The Lafayette Land Grant was a gift by the government of the United States of just over 23,000 acres (93 km2) of real estate in central Leon County, Florida, United States.
Lafayette chose land near his friend Richard Keith Call. Col. John McKee of Alabama was given the task of traveling to Florida and selecting Lafayette's piece of land. The warrant officially giving Lafayette the land was signed by PresidentJohn Quincy Adams on July 4, 1825.[1][better source needed] The land included what is now Lake Lafayette within that tract.[2] The Southwest corner of the Lafayette grant is marked by a monument in Tallahassee, Florida, which also serves as a survey marker for the Tallahassee Meridian. Two additional markers also lay along the boundary -- one on Gadsden Street in the city's LaFayette Park and a second one between Apalachee Parkway and LaFayette St, at the intersection of E. Indianhead Drive.
Lafayette never visited his land in Florida. However, by the 1830s, several Frenchmen who knew Lafayette, including Prince Achille Murat, nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, had moved to the area.[3] They found north Florida's subtropical climate far too warm. Some of these settlers returned to France and others moved to the historically French city of New Orleans. By 1855, all the land included in the Lafayette Township (over 23,000 acres) had been sold to individual buyers. Today it is home to a number of neighborhoods, including Lafayette Oaks.
