The second wife of a Tampa Bay pioneer, Odet Philippe, describes frontier life from the beginning of the Second Seminole War in 1835 to the Armed Occupation Act of 1848. She talks about how Fort Brooke got its start on the Hillsborough River, a military base to launch Indian removals to Oklahoma. She talks about the "entrepreneurs" attracted to the area with the promise of a "guick buck." Out of these shakey beginnings as a shanty-town and military garrison, Tampa was born.
Odet Philippe, who claimed to be a French count, married his daughters off to local settlers. These early pioneers began a dynasty whose descendants still live in the Tampa Bay area. The county park at the head of the bay is named for Philippe, who eventually settled in what became Safety Harbor. His other claim to fame, is that Philippe introduced citrus growing to the area at the plantation he called St. Elena.
