The unincorporated community of Spuds was originally named Holy Branch, after a stop on the Florida East Coast Railway line established in the 1880s between East Palatka & St. Augustine. This rail line opened the region for industry & agriculture.
The community’s first post office opened in 1886, with Albert I. Rogers as postmaster. In 1911 Joseph Minton – a member of a prominent farming family in the area – applied for a new post office, and the community was renamed Spuds. By that time potato farming was a major industry in the area, so the name was – and is – appropriate!
In the 1920s & 30s, the area expanded its economy into the timber & turpentine industries. The Spuds Turpentine Company was established, providing Spuds with a new source of income. Many of the laborers at the turpentine camps were African American who lived with their families in dwellings provided by their employers. Instead of cash wages, workers were given aluminum coins known as scrip that could only be spent at the company store. This unfair practice was designed to limit the employee’s ability to leave the camp