Featured Article: Fort Basinger
Fort Basinger
#HistoryTuesday - Tuesday April 07TH 2026
Fun Facts About Fort Basinger:
- It's located along U.S. 98 where it meets the Kissimmee River.
- It's considered a "ghost town" today.
- It was built in 1837 by the U.S. Army.
- It was created during the Second Seminole War (1835-1842).
- It was named after Lieutenant William E. Basinger.
- "Old Rough And Ready" - Colonel Zachary Taylor - used the fort during the war in the "Battle Of Lake Okeechobee" on Christmas Day of 1837. (He and his troops lost that battle.)
- The fort was also used during the Third Seminole War (1855-1858).
- It was abandoned after that war.
- A historical marker (F-54) was erected near the site in 1961 by the Florida Board Of Parks And Historic Memorials.
Captain John Mizell Pearce (1834-1897) - Confederate States Army Veteran of the Civil War - settled on the 157-acre property surrounding Fort Basinger in 1874. He was the grandfather of Edna Mae Pearce Lockett (1908-1991).
The Pearce Family are considered the first settlers of what is now Highlands County. A small community developed around them from the mid-1870s to the mid-1910s. Another small community developed on the other side of the river in what is now Okeechobee County. It was named "Basinger". Many left Fort Basinger and Basinger for new opportunities less than 20 miles away in Okeechobee - incorporated in 1915.
This weekend at the Edna Pearce Lockett Estate - celebrate its 151 years of history on the shores of the Kissimmee River at the annual Heritage Festival - hosted by the Heritage Association of Highlands County, Inc. Look for our booth there and some of our volunteers.
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