Hamilton Disston was an early Florida land baron. He purchased the land on Cape Haze from the state in 1881, for 25 cents an acre. When Alfred and William Vanderbilt bought the same property in 1951, they paid $40 per acre. In 1961, they sold 10,000 acres to General Development Corp. for $400 an acre.

In 1971, when Cavanagh Leasing Corp. bought the remaining Vanderbilt property, they paid $730 an acre.