The Ruins of the Bulow Sugar Mill

To get to the ruins of the Bulow Sugar Mill, one has to drive north on Old Kings Road which is marked with newly created housing subdivisions, to Plantation Road, which is a narrow, one lane dirt road through dense forest. The contrast couldn't be any more jarring, it's like the dirt road takes you out of the present into Florida's past.


At the end of the dirt road lies the foundation of the Plantation house built by Major Charles Bulow in the 1820s. The house, which hosted the likes of naturalist John James Audubon, was burned to the ground by Indians in 1836 during the Second Seminole War.

It is speculated that Audubon painted this image of Greater Yellowlegs while staying at the Bulow Plantation, and the cabins in the background were slave cabins located on the plantation

The site of the former sugar mill is about a half mile down the road and I was immediately struck by the size and scope of what was once the "largest and wealthiest" plantation in East Florida. Created of Coquina rock, the structures of the mill were used in the production of molasses and raw sugar from sugar cane. The plantation itself was a self sufficient community, producing cotton, indigo and rice as well.

The story of the rise and fall of "Bulowville" and the plantation are well documented with artifacts and narrative in a display to one side of the ruins. It is fascinating to me that this remote, rugged artifact once was a thriving community that had to be evacuated because of war and then was completely destroyed by the Indians. It gave me a better understanding of the conflict, 174 years ago, that shaped the state that I live in now.

The water skiing elephants of De Leon Springs

Yesterday I took some out of town visitors to De Leon Springs for a delightful pancake lunch and learned more about what the place was like when it was a roadside attraction. But first this tip: the restaurant is much less crowded on a weekday at lunch. While you might experience a wait of an hour or more during a weekend morning, we were able to walk right in and get the best table in the house, by an open window in front of the gigantic water wheel. A light breeze came across the water and cooled us and the sound of rushing water was audible below the water wheel. Well worth taking a day off for!

At the small museum on the opposite side of the spring from the restaurant are some wonderful murals including the image above showing some of the aquatic attractions of the spring. In the background is a small motorboat jumping a ramp- I've seen multiple postcard images of the same and imagine that was a staple of the show. Also note the tram or people mover now seen at most theme parks and the Cypress Gardens-like water ski pyramid. But the star of the show had to be the water skiing elephant. I found this wonderful first hand account on the circus history website about Queenie, the water skiing elephant:

"My Dad, Bill Green, trained Queenie to water-ski at Ponce de Leon Springs in the winter of 1958-1959. I water-skied with Queenie the winter of 1959-1960.
We bought Queenie in 1953 when she was approximately nine months old and she remained in my family until 1967 when we sold her to Walt King of Kings Performing Elephants in Richmond, Michigan. Walt sold Queenie to Circus Gatti in 1981. After suffering various forms of mistreatment and neglect, she was transferred to Wild Adventures, in Valdosta, GA, in 2001 where she remains to this day. After not having seen each other for 38 years, Queenie and I were reunited in October of 2005 - and the old saying "an elephant never forgets" is true. She remembered me! I have seen her each year since and will see her again this June."- Liz Green Dane, March 21, 2008

I found this video online of Liz and Queenie performing:

Postscript: Liz Dane, who performed with Queenie, pointed out that the elephant in the painting at De Leon Springs is actually Sunshine Sally, a circus elephant who was Queenie's predecessor. Liz and Queenie performed at De Leon Springs in the winters of 1959 and 1960. Look for more in a future post!

Plant a tree in Florida State Parks

Odwalla, a company that makes fruit beverages, has a limited time promotion where they will donate trees to state parks for everyone who clicks on their site. Just follow the link, select Florida and click "plant a tree".  Odwalla will donate money to Florida State Parks to purchase trees. It is reported that they have already received thousands of long leaf pines.
 
Please forward to your friends and ask them to do the same.  Time is running out because the campaign ends when they reach 100,000 and they are now at 83,784.  Other states are competing for the resources and the sunshine sate needs to make up ground!
  

Old Florida's Finest: DeLeon Springs

Since I started blogging about Florida, I have wanted to write about De Leon Springs, because it was one of the few places in the state where you can still get a sense of what it was like here generations ago. Like at most of Florida's major springs, evidence of a human presence goes back to the early indigenous people, in this case the Timucuans. After being discovered by Europeans, it wasn't long before settlers built farms in the area and eventually became sugar and cotton plantations. The Spanish built a mill on the site. After the Civil War the area around the spring was transformed into a resort where "a fountain of youth impregnated with a delicously healthy combination of soda and Sulphur" was the main draw, according to the state website. A hotel with 14 rooms, a restaurant, cocktail lounge and other amenities was built next to the spring in the 1920s and operated into the sixties.

Located just off US 17, one of the major north-south routes into Florida before the interstate system was built, De Leon Springs became a major tourist attraction drawing motorists off the road with a variety of amusements. Sunshine Sally, the water skiing elephant headlined the "Jim Rusing Water Skiing, Boat and Jumping Show." A jungle cruise led visitors past a giant Cypress tree and a monkey island. And there is evidence that as an attraction, De Leon Springs also had an Alligator Pen, Oriental Bridge and Wishing Well. It was advertised as "Nature's Cameraland."

