This page is dedicated to Florida historical markers near Port Orange Living on the Edge. There are many historical markers in Florida. This marker in Volusia County is an excellent example.
Living on the Edge
This Florida Historical Marker is entitled Living on the Edge , and is located in Port Orange in Volusia County, Florida. The location is 950 Old Sugar Mill Road. Marker can be reached from Old Sugar Mill Road east of Herbert Street, on the left when traveling east.
Inscription on the Marker
The inscription reads:
Living on the Edge. . One reality of this sugar plantation was its isolation. When owner John Marshall asked for help against the Seminoles, an army commander in St. Augustine offered muskets and a lecture: “I need scarcely add,” he warned, “that the best reliance of the inhabitants ought to be upon their own efforts.”, Even the Marshalls’ best efforts could go awry. Hired workers strained accommodations and nerves at this remote site. Dunlawton’s supply ship – a link to the outside – grounded and broke up in Mosquito Inlet. And, worst of all, cane crops continued to be spotty. By 1851, one Marshall son wondered if the family could even make enough sugar for home consumption. “It would be bad,” he mused, “to be obliged to buy sugar along with everything else.”, Mrs. Marshall wanted out. Faced with endless factory repairs (and workers in her house), concerned about her children’s education, and troubled by the poor cane crops, she put her faith in a relative’s upcoming visit. “I hope he may take a fancy to Dunlawton and give your father a good price for it,” she told a son. “I shall then hope to leave Florida.” But that was not to be. On November 20, 1852, Maria Marshall died in childbirth at Dunlawton – far from the settled South Carolina community of her youth., [ Postcard ] , One last visit to Dunlawton? Tradition has it (without proof) that this photo’s lone figure is Benjamin Marshall – son of Maria and John. Decades after his mother’s sudden death here, Ben Marshall returned from Louisiana to help sell the old sugar plantation. , Early twentieth-century postcard (from a nineteenth-century photo) courtesy of Tom Baskett, Jr., [ Photo ] , A memorial stone in Louisiana for Maria Hawes Marshall (1812-1852). She probably was buried on the Dunlawton plantation (with twins who died at birth), but the Red River country became her surviving family’s new home. , Marker in the All Saints Episcopal Church cemetery, DeSoto Parish. Photo courtesy of Audrey M. Blagg and Marshall Juergens.
Marker Sponsor and Install Date for Living on the Edge
Placed by Volusia County and the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Historical Resources, assisted by the Florida Historical Commission.
Maps & Location Views
Using mapping services from Google, we can show detailed location maps and street views if they are available.
Sometimes you will be able to see the Living on the Edge Marker in Google Maps. A 360-degree view of the area near the marker is available on the link below. You can see the marker or monument and read it in many cases.
The History of Port Orange

More than a century before the Pilgrims set foot at Plymouth Rock, in 1513, Florida began its modern-day history, of which Orlando is a part.
During this period, Florida was still part of the United States Territory and not yet a state; therefore, many Native American tribes occupied land throughout Central Florida, including Seminole Indians who had migrated there from Georgia during the First Seminole War (1817-1818).
In 1838, the U.S. Army built Fort Gatlin south of the present-day Orlando City limits to protect settlers from attacks by Indians during the Second Seminole War. During the Civil War, Orlando’s role included supplying the Confederacy with food, cattle, and horses from the vast plantations in the region.
Today Orlando is recognized as a global tourist attraction and entertainment city
About the Florida Historical Marker Program
One of the most well-known and noticeable public history initiatives of the Division of Historical Resources is the Florida Historical Marker Program. It is intended to increase residents’ and visitors’ enjoyment of Florida’s historic places and to increase public knowledge of the state’s rich cultural past.
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