Calendar

Saturday, February 23, 2019

The 32nd annual Florida Cracker Trail Ride across the state ends with a parade about 10 a.m. Saturday through downtown Fort Pierce. The horseback ride began in Bradenton to honor the history of cattle pioneers. After the Civil War, a group of settlers were known as Florida Crackers because of the cracking sound from the whips they used to flush cows out of palmetto scrub and spur on oxen to pull carts and wagons. Every year, they gathered west of Fort Pierce to drive their giant herd of scrub cattle across the state toward Bradenton and then to Punta Rassa to ship them to Havana. They needed provisions for the trip but didn’t have money, so P.P. Cobb let them fill their saddlebags with his merchandise and pay him after they sold their herds to the Cubans, who paid in Spanish gold coins. The Cracker Trail was the only dry route across Florida with the Kissimmee River and its floodplains to the north and Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades to the south.