Remembering Pope’s Trading Post

By: Dale Cox

Long before the modern community of Sneads was founded, the area was known as the "Pope Settlement." The name came from an early trading post established there by William S. Pope, a businessman and government official.
Pope first appeared in the Jackson County area at about the time Florida was transferred from Spain to the United States. He lived first in Mt. Vernon (today’s Chattahoochee), but soon migrated across the river and acquired land in Jackson County’s early "Chipola Settlement."
Chipola was the name given to the area bounded roughly today by the Chipola River, Waddells Mill Pond, U.S. 231 and U.S. 90. Pope was an early promoter of the town of Webbville, a community established during the 1820s. When Marianna won the backing of the Florida Territorial Council in its quest to become county seat, however, Webbville faded and its promoters moved elsewhere.
William S. Pope soon acquired new land on the high ground overlooking the confluence of the Flint and Chattahoochee Rivers. Here, in around 1830, he established a trading post and farm and quickly established himself in a growing community that stretched from about the area of Three Rivers State Park south to present-day Sneads.
Since it was a place where local residents could obtain supplies or hear news, Pope’s store soon became a gathering place for the area. Early Jackson County records indicate that it served as a voting precinct and in 1833 was the site of a major negotiation with the remaining groups of Native Americans still living along the lower Chattahoochee and Apalachicola Rivers.
The result of this council was a document known as the "Treaty of Pope’s." Under its terms, the chiefs Econchattico and Mulatto King agreed to give up more of their land for white settlement. The treaty eventually led to their removal to present-day Oklahoma by U.S. Troops just five years later.
Holding an appointment as the U.S. Subagent to the Apalachicola tribes, Pope was heavily involved in the negotiations. Because he conducted much business with Econchattimico and Mulatto King and their people, however, he may not have been happy to see them go when General Zachary Taylor showed up to remove them in 1838.
Over time, the community that William Pope founded grew to become the modern Town of Sneads. In many ways he can be considered one of the town’s founding fathers, even though he was not still alive when Sneads, as we know it today, became a reality. The modern town fulfills his dream of a permanent community near the confluence of Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers.
The site of Pope’s trading post and farm was just northeast of today’s Apalachee Correctional Institution. Located below the 77 foot contour, historic site was flooded when the Jim Woodruff Dam was finished and Lake Seminole was created in 1957.
Editor’s Note: Dale Cox is the author of several books on Florida history. You can read more of his comments about local historic sites by visiting www.jacksoncountytimes.net and clicking the "Local History" button.