Bannon Island, a storied pioneer island in the middle of Polk County’s Lake Marion, is now on the market for the first time in over a hundred years.
Located at 7950 Bannon Fish Camp Road in southeast Haines City, the 20-acre island’s first known resident was Echo Emathla Chipco, also known as the Seminole tribe’s Chief Chipco, who maintained a camp on the island until the 1880s, according to the Lakeland Ledger.
A few years later, the island was purchased for $1.25 an acre by an Irish-born Catholic man from New York named Partick Bannon. Despite being a well-known carpenter who was reportedly recruited by Thomas Edison to build phonograph cabinets, Bannon and his wife Annie Marie Ryan decided to head south to Florida following a bad bout with pneumonia, says the publication.
In 1887, Bannon began construction on a two-story, cross-shaped home with an octagon-style roof in the center. The home, which was built from cypress and pine lumber shipped from Tampa, included a classroom to homeschool his six kids. It also served as the first site of Catholic mass in Polk County in 1895, celebrated for Bannon’s family and nearby railroad workers.
Over the years, Bannon worked a 10-acre citrus grove and a profitable fish camp on the island until his death in 1942.
Today, Bannon Island is designated as a “Century Pioneer Family Farm” by the Florida Department of Agriculture, which recognizes continuous original ownership for 100 years or more. The estate is currently owned by Bannon’s descendants, the O’Learys, who built a restored version of the original home in 2003, designed by architect William H. Philips.
If you want to own a piece of Florida pioneer history, it won’t be cheap. Bannon Island is currently asking $12 million. The listing agent is Lisa Kleine of Red Bird Realty.
Bannon Island isn’t the only Central Florida island on the market. Over in Lady Lake, the 50-acre Bird Island has been up for grabs for quite awhile, with a $2.2 million price tag.
This story first appeared in Creative Loafing Tampa Bay.
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