The 1854 Gazetteer of the United States by Thomas Baldwin shows:

ALACHUA, a-latch?u-a, a county in the north-west part of the peninsula of Florida, has an area of about 1000 square miles. The Santa Fe river forms its northern, and the Suwanee its western boundary. Orange lake is partly included in its limits, and it contains several ponds. Surface rolling or level; soil generally fertile; Indian corn, cotton, rice, and sweet potatoes are the staples. It produced in 1850, 64,724 bushels of corn; 28,063 of sweet potatoes; 561 bales of cotton; 17,935 pounds of rice; 5558 gallons of molasses. Capital, Newnansville. Population, 2524, of whom 1618 were free, and 906 slaves. It was named from Alachua savanna, a grassy and marshy plain in the county north of Lake Orange.