Route #5 — Boyette · Lithia · Agricola · Brewster · Four Corners

This route crosses one of the most rural and least traveled areas of inland Hillsborough County, following old agricultural roads and settlements that have now almost completely disappeared. The route connects small communities such as Boyette, Lithia, Agricola, and Brewster—names that barely survive in historical maps and railroad records.

For much of the journey, the landscape is dominated by farmland, dirt roads, and wide open spaces. These lands were originally occupied by Indigenous communities and later transformed by cattle ranching and the arrival of the railroad in the late nineteenth century. Brewster, now abandoned, was one of the settlements that emerged around this infrastructure.

The route reveals an interior Florida far removed from tourism, where the human footprint is subtle but persistent. Secondary roads, remnants of old structures, and lines of trees mark former property boundaries and communication routes that once shaped the region’s development.

The complete route and its historical context are included in Discovering Florida – Volume 1.