Today, like many of Florida's surviving vintage attractions, it is a state park. Aside from the swimming in the spring, renting a canoe or peddleboat, or browsing at historical displays on the springs fascinating history, the main draw is the Old Spanish Mill restaurant. Each table has a griddle built into it, and servers bring batter made from flour ground on site, from which you cook your own pancakes. The un-air conditioned building is always packed and it features remnants from the original Spanish mill, including a rebuilt version of the original waterwheel. The pancakes are wonderful and everything is charming at this window into Florida's past.

The resort hotel operated until the 1960s

The statue of Ponce De Leon and the bathing suit clad beauty mysteriously disappeared

Vintage images from the State Archives of Florida

Flori-duh

I picked up the Orlando Weekly this week because of the clever illustration of "Peninsula Pete" an anthropomorphic rendering of our state as a vaudeville character. The feature article was "Our Dumb State Vol.5." While the Weekly always has a smarmy, sarcastic tone, and this article is no exception, I can't disagree wit the basic premise of the piece that Florida has been "the epicenter of idiocy" in recent years. And the more I learn about our state's history, the more I discover that collectively as a state, we've have a discouraging legacy of making short-sighted decisions that ultimately could harm the quality of life in our state. So now that this tendency is so blatant that a weekly tabloid like the Weekly can make a 5 part series about stupidity in our state, will we work to make things better? The news stories coming out of the current state legislative session seem to indicate we are right the middle of a tsunami of stupidity. Despite what's going in Tallahassee right now, we still have a State Park system that is second to none and a forward-thinking program like Florida Forever as long as we continue to fund them both. I'd like to see what is left of old Florida preserved so the next generation can see what it was like when the state was unspoiled.

The Orlando Sentinel also has a feature called Floriduh with the subhead "We've been in the sun too long." Is this part of Florida's colorful character, without the lens of time to make it seem eccentric and fun? Do we attract wackiness and silly behavior? Or if you looked hard enough at any state, could you find the same kind of stuff going on?

Save our State Parks

If you follow my blog, you know I'm a big fan of Florida's State Parks. I believe they highlight and preserve Florida's unique natural and cultural resources. So I'm not surprised that I received this email today.

"Dear Friend of Florida State Parks,

You have graciously joined our effort to protect the parks and now we need your help!! Please call and/or email your state representative and Senator TODAY. We need to communicate our concern about closing our parks and reducing service. You can usually find their contact information on first group of pages in your telephone directory under State of Florida government offices. Following is an editorial piece I have prepared to help with talking points. Best to use your own words rather than mine. Thanks in advance for your help.

This week’s news indicates significant cuts to Florida state agencies delivering services to our citizens. What has not been mentioned by the media is the proposal to close 58 state parks 2-3 days each week. On the days that these parks open, it will only be for 8 hours rather than the dawn till dusk access we now enjoy. Over 110 full-time park employees and ALL seasonal part-time employee positions are eliminated under this proposed reduction. The Florida state park system as we know it will change significantly and the entire operation for the Office of Greenways and Trails is proposed to be eliminated. Programs, services and access to our public lands will be dramatically curtailed. The park service will be lucky to be able to pay their utility bills and provide for the over 20 million people who visit our parks each year.

While gloomy economic news, bailouts and greed continue to make headlines, Florida State Parks have seen record attendance over the past 3 months. This is proof positive that Florida’s families NEED these parks in order to participate in healthy outdoors activities during times of stress. A family of 4 can visit a park for an entire day for a $5 per carload entry fee. They can even bring along Grandma and Grandpa. While visiting their favorite state park, Florida’s citizens can enjoy swimming, hiking, biking, picnicking and nature study, or just spend time reconnecting with each other. Contrast this with the typical $28 cost of a 2 hour movie for just Mom, Dad and the kids.

This is not the time to downsize the last affordable outdoor recreation for our citizenry. Some facts to put this cut in perspective:

• Our park system is one of the most efficient in the nation. It is the ONLY State Park system that has twice achieved the National Gold Medal award.
• Our 160 parks involve management of over 700,000 acres of public land including 3400 campsites, 230 cabins, over 100 miles of beach and 14,000 education and cultural programs are provided for Florida citizens.
• Florida State Parks already generate over 54% of their operating budget through entry, camping and concession fees. Many of these fees are paid by out of state visitors.
• Florida State Parks budget represents less than 0.1% of Florida’s overall state expenditures.
• Florida State Parks generate over 1 billion dollars in direct economic impact and produced $70 million dollars in sales tax revenue while supporting over 20,000 private sector jobs – green economy jobs for nature based outfitters, concessionaires and all the support services that visitors use when traveling in our state.
• Over 6,000 volunteers contributed well over one million hours of free service to the park system in 2007. Individual parks enjoy the support of over 80 citizen support organizations that are passionate about their park and prove it through contribution of their time and energy.

If you are as concerned about the proposed changes to our award winning state parks as we are, please call, write or email your local legislators and tell them to protect our public open space and outdoor recreation. Visit our website to learn more about the Friends of Florida State Parks and how you can become involved in saving Florida’s state parks for our children and grandchildren."

– Elaine McLaughlin, President Friends of Florida State Parks
http://www.friendsoffloridastateparks.com/

I urge you to do what you can to help preserve our parks as a legacy for future generations. Here are some pictures from my visits I've taken to a few of our State Parks the last few months. I'd love to keep capturing more images and creating more memories like this in the future!

Florida Panther, Homosassa Spring State Parks

Weeki Wachee Springs State Park

Wakulla Springs State Park

Natural Bridge Battlefield State Historic Site

Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins State Historic Site