Oaklawn Plantation (Leon County, Florida)

The plantation home was known as The Lester-Lauder House. The house was an antebellum I-house with Carolina type porch and enclosed rear shed rooms.

In 1834, prior to coming to Florida, Lester became the head of vigilante committee called "The Regulators" during the funeral of a Mr. Roundtree. In May 1846, the Florida Superior Court the grand jury investigated the deaths of two Georgia citizens at the hands of The Regulators. Judge Scarborough instructed the grand jury not to indict The Regulators for murder, but to issue a warning that they would be indicted the next time. The grand jury called on the officers of The Regulators to dismiss the body that was no longer needed for the purpose it was organized.

William Lester was a signee to the Southern Rights Association of Centreville District on secession from the Union for the protection of Southern interests and the vindication of Southern rights to preserve and protect the Constitution in its purity as the basis of Federal compact, and the only foundation on which the Union of the States was made, or on which that Union should be preserved.^[3]

By 1870, he owned 5,000 acres (20 km²) of land in Texas, Georgia, and Florida.^[4]

Lester Cemetery had an ornamental iron fence. An obelisk marked the location of Captain Lester and his wife Rhoda. A total of 11 interments with brick vaults were at this cemetery before its removal. Pieces of pearlware sherd were found around the graveyard.

In 1997, the Lester-Lauder house was razed to the ground to make way for a commercial interest called Bannerman Crossing.^[5]

{{