Raiford, FL

Raiford is a town in Union County, Florida, United States. There are three correctional institutions around the town. The first Florida State Prison was established in the Raiford area. A newcomer can read Raiford through the overlap of its older landmarks, surrounding geography, and current places. For a newcomer, Raiford comes into focus through those concrete links among its past, landscape, and current routines. Union Correctional Institution holds the state death row for men. The town has a Masonic lodge, Raiford Lodge #82, under the jurisdiction of The Grand Lodge of Florida. Around 1895, the first non-indigenous person to settle the area was a man named Hunter Warren Raiford, who was involved in the naval stores business.