Fort Myers in the Days of Edison

by Adele Woodyard
This past weekend Fort Myers Annual Edison Festival of Light ended with a Grand Parade that draws thousands of spectators. The three-week celebration of their most famous winter resident that began in 1938 still flourishes in this age of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. Are inventors like Thomas Alva Edson (1847-1931) and Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) even mentioned in today’s classroom? The Festival gives kids an opportunity to show what they can come up with .for the next generation. http://www.Edisonfestival.org
We missed the Festival of Light when I first wrote about the City of Palms for my column in 1993. It was enough of an eye-opener to visit Edison’s house/museum/lab and gardens. To see how the “Wizard of Menlo Park” earned that title despite being deaf and a grade school drop-out.. When Edison, an Ohio native, bought 13 acres along the Caloosahatchee River he was 37 years old and Fort Myers was a dirt-street, cow town of 349 citizens. Even after it had city water, electricity, telephones and paved sidewalks, cattle drives raised thick clouds of dust through the center of town all the way to Ponte Rassa where they would be shipped to market.
Like Edison’s winter residence, the Burroughs Home was built in 1901 at a cost of $15,000.. Docents dressed as Mona and Jetta Burroughs led me through a 1918 lifestyle in this beautifully restored Georgian Revival house. It was originally built for a John T. Murphy, by a Mr. Barber who specialized in kit houses for Sears & Roebuck. However from the palladium windows, bay window, stained glass in the foyer, to the fireplaces all being different, the young women figure “he must have chose one of everything offered in the book”. Burroughs, a banker from Iowa, bought it when Murphy, a Helena Montana cattleman, died of typhoid fever in 1914. It was their mother’s pride in her English heritage, that placed British lions and the family crest on the andirons and embroidery. throughout the house,
Part of the fun of such a Living History tour is listening to stories that make the times come alive. They talked of how their mother’s family traveled by wagon train from Massachusetts to Iowa in 1858, when she was just a little girl of six. That their father, a Civil War vet, had served under General George Custer, and made money selling and buying land. Between the two of them you learn how they can talk to friends as far away as Tampa and Marco Island on the candlestick telephone, “for $1.50 a month”, and Alice “the operator, knows where everybody is.” That the town only had one person to run the new fire engine, and “he went around the corner so fast, he turned it over and dumped all the firefighters on the ground.” No one was hurt “but the house burned down anyway”. That the tour doesn’t go up to the third floor where the servants live, because “they might leave and then we’d have 6,000 square feet of house and no one to care for it”. For an enjoyable trip to the past, you can meet the new Mona and Jetta at
Burroughs Home and Gardens, 2505 First St. 11-12:30 , Tues.-Fri. $12 tour, $10 more, if you add lunch. 239-337-0706. http://www.burroughshome.com

Fun at the Fair and Elsewhere

by Adele Woodyard

Last month’s pirates have taken a back seat to the Florida State Fair This huge, annual conglomeration of livestock, concerts, carnival games, midway rides, and such food as deep-fried butter, donut burgers and :”NEW” grilled meatloaf sundaes opens Thursday, February 10. If this menu makes your stomach cringe, there’s a vegan-friendly food tent from the Loving Hut restaurant chain. Perhaps there’ll even be tasty samples from the Youth International Cooking Challenge, on February 17

This year introduces Nock Helicopter Trapeze shows over the fairgrounds, and Las-Vegas style shows that pay tribute to Elvis, Cher, Aretha Franklin help entertain the crowds each day, while fireworks close Friday and Saturday evenings. You can enjoy all the sights, sounds and smells through Monday, February 21. Complete list of events and information on http://www.floridastatefair.com
(See photos and more on last year’s blog, Heigh Ho, Go to the Fair , 2/10/10).

