Editing Bayport, Florida (section)

==History==
The village of Bayport, located at the mouth of the [[Weeki Wachee River]], sprang up in the early 1850s<ref name="fivay.org">{{Cite web|url=http://www.fivay.org/bayport.html|title=History of Bayport, Hernando County, Florida}}</ref> as a supply and cotton port. It was originally spelled as Bay Port and briefly served as the county seat until it was moved to Brooksville in 1856.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Landers |first1=Roger R. |title=The "Recent Unpleasantness" in Hernando County, Florida: Reconstruction, Redemption, Retrenchment, and Its Legacy |journal=Tampa Bay History |date=2010 |volume=24 |issue=1 |page=13 |url=https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1504&context=tampabayhistory |access-date=23 March 2023}}</ref> During the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] naval squadrons blockaded Florida's coasts to prevent goods and supplies from passing into and out of the state. By 1863 the East Gulf Blockade Squadron had effectively closed the larger ports along the Gulf Coast. Small rivers, such as the Weeki Wachee, became important trade routes. Shipping at Bayport attracted the attention of the Union Blockade Squadron which intercepted eleven [[blockade runner]]s near there between 1862 and 1865. Various skirmishes took place at Bayport between Union troops and the [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] Home Guard during the course of the war.<ref name="fivay.org"/> This included at least one raid by Union troops who had marched all the way north from [[Fort Myers, Florida|Fort Myers]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Taylor |first1=Paul |title=Discovering the Civil War in Florida |date=2001 |publisher=Pineapple Press Inc |location=Sarasota, FL |isbn=9781561642342 |page=195}}</ref> The Confederate cannon battery site can still be seen on the wooded point just north of the Bayport fishing pier at the mouth of the Weeki Wachee River.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.exploresouthernhistory.com/bayportbattle.html|title = Battle of Bayport - Bayport, Florida}}</ref>

After the war Bayport became Hernando County's major outlet for lumber and agricultural products, and continued to serve as its transportation center until railroad service came to [[Brooksville, Florida|Brooksville]] in 1885.<ref name="tidewater-florida.com">{{Cite web|url=http://www.tidewater-florida.com/places/hernando/bayport.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305054647/http://www.tidewater-florida.com/places/hernando/bayport.htm|url-status=usurped|archive-date=March 5, 2016|title=For Your Daily Dose of the Tropics}}</ref>

In the spring of 2008, Hernando County and the [[Southwest Florida Water Management District]] rebuilt Bayport's marina and park area.<ref name="tidewater-florida.com"/>