The Community of Royal

Just west of Wildwood lies one of Florida’s oldest historically Black communities, where generations of families have maintained connections to land first settled by their ancestors more than 150 years ago.

Royal traces its beginnings to the years following the Civil War, when formerly enslaved people established homes and farms in the area and founded the community in 1865. Originally known as Picketsville, a name associated with the white picket fences surrounding early 40-acre homesteads, the settlement became known as Royal by the late 1880s.

Land ownership and agriculture shaped Royal from its earliest years. Families grew crops, raised livestock, established homesteads and created institutions a growing settlement needed. Churches, schools and businesses became gathering places as Royal developed its identity during Reconstruction and continued through segregation and generations of social and economic change.

The rural settlement’s distinct identity was further cemented by the establishment of  the Royal post office in 1891.

Unlike many historic places that survive primarily through photographs, documents or preserved buildings, Royal remains a living community. Descendants of many of its pioneer families continue to own and live on ancestral property. Fields, pastures, wooded tracts, historic roads and family homes still reflect the rural landscape that shaped life for generations.

Beverly Steele and Maitland Keller share deep roots in Royal, Florida’s historic African-American community. Beverly, a descendant of one of Royal’s founding families, works to preserve its history through the Young Performing Artists organization and Royal’s Historical Enrichment & Art Program. Keller, a Royal native, became a longtime community activist and helped establish Project Health, now Thomas E. Langley Medical Center, while working to protect
Royal’s history
and legacy.

That connection is celebrated through the Royal Homecoming, a tradition dating to 1968. Created as an opportunity for former residents and descendants to return home, the gathering grew from church services and a shared meal into a celebration drawing generations of Royal families and visitors. Ebenezer AME Church, founded in 1875, remains one of Royal’s historic community institutions and still holds weekly services and Bible study.

Royal’s history received national recognition in February 2026 when the Community of Royal Rural Historic District was officially listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The designation recognizes Royal’s significance in Black history, agriculture, settlement and community development.

More than a century and a half after its beginnings, Royal remains tied to the families, land and traditions that shaped it. Its story is not simply one of preserving the past, but of a place that continues to carry its history forward from one generation to the next.