The Florida territory had changing European rulers in the war years between the 1500s and the early 1800s: Spanish, English and American. Mill and plantation artifacts make up the display about the Plantation Period. Personal use items, such as buttons and bottles obtained from area missions, represent the history of individuals in the area. From the Mala Compra Plantation, burned down during the Second Seminole War, the Museum has items from the early 19th-century home of Joseph Hernandez, who was elected as the first Hispanic congressman in the U.S.