Person Record

Metadata

Name

Barfield, James M. "J.M." "Jim"

Born

01/29/1867

Deceased

11/12/1944

Notes

James ("Jim") Madison Barfield (1867 - 1944) was born in Georgia shortly after the end of the American Civil War. In 1892, he joined his brother Benjamin at Caxambas. Along with an associate named Mack I. Smith, the two brothers raised vegetable crops for the Key West and New York markets. By 1903, James had acquired 213 acres of land at Caxambas, surpassing Frederick Ludlow as its largest landowner.
James Barfield attracted the industry and people that transformed Caxambas into a village. In 1904, he opened a general store and post office at Caxambas - second only to W.D. Collier's on the island - and served as its first postmaster for 13 years. In June 1904, he gifted five acres of waterfront property to the E.S. Burnham Company in order to establish the island's first clam factory. He also built a two-story frame boarding house and several small cottages to house the new factory's workers.
In 1906, Barfield married Tommie Camilla Stephens. The newlyweds lived together in a home at the island's highest point, known then as "the Heights." In 1908, the Barfields expanded their home in order to better accommodate their guests, calling it the Heights Hotel (aka the "Barfield Hotel"). In 1919, Barfield subdivided his land at Caxambas, branding it the "Heights Subdivision on the Bayfront." Lots were priced at $200 to $350 each, but most went unsold. Three years later, in 1922, the Barfields sold most of their land at Caxambas to advertising magnate Barron G. Collier for $30,000.
Mild-mannered Jim Barfield was sometimes overshadowed by his outspoken wife's civic contributions, but the early history of Caxambas is tied largely to his decisions and foresight. He also served as one of Collier County's first five commissioners when the new county was formed in 1923, a position he held for almost 20 years. He retired in January 1943 and passed away in Caxambas the following year at age 77.

James M. Barfield settled at Caxambas in 1892 and soon began buying up property. In 1904, he set aside five acres of waterfront for the E.S. Burnham Packing Company, the island's first clam factory. To house the new factory's workers, Barfield built a two-story frame boarding house and several small cottages. Perhaps motivated by an interest in keeping the young Tommie Camilla Stephens in Caxambas, Barfield asked Annie DeWilla Stephens (image right), Tommie's mother, to run the boarding house. She accepted and the boarding house became known at the Stephens Hotel (image far right). James and Tommie married two years later.
The Barfields lived in a home on the highest point in Caxambas, known then as "the Heights." To better accommodate their guests, the Barfields expanded their home in 1908, opening it as the Heights Hotel (aka the "Barfield Hotel"). It could hold up to 20 people and was known for its cuisine. A 1928 newspaper article reported that the cuisine, jellies, pastes, and preserves were so delicious that they "caused the hotel guests to place orders for delicacies to be carried back north with them."

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