Jurassic Park beast come to Lowry Park Zoo

Remember Jurassic Park? The terrible Tyrannosauras Rex and the 18 foot Brachiosauras are among the close to 20 mammoth creatures appearing at Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo, Feb 9 through May 1, 2011. The interactive, multi-sensory, robotic prehistoric animals look and sound so much alive, it’s hard to believe they disappeared millions of years ago Added treats for kids include an “I Dig It” dig site to uncover fossils, and a “Velocity Raptor” inflatable slide. DinoQuest opens 10 a.m. daily, $4 per person additional to general admission; $23.95 adult, $21.95 (60+), $18.95 ages 3-11. 2 and under Free; includes amusement rides. DinoNites are $9..95 per person; begin Feb 11, every Friday and Saturday, from 6:30-9:30 p.m. through April 30, except for April 16 (Zoo’s annual black-tie gala). http://www.lowryparkzoo.com

Living history through re-enactors is a first weekend of every month event at Fort Clinch State Park, Fernandina Beach. This month it’s the big draw at several others, celebrating a part of their heritage. http://www.floridastateparks.org

Feb. 10-13, the Fort Foster Rendezvous (Hillsborough River State Park) takes you back to the days of the 2nd Seminole Indian War from 10 a.m.-3 pm. Skirmish, traders, craft demos, and more for $5 donation, ages 13+. 813-987-6771.

Feb. 12, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. it’s drums, music, and colonial weapons at Fort Mose, St Augustine, site of the country’s first legal black settlement. $4 per car, up to 8 people
904-461-2033

Feb 18-20, Florida’s largest Civil War battle is re-fought at the Olustee Battlefield Historic State Park (Lake City) during 8 a.m..-5 pm on Sat and Sun. $7 adult, $3 school age, pre-school Free 877-635-3655; http://www.battleofolustee.org

Feb 19, visitors to Favor-Dykes St. Park, St. Augustine will find A Day in Old Florida, with a 1700s Trapper Traders Camp, Cracker Cow camp, wild birds, live entertainment and much more, from10 a..m.-3 p.m. $5 donation requested. 904-461-2033

Feb. 25-27: it’s a sea battle, and a blockade runner trial that enlivens Fort Zachary Taylor, Key West during Civil War Heritage Days, 9 a.m.-5 p.m $6 per vehicle, up to 8 people. 305-292-6850.

For Bargains and more things to see and do: http://www.vacationfunflorida.com

Heigh Ho Come to the Fair

by Adele Woodyard

Perhaps it is the combined smells, sights, and sounds the remind us of a ride on a ferris wheel; a blue ribbon on a calf’s halter, or a three-layer cake. Perhaps we just want to be transported back to a simpler time. Whatever the lure, the popularity of county fairs has not diminished over the years. There are 50 in the Sunshine State alone, scattered from the Panhandle to the Keys. Add the Florida State Fair in Tampa, and you have 51.

A friend and I follow our ears, eyes and nose onto the Florida State Fairgrounds. Countless booths flaunt brightly colored banners that identify smells that hang in the air; greasy sausage, fried lumps of dough called elephant ears; such heart attack inducers as Krispy Kreme hamburgers and deep fried butter. Guess-your-age barkers tempt passersby with prizes if they miss the mark. Families crowd around rides, or hunt for half-hidden exhibits on open maps. Two ferris wheels rise above games of chance, and in the air, swinging seats carry couples who look down on a lake dotted with paddleboats. We wander through the Florida Center where blue, red, white and yellow ribbons decorate prize winning paintings, photographs, intricate wooden carvings, quilts, and masks. Wonder why one county, known for its beaches, displays a hunting scene instead.

A visit to “Cracker Country” is a step back in time. Tucked into a ten-acre corner of the Fair, a turn-of-the-century hamlet of unpainted wooden buildings, dating from 1870 to early1900s, are shaded by towering oaks. This permanent exhibit began in 1979 when former state senator Doyle E. Carlton Jr. moved his grandparents two-story house to its present site.

Carlton Homestead

The boyhood home of his father, Florida’s 25th governor, Doyle E. Carlton, was soon joined by similar donations from other pioneering Florida families. Today, fair goers watch volunteers in period dress cane a chair, upholster a seat, weave a basket on one open porch, or tap their feet to country music played by the Sweeney Family Band.

Across the way model trains chug past citrus groves, small villages and cattle in the Okahumpa Depot, one of the first railroad stations built by the H.B. Plant System in 1898.

