After the Civil War ended in 1865, many freed slaves sought opportunities to work on the railroads, turpentine mills, and citrus and vegetable farms in the South.

Early Apopka settler, Sarah Mead, was born into slavery and sold to a plantation owner in Georgia. Sarah ventured into Apopka around 1870 and settled into an area known as Mead’s Bottom. The area was located south of Highway 441 and 436, bordered by McGee Street on the west and Sheeler Road on the east.

Sarah introduced the area to early black settlers with promises of vast farming opportunities and land ownership. She provided temporary housing and supplies and helped settlers establish homesteads.

Mead’s Bottom was a diverse community where blacks and whites lived and worked together well into the early 1960’s.