The first residents of Pasco County were Indians. Authorities agree that the peaceful Timucuans may have lived here in the 1200's. Indian mounds and traces of artifacts near fresh water springs seem to bear out this theory.

Around the year 1750, fragments of tribes from the Southwest migrated to Florida and became known as the Seminoles. The French settlers at Fort Caroline on the east coast of Florida generally enjoyed good relations with the Indians, but the Spanish were not so lucky. By the time the Spanish sold Florida to the U.S. in 1819, adventurers, run-away slaves, and renegade Indians sparsely populated the territory.

The Indians were aggressive during this period, and Andrew Jackson led soldiers into Florida to subdue them. As a result, a series of forts were established to protect and settle the area in Tampa, the north Pasco-Sumter area, and Ocala.

In 1835 the Seminoles massacred General Dade and his troops and the Seminole war began in earnest. It lasted seven years and hundreds of settlers and Seminoles were killed. In 1837 General Jessup may have had as many as 2,000 soldiers and dependents living in the vicinity of Fort Dade, north of the present site of Dade City.

Florida became a state in 1845, and activities at the fort began winding down. In about 1849 a dozen families were living on plantations in the area that later became Dade City. Florida had been admitted as a slave state to the Union. But in Pasco, ownership of two or three slaves qualified a farm as a "plantation".

Pioneer life in Pasco was a struggle. The climate, mosquitoes, and yellow fever were enemies. But the farmers persevered, cleared land, and managed to provide for themselves and their families. In 1855 a stagecoach line operated between Tampa and Palatka along the old Army trails.

The Civil War began in 1861. Although Florida as a Confederate state, Pasco County was too far away to be much affected. Men from Pasco served on both sides. Bayport, in Hernando County, was shelled during the war and a skirmish with the militia was fought. After the war the population began to increase in all directions.

In 1887 Pasco County became a county carved from the larger Hernando Territory. It was named in honor of Samuel Pasco, a U.S. Senator. About 1890 several things happened to change the economic future of Pasco County.

The Spaniards had brought citrus to Florida in the 1500's. Indians were fond of the sour orange and cultivated them in a limited way. Because of the casual manner of cultivation, the fruit grew in groves. Citrus was enjoyed locally but limited transportation facilities and the lack of refrigeration made the citrus industry unprofitable. When the railroad came to Pasco County all that changed.

While Dade City was a thriving community at the turn of the century, life on the west coast had not come so far. The earliest settlers we know of lived in the Seven Springs area from around 1830. These brave people struggled through many hard times including the Seminole War years.

In 1878 the first families settled in the Hudson vicinity and a community in Sampling Woods (Elfers) began to thrive. In 1883 Captain Richey and his family resided at the south of the Pithlachascotee River. He ran a mail boat to Tarpon Springs and freight service from Anclote to Cedar Key, an important port on the west coast. In the first census of 1890, 3,872 whites, 376 blacks and one Indian resided in Pasco County.

There are six municipalities in Pasco County;

DADE CITY, County seat, Incorporated in 1889

In 1887 when Pasco County was formed from Hernando County, Dade City was named temporary county seat. There followed a hotly contested battle between other towns for the honor. According to courthouse records, the bitter battle ended when 765 voters turned out and Dade City became the permanent county seat by a vote of 432.

SAN ANTONIO, Incorporated 1889
Founded as a Catholic Colony by Irish and German immigrants. Four Benedictine sisters from Pittsburgh, five Benedictine priests and four brothers from North Carolina established St. Leo Abbey that is now St. Leo College.

ST. LEO, Incorporated in 189
St. Leo was also founded as a Catholic Colony by a small order of monks who arrived to establish a monastery and Catholic elementary school.

ZEPHYRHILLS, Incorporated 1914
First established as a colony for Civil War Veterans, it was considered an ideal site because the land was fertile, there was an abundance of water and the rolling hills were cooled by 'zephyr-like' breezes.

NEW PORT RICHEY, Incorporated 1924
In 1882 a Captain Aaron McLaughlin Richey came to Florida from Missouri. He built a house on the west coast of Pasco Co at the south of the Pithlachascotee River and named the site Port Richey. Other settlers soon followed. They planned and developed a city they named New Port Richey.

PORT RICHEY, Incorporated 1925
No one seems to know why the two towns bearing Captain Richey's name were incorporated separately. One story goes that despite their proximity, an impenetrable thicket separated the two towns.

This is the story of a town which sprang up amid the subtropical foliage and swamps on the Florida shores of the Gulf of Mexico, about thirty miles north of Tampa and St. Petersburg. In these surroundings was born Hudson, Florida in 1878. Economically, Hudson has had a checkered career. "This town grew slowly and then experienced a boom, then was prostrated. Man can learn a lot from the history of this place, no matter how often one is down, he can always come back if the proper effort is put forth."

A surprising number of human beings that have known this land. There have even been a few famous ones. Diary records of Hernando De Soto and Ponce De Leon (1513), both Spanish explorers, state that they traversed the Pithlachascotee River and what is now northwest Pasco County. Before Isaac Hudson came here and founded the town, this subtropical land was the haunt of wild animals, and later (1700's) Seminole Indians... then swashbuckling pirates... careful Civil War blockade runners... and finally, determined settlers led by Mr. Hudson himself.  Pirates were the first phantomlike group to haunt these shores, variously from the 1600-1800's.

These real life pirates were seafaring men, who used the many inlets, coves and bayous of the future Hudson for cover-up during their illegal activities. These shadowy figures employed the vastness of the unpatrolled Gulf where there was little chance of getting caught. Cow River, Horse Island, Hudson Bay, Cedar Island, Bayonet Point, Fillmun's Bayou, Sleepy Lagoon... back then these landmarks for local boaters had no names at all. And yes, these buccaneers DID bury treasure. Horse Island is the spot mentioned most often as the burial place of wealth from the dim past. Fact or fiction? Old Hudson residents will attest to the fact that Horse Island used to bear the scars of much digging by treasure hunters. Why? Either these hunters were inspired by the old stories... or they were the descendents of the pirates themselves... or maybe even people who had a treasure map in order to locate the booty? We'll probably never know, but someone was doing an awful lot of digging on the island.

"During the Civil War (1861-65), Florida was part of the Confederate States of America, fighting against the United States of America.2"  The Confederacy used the Hudson coastal area for the exact same things that the pirates did earlier... to hide and carry out their stealthy maneuvers. Silent, goastlike bands of Southern fighters, working mostly at night, snuck vital supplies past Union gunboat patrols all along the Pasco coastline, with the goal of getting them to residents inland fighting at places like Vicksburg. Salt was a major necessity and it was procured at what would later be called 'Port Richey,' behind Gulfview Mall at the 'Old Salt Mine.'

Remember, the area was still just a vast stretch of wilderness and water. Finally, some early White settlers from other parts of Florida came through the area in the 1860's-70's by the only path, the Old Salt Road in Port Richey. They used to fish at the coast and let salt water evaporate in pans. Timeuca and Seminole Indians have buried their dead here since the 1300's and 1700's respectively. An old Indian burial ground is located at Grace Memorial Gardens, on the west side of US 19 near Denton Ave., in Hudson.