My great-great-grandfather was part of Florida’s agricultural history through the turpentine industry. Moving from Georgia to Florida in the late 1800s, he managed properties and ran the local naval store during the turpentine boom in our area. Around 1908, our family began acquiring the properties that now make up the Bakers Acres community, continuing their turpentine operations while also growing corn, cotton, cane, potatoes, beans, sorghum, chufas and oats..

Around 1918, my great-grandfather, Henry Baker, planted the pecan grove that stretches across Bakers Acres Road, just on the other side of the woods bordering my parcel. It was in that very grove that my grandmother, Mary, was born. Eventually, my grandfather decided pecan farming wasn’t his calling and chose to focus on his career as a civil engineer. After his passing, my great-grandmother began parceling and selling portions of Bakers Acres, leaving only a few parcels inherited by her three daughters—and now, their children.

I grew up visiting “the lake” and dreaming of one day living here. I spent hours imagining biking all the way from Jacksonville to Hawthorne just to hide away in the woods by my grandmother’s house. Summers were spent swimming and gardening; autumns were spent wandering the groves my great-grandfather had planted, picking up pecans along the way.

Our private, spring-fed lake and beautiful rural setting made this area highly sought after, and acquiring property here has always been nearly impossible. Most homes here have changed hands only once or twice and, often have been sold without ever being listed with a Realtor.

I was fortunate enough to purchase 3.5 acres with a tiny cracker house in 1998. Then, in 2021, our dreams came true when we had the opportunity to purchase the 17-acre pecan grove behind our home. What had once been part of the Bakers Acres Estate had now returned to the family—and thus, The Grove at Diamond Z Ranch was born.