Made in Maitland

I read once that in the days of the Seminole Indian Wars, forts were built one day's march from each other, throughout Central Florida. Fort Maitland, (built in 1838 during the 2nd Seminole Indian War), was the fort located a day's march from Fort Mellon in Sanford to the north and a day's march from Fort Gatlin in Orlando to the south. After the hostilities with the Indians ended, settlers moved into the area around Fort Maitland because of the "natural spring water and extensive pine forests" according to this online history of the city.

The rich and powerful, including Presidents Chester A. Arthur and Grover Cleveland, wintered in Maitland hotels

Citrus production was a major source of Maitland's growth in the early twentieth century. Images from the State Archives of Florida

Jules André Smith's Maitland Art Center built in 1937
is on the National Register of Historic Places

The Maitland Historical Society and Museums is the organization that preserves the heritage of this Central Florida town that former Sentinel columnist Bob Morris jokingly nicknamed the "land of mates." Recently the Historical Society merged with the Maitland Art Center and one of their first moves as the Maitland Art and History Association was to present an exhibit of artwork of Maitland's pioneers by artist Dawn Schreiner.

Dawn and her family have lived just outside the Maitland city limits for fifteen years, which means I've known her and her husband for around two decades. The Schreiners are avid Florida history buffs and they spend their weekends taking their two kids, Toby and Elena, to some of our state's most obscure and interesting historical places like the DeLand Hospital Museum and Shady Oak Restaurant and Tavern on the St. Johns River. It makes me very happy to know that some kids are being brought up on a healthy diet of Old Florida, and it gives me hope that future generations may be interested in preserving Florida's past.

Here's a Q&A I did with Dawn about her work in Maitland:

Q. What inspired you to do a show about Maitland pioneers?
A. I've always been interested in history, pioneers and portraits. When I heard the Maitland Art Center and the Maitland History Center were merging, the idea of painting portraits of Maitland pioneers came to me, while I was walking around Lake Catherine (in Maitland).

There's a whole lot of history packed into Dawn's exhibit
at the little Maitland History Museum

Q. What makes Maitland so unique?
A. Maitland is unique in that it doesn't have a port, which was commonly a city builder in the old days. People had to take steamboats to Jacksonville or Sanford. From there they travelled by horse & buggy to Maitland. The train was brought to town by pioneer families (mostly so they could more easily ship citrus). Folks must have really liked it here, given the travel time and trouble it took to get here.

Q. Why is Florida history so important to you?
A. When I first moved to Florida (decades ago), from Ohio, I was disappointed by the lack of history. By contrast, northern and Midwestern towns have an abundance of history in every corner. It took time, but once I really started looking, I was impressed with the Florida history I started to find. The fort and old sugar mill in New Smyrna was one of my first excursions (even before St. Augustine). The turning point was when our family went to Micanopy, Florida, where history abounds. Then we went to see the oldest post office in Florida), and I was hooked. Ever since then, I've been searching out old, interesting places.

I wonder how Mrs. Ephemera would feel about this groovy chair in our dining room?

Q. What is your favorite historic place in Florida?
A. My favorite historical spot so far is the Florida Caverns. I had no idea caves even existed in Florida until a few years ago, it was a magical experience. Maitland is a close second, of course.

Q. Do you have plans for any more projects combining history and art?
A. I find myself looking around Winter Park, which has a rich history, and Sanford is a gold mine. I am interested in history I can discover anywhere. It just comes down to finding a place I can hang art, and some interest from the locals.

Super cool Timucuan Indian painting (Maitland's first inhabitants)

One of my favorite pieces chronicling the early Audubon Society's
attempts to outlaw plume hunting
(resourcefully painted on a vintage movie screen!)

Louis F. Dommerich was one of Maitland's most influential pioneers, visiting Central Florida in 1885, then purchasing 400 acres in Maitland six years later. His wife established the Florida Audubon Society in 1900 and he served as its president for ten years. The Audubon Birds of Prey Center is still located in Maitland. Images from the Rollins College Archives.

If you are interested in seeing the exhibit of Dawn's work it is on display through the end of October at the Maitland History Museum adjacent to the Maitland Art Center. And all of the work is for sale!

"Bird Cities"

Rookery in the Everglades, State Archives of Florida

"...once you have seen an American egret standing against a background of tules with its yellow peak glistening, and the breeze ruffling the long nuptial plumes; or once you have surprised a snowy egret dancing about catching crawfish in a park pool–not fifty feet from a busy street:– the world will never quite look the same to you. And if you should ever see a wild flamingo take flight, or a flock of roseate spoonbills soaring, with the sun shining through their wings, this dull world would seem a place of magic." – Joy Postle, Glamour Birds of the Americas

Artist Joy Postle and her husband Robert Blackstone came to Florida at a time when poaching birds for their plumes was still a viable way to earn a living. Camping in the Everglades, they came encountered a lawman who warned them to be aware of dangerous poachers. He gave Joy a small Derringer pistol as protection and today the little gun is in the archives of the University of Central Florida. Ever the adventurers, Postle and Blackstone eventually did cross paths with poachers, but used the opportunity to purchase some bootleg liquor, so the story goes.

