A year in Ephemera: 2010 in review

On January 2, 2010, I laid out goals of places I'd like to visit and blog about. Today on this last day of 2010, I look back at how my year played out and compare it to my intentions.

In my own backyard I did stop and photograph the world's largest alligator in Christmas at Jungleland Adventures. I had a great trip to Gatorland and will be back in 2011 to visit the bird rookery during breeding season. I also participated in a local history tour of the Lake Eola Heights district conducted by local historian Steve Rajtar, but I did not get enough compelling images to warrant a blog post. And finally while I did not visit Blue Springs, I did have an up-close and personal experience with a few manatees at De Leon Springs on Christmas Eve.

Although I stopped to take pictures, I have yet to visit Jungleland Adventures

For a bird lover, it's hard to imagine anything more inspiring than the rookery at Gatorland

From Orlando's Lake Eola Heights neighborhood

De Leon Springs manatee

Overall I attempted to look at Central Florida with fresh eyes, as if I didn't live here and was seeing it for the first time. I explored downtown by bike and took inventory of some of the architecture. I visited historic homes in Howey in the Hills and at the Nehrling Estate (future post.) Overall I learned that sometimes a long drive isn't necessary to see interesting, historic stuff and there are still many sites I haven't been to in my own backyard.

I got to see the Howey Mansion because of an auction

The Nehrling House

Expanding my reach outside of my immediate area, first and foremost I wanted to re-visit Silver Springs, and although I haven't blogged about it yet, I did finally make it back to this venerable old attraction. Bad weather over the holidays prevented me from exploring more of the Gainesville area, so that will have to wait until 2011. I also made a fantastic visit to St. Pete and had a great evening shuffling at the St. Pete Shuffle (Treasure Island will have to wait until 2011 too.)

Look for a future post about my Christmas Eve visit to Silver Springs

My trip to the St. Pete Shuffle was one of the year's highlights

While I didn't get to Soloman's Castle or Chalet Suzanne, I finally got to the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Florida Southern College and explored a little bit of Lakeland. And while I never made it up to Jacksonville, I did get back to St. Augustine and re-visited the Fountain of Youth and made my first visit to Potter's Wax Museum (future posts.)

Frank Lloyd Wright's Pfeiffer Chapel at Florida Southern

Year end visits to St. Augustine's Potter's Wax Museum and the Fountain of Youth will be covered in 2011 posts

My final goals were to learn about the states fascinating folks who make Florida so interesting and on that note I can proudly say, mission accomplished. From artists like Martin Cushman in Mt. Dora to the late Joy Postle, I tried to document those who use(d) their creativity to document their home state. I met some of my favorite roadside buddies like Jeff and Kelly of Vintage Roadside and prolific author Tim Hollis. I also learned more about historical figures from Coral Gable's George Merrick to the influential Henry Plant.

Kelly and Jeff of Vintage Roadside

Christmas display inside the amazing museum of Tim Hollis

Much of the year's post, however, were not the results of goals at the beginning of the year. A late December trip to South Florida yielded posts well into February (this was actually accomplishing a goal I set in 2009.). That was the same month that a birthday dinner in Ocala produced several posts and I learned of the plans to tear down Kissimmee's KAST club.

Coral Gables' Biltmore was one of the many highlights of last years South Florida excursion

A mid-century roadside survivor in Ocala

Kissimmee All States Tourist Club, 1941-2010

In March I visited Brooksville, Cassadaga and New Smyrna. April posts reported on my explorations of Lakeland and May's highlight was Gatorland. In June my attention was focused on the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. As summer progressed my focus left the Sunshine State as I prepared a paper on hillbilly iconography to be delivered at the SCA Conference in October.

Ruins of the Turnbull Colony in New Smyrna

A Weeki Wachee beauty superimposed against the ugliness of the oil spewing from the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico

The idea for the Hillbilly paper was spawned from a spring break visit to the Mountaineer Inn of Asheville, NC

I am blessed to be able to explore and write about this wonderful state and I am continually struck with a sense of wonder and amazement at its whimsical, historical and natural places. I still believe that we are at a critical time in the future of our state, and so much of Old Florida is in danger of sliding away. My goal continues to be to write about and photograph these great Florida places, with the hope that as more people become aware of them, they are more likely to be preserved. My intention is to try to prevent the spread of "generica" and blandness across the state and preserve its uniqueness. I have big plans for 2011. Please stay tuned!

