Areas of Seminole County were used for turpentine production from the 1870s until the 1930s because of the numerous pine trees available for harvesting in the area. The industry's production process took place in two major steps. First, large numbers of workers would slash the bark of the pine trees and collect the gum that dripped out. Secondly, the gum was cooked in distilleries that produced the final products of turpentine, tar, pitch and rosin. The two major inputs were pine trees and physical labor.

Most photographs of the industry show a primarily African American workforce providing the labor needs. The buildings typically associated with the turpentine industry housed the stills used to cook the pine gum into the final products. These buildings ranged in size and shape depending on the sophistication and size of the operation and usually had either an open structure or ventilation stacks. The turpentine industry was an important early industry in the Florida economy but it did come at a price to the environment as the process drained the pine trees of all their gum and the trees were later chopped down for lumber.