# How Tate's Hell got its name



## jspooney (Oct 2, 2007)

Read this and thought it was interesting. I read a few versions of the same basic story. Always wondered about the origin of the name. 

How Tate’s Hell State Forest Got its Name

Tate’s Hell State Forest is named after Cebe Tate, a 45 year old local farmer plagued by a panther that kept attacking his livestock. The year was 1875, a time when Florida was experiencing a population boom as homesteaders moved in on land formerly controlled by Native Americans. Although most Seminoles escaped the Trail of Tears by disappearing deep into the swamp that makes up most of Tate’s Hell State Forest, many Native Americans were rounded up for relocation in Oklahoma.

Tate's Hell State Forest #3

The homesteaders didn’t have an easy time of it and rogue panthers were unwelcome pests. Cebe Tate decided to do something about his problem and headed into the forest with his shotgun and hunting dogs.

It didn’t go well. After just a few hours, he became separated from his dogs. Lost in the swamp, he lost his shotgun. When he sat down at a tree stump to rest, he was bitten by a snake.

Lost and disoriented for seven days and seven nights, he suffered greatly. Water was scarce, the mosquitoes were relentless, and the heat was stifling. Cebe was forced to drink the muddy swamp water. Finally breaking through the underbrush to a clearing near the town of Carrabelle, nearly 25 miles from his home, and barely able to speak, he walked up to two men. “My name is Cebe Tate,” he said, “And I’ve been through hell.” With that, he collapsed at their feet and died.


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## jspooney (Oct 2, 2007)

Here's another version...

Jebediah Tate was a superstitious farmer that lived near Carrabelle Florida. He had one son who was born just before the war and named him Cebe. Jebediah was a Civil War veteran, and his wife was half Cherokee Indian. He bought 160 acres for $5 as a homestead grant after the war.

Cebe Tate helped clear his father’s land, chased cattle, and gathered pine oil. His mother died from scarlet fever sometime after the war. It was hard going, and Cebe’s father made a pact with a local medicine man for good fortune. As long as they stayed out of the tiny cypress forest and gave him one pig a year, they would have good fortune. 

For three years, they gave up a pig when the medicine man came around, and things were good. But in 1874, they decided to keep the pig and deny the old Indian. The Medicine man warned them that they would not only see hard times, but they would go through hell. That year Cebe’s father died from malaria, the pine trees gave very little oil, the sugar cane was stunted, and scrub cows started to disappear. But the pigs ate good, and multiplied so fast Cebe had to build two new pig pens in the fall.

In the spring of 1875, Cebe got married to a mail order bride from New York City. She was a fiery German Immigrant. But there was a problem, Cebe only had pigs left, and she was of the Jewish Faith. She ate corn, potatoes, and pancakes with molasses, but she wanted beef. Cebe took off into the woods to find a cow, any cow, to quiet his bride. 

Armed with a shotgun and accompanied by his hunting dogs, he journeyed into the swamp in search of a cow. His dogs took off chasing a panther, and he lost his gun in the mud. Tate was lost in the swamp for seven days and nights. He went into the Dwarf Cypress stand to escape the relentless bugs, and fell asleep against the trees that were protected by the Indian’s magic. He awoke when bitten by a snake and ran blindly thru the swamp, delirious from the bite and from drinking the murky waters. Finally he came to a clearing near Carrabelle, living only long enough to murmur the words, "My name is Cebe Tate, and I just came through Hell!" 

This local oral lore of Cebe Tate's adventure took place in 1875 and ever since, the area has been known as Tate's Hell, the legendary and forbidden swamp.


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## Emerald Ghost (Mar 11, 2008)

Inquiring minds need to know.

Thanks Spooney.


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## Try'n Hard (Oct 23, 2008)

I'm sure he was being overly dramatic, the panthers were probably just dogs or big bobcats and I'm sure the snake was a banded water snake.


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## stewart_fish (May 13, 2009)

Thats near where I live and I've hunted there. I've wondered how that name came about too. Interesting for sure. I'll have to share this with folks.


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## NotALocal (Jun 17, 2021)

I know there was a song about it, but some local historians down there say that the ballad is pure fiction—except for the one line. “My name is Tate, and I’ve just been through Hell…” or something similar. Some people claim he was an army general who’d gotten separated from his troops on a native roundup. 
I would imagine some of the local college professors would have dug into this. There is always a paper trail. Would be interesting to know.


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