard to imagine our area as a hardscrabble agricultural and rural town with a long, rich history.

Author Madonna Jervis Wise, however, brings that unique history into focus with her latest book, Images of America: Wesley Chapel, a fresh glimpse of Wesley Chapel’s history through extensive research and hundreds of old photos and maps being officially released on Monday, March 21, by Arcadia Publishing/History Press. A launch event for the book will be held on Thursday, March 31, at the first annual History Fair at the Pasco Hernando State College (PHSC)-Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch off S.R. 56, 6 p.m.-8 p.m., in the conference room.

The president of the Pasco County Historical Society and a Pasco County resident for 43 years, Wise has written nine books — including Images of America: Dade City and Images of America: Zephyrhills — and was asked by her publisher to do a book about Wesley Chapel.

While her previous books on Dade City and Zephyrhills were written with a wealth of information in library and government archives, Wise says her Wesley Chapel book required more digging. But, with each layer she peeled away, new stories emerged.

“It really became a labor of love,’’ says Wise, who lists the Douglas family who ran the K-Bar Ranch (south of the Pasco line, in New Tampa) and many of the Porters, who developed the Wiregrass Ranch area, as her friends.

Wise says she was shocked to learn that Wesley Chapel actually is older than Zephyrhills — it was settled in the 1840s, when land was granted to Edward Boyette, Sr., in the Florida Armed Occupation Act of 1842. It was so sparsely populated, however, there were few historical references for Wise to draw upon from that era.

She did, however, find the remaining turpentine foreman’s house on the Barnes Ranch, which is 150 years old, and Daniel Smith’s pioneer cracker home, which was donated to the Cracker Country Hands-on Museum (currently located at the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa) in 1979.

Much of Wise’s research on Wesley Chapel’s beginnings in the 1840s took place in Brooksville. Because Pasco County didn’t exist until 1887, locals had to travel to Brooksville for marriage licenses and other official documents.

“I discovered a very rich history as I uncovered it,’’ Wise says. “I had to go back and do a lot of interviews.”

Wise did more than 30 original interviews and reviewed hundreds of photos from family collections. She connected with Marco Stanley, who had been researching his own family’s Wesley Chapel beginnings, on Ancestry.com. She met David Brown from the Barnes family, who had a wealth of information and connections. The First Baptist Church of Wesley Chapel, located on S.R. 54, east of Saddlebrook Resort, let her examine its records, which dated back to 1878.

Wise’s book is 128 pages and six chapters of family histories with more than 300 photos, including of families whose names are still familiar still to us: Boyette, Gillette, Godwin, Kersey and Wells, and others.

“There was a cohesiveness to these settlers,’’ Wise says.

The Double Branch Baptist Church (which is what is now called the First Baptist Church of Wesley Chapel) was the focus for community life, and Wise was told by dozens of people that the Fifth Sunday Sing, called the “Grand Ole Opry of Wesley Chapel” by one of the people she interviewed, captured the spirit of frontier Wesley Chapel, which was highly regarded for its singing.

Wesley Chapel also was known for its lumber harvesting — much of it under the control of Standard Oil Company founder and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and others – as well as for turpentine production. The area was known by various names over the years, like Gatorville, Double Branch (for the twin creeks that flowed through Edward Boyette’s property) and Godwin.

The plucky community also had a reputation for its moonshine production. During prohibition (in the 1920s), Wesley Chapel was the only town in Pasco county that was opposed to it. The community was accused of being home to 90 percent of the stills producing the liquor that was sold to Tampa.

And, the frontier women of Wesley Chapel were lauded for their hard work, as they ran many of the ranches, some even serving as the county’s supervisor of elections. “I’ve never seen such interesting women,’’ Wise says.

Wise, who developed her passion for historical research by compiling her own family’s history as a young adult, says she has received “overwhelming response” for her book, much of it from the families who are thrilled to have their history officially recorded.

Wise’s book is full of interesting nuggets, like the time the area once applied for a U.S. post office under the name Lemon, but was denied. Wesley Chapel did get a post office, located at the site of today’s Quail Hollow Country Club, from 1897-1902, although we do at least have a Contract Postal Unit on Boyette Rd. today.

S.R. 54 was originally Denham-Dade City Rd., an old dirt road used to transport lumber and turpentine, although Wise’s book says many referred to it as “2-2-20” after gravel replaced the dirt: 2 years to build, 2 years to wear out, 20 years to pay for it.

And, James H. Porter was called “Wiregrass” because every Christmas, Dade City Buick dealer Ed Madill would send Porter a box of matches to burn the wiregrass on the ranch, so the ashes fertilized the grass for the cattle.

“It’s fun with these books, because once they are published, people will find more information,’’ Wise says.

The First Annual History Fair at Pasco Hernando State College-Porter Campus will host a book launch reception for Images of America: Wesley Chapel on Thursday, March 31. Wise also will do a book signing on Saturday, April 2, 9 a.m., at the Florida Old Time Music Championship & Spring Fest at the Pioneer Museum & Village in Dade City.

For more information, visit Wise’s author page at Amazon.com/Madonna-Jervis-Wise/e/B003RGSJB6. Images of America: Wesley Chapel can be purchased on Amazon, Google Books or at Barnes & Noble bookstores.