By Lori Collins, Ph.D., Heritage Preservation Advisor, The Timberly Trust
As Limona Cemetery marks its 150th anniversary, the community pauses to reflect on the people who shaped this place long before modern development transformed Eastern Hillsborough County. Among citrus groves, clear lakes and longleaf pine forests, Limona emerged in the late 19th century as a small but enduring winter colony, defined by a deep connection to land, family and heritage.
One of the most powerful symbols of that legacy is the Limona Cemetery itself — one of the oldest formal burial grounds in the region. Beneath its towering pines lie generations of farmers, educators, craftsmen, and pioneers who laid the foundations of both Limona and Brandon. Their lives tell the story of Florida’s frontier becoming a settled community.
Central to that story is the Moseley family. Julia Daniels Moseley (1849-1917) and her husband, Charles Scott Moseley (1828-1918), settled near Ten Mile Lake in 1882. After an early log home was lost to fire, they built what became the Moseley Homestead in 1886, later known as ‘The Nest.’ Located on a wooded property called Timberly, the homestead evolved into a center of art, music, literature and intellectual life. Letters and journals written there remain among the most valuable firsthand accounts of pioneer life in Florida.
This anniversary also honors the life and legacy of their granddaughter, Julia Winifred Moseley (1919-2020), whose granite memorial stone is dedicated at the cemetery this year. Born and raised at Timberly, Julia Winifred Moseley spent more than a century safeguarding her family’s history and the natural environment that surrounded it. A historian, archivist and preservationist, she devoted her life to protecting the Moseley Homestead — now listed on the National Register of Historic Places — and preserving thousands of documents, photographs, artworks and journals.
Her most enduring contribution may be Come to My Sunland, a published collection of her grandmother’s frontier letters, ensuring that Julia Daniels Moseley’s voice would not be lost to time. Through her advocacy for land and water stewardship, Julia Winifred Moseley also became a witness to — and a critic of — the rapid loss of Florida’s natural landscapes.
Though her ashes remain at Timberly, her memorial at Limona Cemetery fulfills her wish to be honored alongside her ancestors. There, among generations of Moseleys, her stone stands as a bridge between Florida’s pioneer past and its future.
Julia Winifred Moseley is remembered not only as a descendant of Limona’s founders, but also as a pioneer in her own right — one whose lifelong devotion preserved an irreplaceable chapter of Florida’s cultural and environmental history.
The Timberly Trust seeks to provide historical context on The Nest, the people and community connected to it; its architecture, art and decor; and its relationship to the environment. For more information, visit https://moseleyhomestead.com/.
You must be logged in to post a comment.