Postle describes living amid a bird rookery: "We were so entranced by the egrets, herons, ibis, and other wading birds, that we wanted to know them intimately. We learned that they nested in large colonies or "bird cities," usually on islands or in dense swamps...We made daily visits to the bird colony, and from a perch in a leaning live oak, watched the courting, nest building, brooding of the blue-green eggs, and feeding of the young...The plume birds accepted us as good neighbors, and some returned our visits...."

Ibis painting by Joy Postle, collection of Denise Hall

Some of the first "bird cities" to be protected from poachers in the United States were created right here in Florida.

Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge
"Pelican Island holds a unique place in American history, because on March 14, 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt designated it as the Nation's first National Wildlife Refuge to protect brown pelicans and other native birds nesting on the island. This was the first time the federal government set aside land for the sake of wildlife. The Refuge celebrates its Centennial Anniversary in 2003 and now the refuge system consists of more than 530 refuges on nearly 95 million acres of our nation's most important wildlife habitats."

Teddy Roosevelt, State Archives of Florida

Bird Island in Orange Lake
According to this website, "the reserve was purchased In 1910-11, when Florida Audubon Society member Oscar Baynard encouraged the National Audubon Society to purchase the property in Alachua County." The site also states that conservationist and bird expert T. Gilbert Pearson wrote about the colony in Birds of America, originally published in 1936.

Audubon of Florida today still owns 113 acres of lake bottom and most of Bird Island east of the town of Orange Lake between Gainesville and Ocala. "An important rookery for herons, egrets, and White Ibises, it was established in 1910 as the first Audubon sanctuary in the United States" and it was the only rookery that was successfully defended against the plume hunters, according to the Audubon website.

Osprey at St. Marks, NWR

St. Marks NWR
From the NWR website: "This unique refuge was established in 1931 to provide wintering habitat for migratory birds. It is one of the oldest refuges in the National Wildlife Refuge System. It encompasses 68,000 acres spread out between Wakulla, Jefferson, and Taylor counties along the Gulf Coast of northwest Florida. The refuge includes coastal marshes, islands, tidal creeks and estuaries of seven north Florida rivers, and is home to a diverse community of plant and animal life. The refuge also has strong ties to a rich cultural past, and is home to the St. Marks Lighthouse, which was built in 1832 and is still in use today."

State Archives of Florida

Today the legacy of those pioneering environmentalists endures in Florida, as birds have become a large part of state's iconography. Contemporary artists follow in the footsteps of John James Audubon, Joy Postle, Sam Stoltz and even the Highwaymen in keeping the creative tradition alive of using Florida's birds as subject matter. We have the individuals who created those preserves at the beginning of the 2oth century to thank for sticking their necks out for our fine feathered friends or there might not be any wading birds left for us to celebrate.

Audubon Flamingo, State Archives of Florida

Flamingos by Sam Stoltz

Bird details from Bok Tower, originally Mountain Lake Bird Sanctuary

Contemporary mural from Dixie Crossroads, Titusville

Protecting Florida's feathered friends

This image from the Florida state archives tells this story: "In the late 1800s many species of Florida's wading birds were nearly driven to extinction by plume hunters. The plume trade, which supplied feathers for popular ladies' hats, was highly profitable. In 1903 the value of an ounce of egret nuptial plumes, called aigrettes, was estimated to be worth twice the amount of an ounce of gold. Despite laws against plume hunting passed in Florida in 1891 and again in 1901 hunting did not stop. Wading bird populations in Florida suffered until the sale of wild bird plumage was made illegal by the New York legislature in 1910. Today (2009) all species of wading birds are protected by state and federal law."-Florida State Archives.

"Fashionable" ladies wearing hats with bird plumage
from the Library of Congress

An interesting fact is that the fight to stop plumage in ladies hats was on reason for the formation of the Audubon Society. According to the post on answers.com about the Audubon Society's history, the organization began when the editor of Field and Stream magazine became leader in a movement to outlaw the slaughter of birds for the purpose of decorating women's hats. "Membership was open to everyone refusing to wear bird feathers as ornaments and/or willing to prevent the killing of wild birds not used for food and the destruction of their eggs," and in the first issue of Audubon Magazine it was reported that the hunting of birds "now takes place on such a large scale as to seriously threaten the existence of a number of our most useful species."

A monument in Punta Gorda takes up the story stating that "in 1901 the Audubon Society persuaded the state to adopt laws protecting Florida wildlife, especially plumage birds." The state however provided no manpower to enforce the laws so two wardens hired by the Audubon Society were deputized to protect Florida's birds. The warden assigned to the Everglades, Guy M. Bradley, was found shot to death by poachers in 1905. The other warden, Columbus G. McLeod, disappeared from the Port Charlotte area in southwest Florida and was presumed murdered in 1908. The marker continues "This second death of an Audubon warden sparked a a national campaign against the wearing of feathers, and shifted public sentiment in favor of strong enforcement of wildlife laws and the prosecution of plume hunters."

Guy Bradley, from the Florida State Archives

Ranger at monument for Guy Bradley in the Everglades, 1957
from the Florida State Archives