Old Florida fix

This morning's bike ride was on the West Orange Trail on the southern edge of Lake Apopka. The trail follows the railroad that was established in the 19th century to ship produce grown in the region. I took the the trail from Oakland to Winter Garden with numerous side trips off the trail to take pictures. I was really needing an Old Florida fix, and this little excursion did the trick.

It had been a number of years since I biked the trail and its popularity has exploded in the interim. The parking lot was full and there were very few segments not being used by bikers, joggers or walkers. There are many new developments along the trail, including the Oakland Nature Preserve, a major force in preserving the region's history and natural environment. Unfortunately, Orlando's sprawl is encroaching and new suburbs have appeared near Oakland. There were two residential developments that showed the effects of the economy with paved roads and utilities but no houses.

This fish camp cabin, from Mt. Dora on the north side of the lake, is
one of the few remaining in the area

Beautyberries at the Oakland Nature Preserve

Tracks from the rail bed that the trail follows

Dock on Lake Apopka

 I saw the presence of the citrus industry in several spots; commercial packinghouses still remain even though very little citrus is grown in Orange County these days. It was fun to imagine trains taking this route through acres of groves and going for miles without seeing settlements. The small town of Oakland was put on the map when Judge James Speer agreed to give Russian Peter Demens 200 acres of land along the edge of Lake Apopka in exchange for routing the railroad through the tiny community. Oakland "boomed" from 1880 to 1890 until a devastating freeze crippled the citrus industry and a fire ravaged the community. Today the evidence of the towns history is intact in the form of some wonderful old homes and a few commercial buildings.

Details from the remnants of the citrus industry

Frame Vernacular house built in 1885 by Orange Belt Railway

Between Oakland and Winter Garden lies an area known as Tildenville with more fantastic 19th century homes, shady dirt roads, and enormous live oaks. Before reaching the quaint little downtown of Winter Garden, I went down to the lakefront of Lake Apopka. Newton Park originated as a tincan tourist camp, but was developed as a project of the New Deal in the 1930s. Several buildings and two arched bridges remain from that era. I shared the park with a plethora of wading birds, turtles, and some invisible alligators, that were heard but not seen. I found it interesting that on this holiday weekend the trail was jammed with people but the lakefront was deserted. Of course Lake Apopka, at one time the third largest lake in Florida, was horribly polluted by years of harmful agricultural practices. Once one of the premier bass fishing lakes in the state, the lake used to be ringed with fish camps. Today no fish camps remain and the lake is undergoing restoration with hopes of one day reestablishing an environmental balance. One of the more positive signs in the restoration has been the return of thousands of migrating birds every year. The latest threat, however, is a plans to enlarge a small airfield on the north side of the lake into a full scale airport. Environmentalists are concerned that this would have a detrimental effect on the birds, and they are trying to create a National Wildlife Reserve for the area.

Bungalow built in 1919 by citrus packinghouse manager Gus Hall

This Queen Anne Classical Revival house, built in 1900, is on the National Historic Register

WPA era feature in Warren Park on Lake Apopka

Great Blue Heron watches over Lake Apopka

Old building in Newton Park

My ride through West Orange County allowed me to fill my need to see some Old Florida and I also experienced all sorts of unexpected wildlife, from hawks to snakes. Every year the Audubon Society does a bird count around the lake, an event I'd love to participate in it someday. It will be interesting to see what happens to this large lake with a troubled past.

Labor Day weekend solitude on Lake Apopka

Postscript: For more information on West Orange County's history, I recommend "Sundays in the South: Touring West Orange County" by Rod Reeves and Kay Cappleman and "What Can I Say?" the excellent blog by Jim Crescitelli.

Diggin' West Orange

"We're spending a lot of money on education, and when you look at the results, it's not great," the governor said. "Do you want to use your tax money to educate more people who can't get jobs in anthropology? I don't."- Florida Governor Rick Scott

I find it very ironic that I would be invited to a dig by an anthropologist the same week that Florida's governor would take a dig at the anthropology profession. A new friend from my Facebook Old Florida page who teaches Anthropology at local college made the invitation and I leapt at the opportunity.

The archeological dig was in the West Orange County community of Oakland, a small town with a big history dating back to the 1860s. The town was incorporated in 1887 after railroad builder Peter Demens accepted Judge James Speer's offer of 200 acres of land along Lake Apopka in exchange for running the railroad line through Oakland. The town boomed between the 1880s and mid 1890s until a freeze wiped out much of the citrus industry that the town relied upon.

One of the town's most colorful residents was Rose Mather-Smith who moved to Florida from Chicago with her husband Charles Frederic Mather-Smith and took the the town by storm with her colorful social gatherings. She and her husband built the West Orange Country Club in 1911 and the club was the social hub of the area for many years. The guest house for the club, now a private residence located next to the Florida Turnpike, was the site of the dig.

A Mather-Smith social gathering, circa 1930 from the Orange County Regional History Center

The Mather-Smith family of Oakland is all dressed up for a parade at Lake Eola in Orlando circa 1911

From the State Archives of Florida

The road to the dig, directly off SR 50, reminded me of the secret road that the Batmobile would always disappear into in the classic '60s TV show. Unless you looked hard, you would never know to turn there. But the house hidden at the end of that road was a wonder of old Florida, engulfed by ancient Live Oaks, palm trees and native plant species. I got a tour of the site from Jason Wenzel, a PhD candidate at UF who was supervising anthropology students from various Central Florida colleges. He explained that this was a Phase 1 archeological survey where holes 50 cm by 50 cm wide were dug at measured intervals around the property. Descending a meter into the ground, the student volunteers learned about use of the landscape from the dirt by matching it to a color guide. During the time when this property was utilized as guest quarters for the club, trash was dumped in a rubbish heap at the edge of the property. Digging through this trash from the past can yield valuable clues to the location's inhabitants – for instance dietary habits can be learned from bones. The presence of bones from indigenous game would show that the guests may have hunted, or finding bones like lamb and other more expensive meat would show that they were affluent. Particularly of interest to Wenzel was glass samples, as he is studying the relationship between alcohol and tourism in the early 20th century. Florida was haven for moonshiners during the Prohibition era, and finding illicit liquor bottles from that time could be very useful.They also found ceramic shards and nails on the site which can tell a good deal about social status and any structures on the site.

Originally guest quarters for the West Orange Country Club,

the site of the dig is now a private residence.

Suburbia encroaching on Old Florida

I was impressed by the knowledge of the two anthropologists at the site, and encouraged that Florida's early 20th century past is considered worthy of study. The whole group was very youthful and enthusiastic and seemed committed to the scientific manner in which they were exploring Florida's past. Although this site was not yielding great archeological treasures, this was the first dig I'd ever seen up close and it was a treat for me. We talked about the Governor's comments and it would be devastating if this was the last generation we train to dig into our state's cultural history. The Executive Director of the Florida Public Archaeology Network responded to the governor's remarks saying "These studies have not only written Florida history, they provide authentic content to a very important and sustainable heritage tourism and historic preservation industry that brings in over $4 billion per year to Florida’s economy." Hopefully he's speaking in language the Governor can understand.

The gates to the former country club are located

on the opposite side of the turnpike from the dig.
Click here to see other historic buildings in West Orange County.

If you'd like to sign the petition about cuts in education to programs like Anthropology in Florida, click here.