Swampy the World's Largest Alligator

I came back from Arkansas itchin' to hit the road and take pictures and the weather in Central Florida is finally cooling off a bit and the lower humidity makes for better images. So I finally managed to stop by the third and largest of Central Florida's monumental alligators, Swampy the Giant in Christmas, Florida (the other two being the gator jaws entrance to Gatorland and the concrete behemoth at the Gator Motel on 1-92 in Kissimmee.) Swampy holds the record as the world's largest, but ironically enough I almost missed him as there is very little signage for the Jungle Adventures attraction when driving from the east (perhaps that is why there were only four cars in the parking lot on a Saturday).

According to RoadsideAmerica.com, Swampy measures just over 200 feet and contains the gift shop and ticket office for Jungle Adventures. On this quick drive-by, I didn't visit the attraction, I'm saving that for another visit when I have more time.

Alligator Capital of the World

Florida has a long, interesting relationship with the alligator. These prehistoric looking creatures, seem docile and slow but actually possess incredible strength and quickness. It is easy to find numerous historical images of people wrestling, feeding and riding these massive reptiles, however, well into the early twentieth century. In fact, Orlando's signature historical image, reproduced in bronze in front of the History Center, shows gator wrestler Bunk Baxter sitting atop a crocodile in downtown Orlando.

Orange County Regional History Center

State Archives of Florida

The first to wrestle alligators were the Seminole Indians and early attractions sprung up in South Florida where gators and indians provided entertainment to northern tourists at places like Musa Isle and Tropical Hobbyland. A narrative by a contemporary alligator wrestler explains: "When we are alligator wrestling we are demonstrating what is really just a traditional barehanded technique for catching alligators as the Native Americans here in the glades have done for centuries. The Native Americans of Florida would catch alligators to feed their people. We catch them for the same reason, to make money to feed our families. Alligator wrestling is very dangerous and if a wrestler makes a mistake it could be disastrous, resulting in the loss of valuable body parts. I have seen a lot of people I know bitten by alligators."

State Archives of Florida

And so it was on a previous visit to Gatorland when I just missed one of the gator wrestlers being bit on the head during the show. My out-of-town visitors, who I left at the park to go back to work, got to witness the spectacle and fortunately the wounds to the Gatorland employee were not serious.

Gatorland opened in 1949 as the Florida Wildlife Institute according to an article in Reflections from Central Florida. Owen Godwin's family opened the park on US 441 to capitalize on the post WWII tourist boom as vacationing Americans took to the road in record numbers. The Godwin family still runs the park, a "110-acre theme park and wildlife preserve, combining "Old Florida" charm with exciting, new exhibits and entertainment." The park carries on the Florida traditions of hand-feeding alligators and gator "wrestlin'" but the only gators you can sit on today are made of fiberglass.

State Archives of Florida

The Breeding Marsh, where the rookery is located, is towards the back of the attraction. Towards the front lies "Gator Lake" and "Alligator Island" as well as assorted man-made ponds where one can witness gators of all shapes and sizes, in some places they stack themselves 4 deep. Guests can feed the critters in these ponds, which include brave turtles, so wading birds hang out in hope of a free lunch. This affords another opportunity for great photography.

Gator Jaws and Mold-A-Rama

I had not been back to Gatorland since they had suffered a fire in their gift shop that threatened the famous gator jaws entrance. An icon of Florida tourism, the enormous mouth used to lead you directly into the gift shop; now they've moved the door off to the side and the wall behind it has a nice Florida mural on it. I believe the entire building was replaced and I was happy to see the jaws were largely unchanged.

Former location of the jaws, photographed in the pre-digital era.

Even earlier location of jaws from the State Archives of Florida

A remnant of the terrazzo floor from the 1950s gift shop

The gift shop itself has the usual tourist trinkets you see in most souvenir stores around Florida: t-shirts, postcards, orange wine, alligator heads, etc. I was after bigger game myself, the coveted Mold-A-Rama plastic souvenirs from inside the park.

They have 2 machines inside, one creates an image of a white alligator currently on display from the New Orleans Zoo. The other is an olive green likeness of a gator wrestler. I remember Mold-A-Rama machines from when I was a kid, (I was never allowed to get one of the coveted, warm toys), and the smell of the melted plastic brings back strong memories of going to attractions from KSC to Marineland with my family in the '60s and '70s.

My souvenir is being made inside the mold

According to an article in the St. Pete Times, Mold-A-Rama machines were invented in the '50s but a new machine hasn't been manufactured in over 40 years. And not surprisingly the Sunshine State is the Mold-A-Rama capital with more machines than any other state. Other Florida sites where one can purchase a Mold-A-Rama treasures include the Lowery Park Zoo and Busch Gardens.

I realized that I now have 3 little statuettes made from Polyethylene pellets, (the 3rd is on display at the History Center as part of their tourism exhibit), and I am now officially a Mold-A-Rama collector. Watch out Ebay!