Pleckas stands before painting of Governor Carlton

The bright-red caboose on the railhead behind it, once served as the office of a semi-retired railroad doctor. At the Governor’s Inn, circa 1912, all of Florida’s governors. beginning with then General Andrew Jackson (as territorial governor) in 1821, line the walls of one long room. Despite its rough hewn exterior, the polished floor shines beneath a pair of crystal chandeliers. Docent Matilla Pleckas stands before the picture of Governor Carlton, and answers visitor’s questions. “Cracker Country” has been a living history lesson for Florida school children from its beginning, but was only open to the public during the Fair. Now, she tells me, all ages can “Discover the Past” in this interactive, outdoor museum, the first Saturday of every month but February. http://www.crackercountry.org

Amid the livestock and agricultural exhibits, Midway rides and games are such shows as the Live Shark Encounter, Hollywood Racing Pigs and the Welde Bears Show. Altogether there’s over 150 free things to see and do at the Florida State Fair, open through Monday, February 15. Miss the discount tickets? Gate price: $10 adult, $5 ages 6-11; $12 and $6 on weekends. Parking free. http://www.floridastatefair.com

Some Upcoming Fairs:
Ocala:
Southeastern Youth Fair, Feb. 21-28, 2010 includes a two-day High School Rodeo, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 19, 20.

Plant City
Florida Strawberry Festival, Mar. 4-14, 2010 features country entertainment, a parade, contests and millions of fresh strawberries. Discount: $8 adult, $4 kids; $10, $5 at gate.

Miami
Dade County Fair & Expo is one of largest in Florida. March 25-April 11, 2010, 10901 SW 29th St. Miami; 305-223-7060.

Click here for a fair near you.

Preserving Florida’s Past: Part II

by Adele Woodyard 

Preserving the state’s history and/or ecology has been an underlying aim for the Florida state parks since the first ones were built for recreation in the 1930s. Here are three of them, near or on the Apalachicola  River, that I visited during my recent Panhandle trip.

Torreya State Park lies on the eastern edge of the river about midway between I-10 to the north and Bristol, on S.R. 20 to the south. As such it’s an easy drive to or from the Panhandle Pioneer Settlement I wrote about last week. One of the first of the eight parks built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) it was named after the  Torreya tree (Taxifolia), a species of conifer also known as Stinking Yew. Decimated by an unknown fungus, this rare and endangered tree can be found in the high bluffs and deep ravines along the river, and in southernmost Georgia. 

Being a history buff, I was more interested in the Gregory House, a plantation home that sits atop a bluff and overloooks  the Apalachicola River 150 feet below. Originally built about 1849 at Ocheesee Landing, by planter Jason Gregory, it was moved across the river by the CCC in 1935.  Ranger Dan Cole tells us how they dismantled the house and carried it piece by piece, up the steep hill only to be stored on the property for the next two years.

Apalachicola River 150' below

During a tour of the house, he points out one of the four bedrooms that was rented to an eye doctor or river captains, a common practice in those days. Cole tells us why one object is called a “courting” candle (the “date” is over when it burns down to a certain point); that a sewing machine on display was one of the first Singer built; and that the handsome young  Gregory. was only an inch over 5 feet tall.

Cole’s most intriguing tale featured daughter Chaffa. With no slaves left to care for the property after the Civil War, the family moved out. Chaffa, an unmarried teacher,  returned to the homestead at age 50, and eventually wed a childhood sweetheart whose wife had died. Two years later he was beaten to death on the front porch, by the son of a former slave. Ranger-guided tours 10 a.m. weekdays, 10 a.m., 2 and 4 p.m. weekends. 850-643-2674; www.floridastateparks.org/torreya

 The next two are in Apalachicola, on U.S. Hwy 98. The town was named one of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Dozen Distinctive Destinations, in 2008. Over half the buildings listed on the Historic Walking Tour pamphlet date back to the 1800s, when the town was the third-largest cotton port on the Gulf Coast. Today the cotton and sponge warehouses hold shops, art galleries and restaurants serving seafood fresh from the ships that line the waterfront.

 The Orman House was built in 1838 by Thomas Orman , a cotton merchant  who was instrumental in helping the tiny town grow in importance during the mid-19^th century. Used for both business and social gatherings, the antebellum house was built in sections at the very beginning. The wood was pre-cut in Syracuse, New York and shipped to Apalachicola by sailing vessel. Like the Gregory House it was

Orman House

assembled on a bluff overlooking the Apalachicola River. It became one of the state park’s more recent acquisitions in 1999.   .   Open  9 -12 a.m., 1- 5 p.m., Thurs.-Mon.  Closed major holidays.one

Also on site, the adjoining Chapman Botanical Garden, honors a prominent southern botanist, physician and Apalachicola resident in the 1800s. Dr.Alvan Chapman and his wife, are buried in the Chestnut Street Cemetery, established in 1831. Construction had me miss the garden, but the elaborately carved marble headstones in the cemetery made for an interesting stop in itself. Open 8 a.m.-sunset daily.     850-653-1209. www.floridastateparks.org/ormanhouse   

