FLAGLER COUNTY, FL — What people see now as Old Kings Road is only a modern echo of Florida’s oldest highway. The original route was first envisioned in 1765, before Florida became part of the United States and even before the nation itself existed.
Today, the old roadway has largely vanished. In its place is a paved corridor that runs near the Atlantic coast, while a few markers and place names are among the only reminders that the historic King’s Road once cut across the region.
Flagler County historian William Ryan says the road began as a British effort to connect settlement, trade, and land grants along Florida’s east coast. That plan would eventually shape travel and development from St. Augustine to what is now Jacksonville and beyond.
A British plan built on plantation land and old trails
According to the Flagler County Historical Society, Col. James Grant, the first governor of British East Florida, conceived the road in 1765. British investors wanted a way to support plantations along the coast, and planners looked to old Indian trails as a guide for the route…