A Busy Summer and a Full Fall...

I've had my hands full this summer, trying to promote my book, organize a tour, run a business, and travel around the Sunshine State. Here are a few highlights:

The Sanford Shuffle premiered in June. Look for it the 4th Friday of every month

 at the Sanford Senior Center in downtown Sanford.

Thanks to the efforts of Jackie Snow, renewed attention has been given to this "fountain of youth" in Punta Gorda. Read Jackie's article here, and listen to the NPR report based on her research here.

I had the opportunity to see the Cyclorama at Warm Mineral Springs before the spa closed due to an enpasse between Sarasota County and the City of North Port. Efforts continue to re-open the spring to the public, and the latest news has the Mote Aquarium getting involved.

I recently toured DeLand's spectacular Stetson Mansion.

I hope to devote an entire post to this incredible Victorian home in the near future.

I visited Marineland for the first time since I was a kid and it was fascinating to look for remnants of the marine park's past, and learn about the changes made to make it more relevant

 for 21st century audiences.

I just returned from Safety Harbor, home of Espiritu Santos Springs, where a friend pointed out this run of what appears to be mineral water coming out behind the spa – my fascination with Florida springs continues...

The planning for the Society for Commercial Archeology's 2014 Conference in St. Petersburg is on-going; here is a donut shop in Bradenton which may be a stop on one of the bus tours.

I finally joined Twitter, follow me at @OldFLA

My Old Florida Facebook page was recently recognized by the Orlando Weekly as "The Best Local Time Traveler." I also maintain a photo blog on Tumbler at http://oldflorida.tumblr.com/

Here are a few upcoming events that I'm involved with:

My friend Patrick Greene has recently assumed control of the Avalon Gallery

in the Rogers building in downtown Orlando and this artist talk featuring Florida legends Sean Sexton and Gary Monroe is an example of the kind of work he is bringing to Central Florida.

The History Center will be hosting author and all-around great human being 

Jeff Klinkenberg later this month.

Dr. Bob Knight will headline an event at Urban ReThink to create more awareness of the situation with our springs in Florida.

Shuffleboard will return to Orlando at the Beardall Senior Center 

on Saturday, October 5th. More about this soon!

I'll be speaking at the History Center in October

The Center for Earth Jurisprudence at Barry Law School in Orlando continues 

to promote events highlighting the plight of Florida springs

including a September event with the talented Margaret Tolbert

and an October event with yours truly.

I will be speaking with Jane Goddard of the CEJ and Macy Zander of the Sierra Club at Christ Church Unity on Thursday, October 24th.

Catching up with the Florida Wildlife Corridor Expedition

It's not every day that you get to meet up with members of an expedition in the middle of their journey, but that's what I did last Thursday. The Florida Wildlife Corridor Expedition is an 100-day, 1,000 mile trek from Flamingo at the base of the Everglades to the Okefenokee Swamp in Southern Georgia. Because of the way Florida was developed, from the coasts inward, there is still an opportunity to piece together enough wilderness areas in the interior of the state to protect the habitats of threatened populations of animals like Florida panthers and black bears. In the far-too-civilized Florida I live in most of the time, it's hard to even imagine that we share the state with such amazing creatures, and the Florida Wildlife Corridor would ensure that they can exist in the future.

I met up with the team at Blue Springs State Park in Volusia County. Speakers included Drew Bartlett, Director of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s Division of Environmental Assessment and Restoration, Deborah Shelley, manager of DEP’s Wekiva River Aquatic Preserve, author Bill Belleville, and artist/author Margaret Tolbert. Bartlett talked about the DEP's efforts to improve water quality throughout the state and Shelley talked about Wekiva River Preserve which stretches from Wekiva Springs northward to the St. Johns River at State Road 44 near DeLand. Bill Belleville, author of "Losing It All To Sprawl: How Progress Ate My Cracker Landscape" and the award-winning "Salvaging the Real Florida: Lost and Found in the State of Dreams" spoke about the need for people to make a spiritual connection to Florida's wild places. I've heard Bill speak four times and I am always inspired by his insights and knowledge of the the overlooked and under-appreciated aspects Florida. Finally Margaret Tolbert, author of the award-winning "Aquiferious", spoke about her artwork based around Florida's springs and how her whole life changed by merely "sticking her head in the water."

Bill Belleville

Margaret Tolbert

Finally the members of the expedition stepped up, including photographer Carlton Ward Jr, bear biologist Joe Guthrie, conservationist Mallory Lykes Dimmitt and filmmaker Elam Stoltzfus. The last 72 days of hiking, kayaking and camping had left the group a bit fatigued. After introductory statements, they took questions from the group about the Corridor and the Expedition and then did individual interviews for the media. They were pleased with a front page article in the Daytona News Journal, since creating more awareness of the program will help not only improve the likelihood of the Corridor becoming reality, but also expose thousands of human residents to a side of Florida they rarely stop to notice.

Carlton Ward, Jr.

Mallory Lykes Dimmitt, Elam Stoltzfus and Joe Guthrie

I ate lunch with a lady who came to the event because of concerns over the future of a small community called Osteen in Volusia County. This unincorporated rural area was feeling the pressures from nearby city of Deltona, who looked to annex part of Osteen potentially having a pronounced effect on their quality of life. In this one example, it was clear to see the challenges of the Corridor against the encroachment of civilization.

The highlight of the day for me was the opportunity to snorkel with Carlton Ward Jr. and Margaret Tolbert, two enormously talented individuals whose work I greatly admire. As we swam up the run to the headwaters of the spring, I was soon left behind to struggle against the strong current by myself. By the time I reached the boil where the icy cold water emerges from the aquifer, the otherwise sunny day had turned cloudy. We stood on a ledge and waited for the clouds to part and were joined by Joe Davenport, a young filmmaker also covering the expedition. It was his first time swimming in a spring and he was giddy with what he was seeing underwater (and Margaret was thrilled to have made a new convert.) After waiting for a break in the clouds, I finally swam back down stream, finding going with the flow easier, but perhaps not as rewarding as going against it.


On the way back I saw a great physical example of the importance of the Corridor. Just outside the gate of the park I saw a Gopher Tortoise slowly making its way off the roadside. As a kid, I often saw these slow moving reptiles right in our backyard. But as the state became more populated, these gentle critters were often buried alive by developers right in their burrows. As the tortoise crawled off the asphalt, I hoped for his sake alone that the expedition's larger mission would meet with success.

Compared to the water clarity of the springs of North Florida featured in much of Margaret's work, the springs of Central Florida are much greener due to increased nutrients as a result of encroaching development. One of the Expedition's objectives is raising awareness of the importance of protecting the waters that sustain us.