 John Gorrie Museum State Park honors a little-known physician whose invention gave Florida—in fact, the world—a way to beat the heat. Shortly after moving to Apalachicola in 1833, he donned a number of hats, serving as mayor, postmaster, city treasurer, bank director, council member and founder of Trinity Church. But it was as a doctor that Gorrie gave his most important, and least recognized, contribution to humanity. After developing a Rube-Goldberg device to cool the rooms of yellow fever patients, Gorrie invented an ice-producing machine. Although he received the first U.S.  patent for mechanical refrigeration in 1851, he was unable to market his invention before he died four years later. A replica of his ice machine is on display, as well as exhibits depicting Apalachicola history Open 9-12 a.m., 1-5 p.m. Thurs-Mon. 850-653-9347. www.floridastateparks.org/gorriemuseum   

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Preserving Florida’s Past: Part I

by Adele Woodyard

 Two of my three sons who bemoan the inevitable passing of “Old Florida” should meet Willard Smith, of Blountstown, a small community on Fla. Hwy. 20. Unable to shake the realization that the way of life he’d grown up with was disappearing, he did something about it. With the help of many Calhoun County residents, Smith founded the Panhandle Pioneer Settlement, a living history museum, in July, 1989. Once county commissioners donated land in Sam B. Atkins Park, Smith and his group of volunteers went to work.

Oddly enough, the first donation to be moved in and rehabilitated, was not typical of the area. Instead of a log cabin, the Yon farm house © 1897 was the double-pen “dog trot” home of a family who’d prospered over the years even before Florida became a state in 1845.  It is said the original homestead included an exotic peacock amid the chickens, horses and other assorted livestock on their 100 plus acres. Over time, houses built in the 1800s of round or flat hewn logs, with chimneys made of sticks and mud, began to appear. Among them a two-room schoolhouse and “dairy” house, designed to keep milk drinkable, were further donations by the Yon family. An L-shaped log home and its all- important smoke house came from Henry Hamilton Wells descendants. Originally built in 1846 as a two-room house with separate kitchen, it expanded to its present shape by connecting the kitchen and enclosing the porches to accommodate a family that had 12 kids. It wasn’t easy living in those days. Even huddled together like a litter of pups, wouldn’t keep you warm.  The 1872 cabin (in photo) that came from the last surviving member of the Sexton family, had no sleeping loft, or ceiling to give relief from  winter wind that blew through cracks in the logs. Especially when temperatures dropped below zero (yes, that happened in Florida) during the “Big Freeze “ of 1899.  

 Today the grounds also include replicas of a grist mill, firehouse, and a blacksmith shop complete with brick forge, and filled with antique tools of the trade. The last was built by members of the Florida Artist Blacksmith Association, headed by Smith, who served as state president from 1985-1989. Donations in money and materials continue to add to the settlement’s growth. A halfway refurbished post office is waiting in the wings. While we were there, a Victorian wedding gown and “at least a hundred year old nightgown” with a hand-crocheted yoke trimmed with pink ribbon (in photo) came in from a family who’s 99 year old matriarch had just died.                                                               

“The nightgown looks brand new,” I remarked. “How did they get it so white?” When co-founder Linda Smith explained “In those days they boiled their clothes.” I thought maybe making your own soap and standing over a steaming tub had some advantage after all.  

Smith intended the settlement to portray rural life history between 1840 and the beginning of WWII, so some of the buildings were from the early 40s. For instance, the T-shaped Red Oak Methodist Church, is open to all denominations and available for such events as weddings. The  Frink Gymnasium built in 1942, and moved after the school closed, continues to be used for community gatherings, plays, games and musical performances. Guided tours begin  at the combined post office/general store. Among the annual events are Quilt Shows, Folk Life Days, old time Peanut Boils, Hog Butchering  and an Old Fashioned Christmas. That’s when you add something extra as you step back in time.

Open 10 a.m.-2 p.m., Tues, Thurs-Sat. . www.ppmuseum.org; 850-674-2777.           

Like living history? Join me on more of my Panhandle trip, in Preserving Florida’s Past, Part II, next week. 

Download 100 FLORIDA “freebies” and “cheapies” Vacation fun for $5 or less, for some other historic sites around the state. Available on www.vacationfunflorida.com.