NAMED FOR A COLONEL, BETTER KNOWN FOR ITS CORN–Florida Small Places

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https://www.etsy.com/your/shops/DragonLaire=    one of my sponsors–my etsy store.

 

OK it’s in the 70’s and will be up to 80 today—cold spell it was 81 yesterday.  Ready for Christmas yet?  My cards are mailed, my presents bought.   I rock.

 

AND SO DOES JAMIE FRASER

 

 

Today’s Small Florida place is

ZELLWOOD

 

Zellwood is a census-designated place and an unincorporated area in Orange County, Florida, United States. The population was 2,817 at the 2010 census.  It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee Metropolitan Statistical Area.    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zellwood,_Florida

 

 

This town is named for Colonel T. Elwood Zell, who established the place in the 1870s and built his winter home here.   (PLACES IN THE SUN/Bloodworth & Morris).    Zell was a Philadelphia publisher.  His brother-in-law and business associate John Williamson also built a winter home here.  Williamson’s home, which was one of the largest in the entire area, became a center of the community.

Zell, retired military, sold land to other Army veterans who established homes and citrus groves.  The town had a period of growth in the 1880s and became a haven for retired military officers as well as many wealthy northern families including Pittsburgh steel magnate James Laughlin, Jr. who built a home christened Sydonie.

 

In the 1920s a fern grower marketing association was formed here.  During the depression they had to diversify into other varieties of ferns and indoor foliage which eventually made this area a key growing area for small indoor plants.  (FLASHBACKS/Robison & Andrews)

 

ZELLWOOD CORN FESTIVAL

The event started in 1974 as a small corn boil to raise money for community projects. Since then, the event grew and gained as much fame as the town’s corn.   Back in 1975, former Miss Florida Delta Burke sat with then- and still current Apopka Mayor John Land to munch on some corn.  In its heyday, high-school bands earned money for new uniforms by shucking tens of thousands of ears of their velvety husks. The perennial family event drew music giants such as Willie Nelson, Glen Campbell and Creedence Clearwater Revisited.  In the 1990s, the state purchased and shut down many of the nearby farms in northwest Orange County to start the environmental cleanup of long-abused Lake Apopka.  But one commercial farm had remained the festival’s chief supplier of corn — Long and Scott Farms, which provided about 3,500 crates, or 170,000 ears, for the event.  http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2009-02-04/news/zellwood04_1_fresh-corn-sweet-corn-festival-farm

 

ZELLWOOD MAZE

Every fall Long and Scott Farms opens up a giant maze made of live field corn to the public. Before you enter the maze, you will be given a map that must be decoded under 3D stations located throughout the maze. There are also fill in the blanks and activities that must be completed in the maze on the map.    There is a 6 acre maze, a mini maze, and a tree maze.  The 6 acre maze can take nearly 3 to 4 hours to complete, so the mini maze and tree maze are excellent activities for younger children. As you enter the giant maze, you will be given a long pole with a flag attached to wave for help if you get lost.  http://www.scottszellwoodsweetcorn.com/scott-s-maze-adventures.html

 

 

SYDONIE                                                                                                                             5538 Sydonie Dr, Mount Dora, FL 32757

Sydonie’s architecture was Arts and Crafts, mixed with an Oriental aesthetic, with inspiration from the Alhambra, the Moorish palace in Granada, Spain, especially in the gardens behind the house.  Work began on Sydonie in 1895 and continued for a decade, resulting in an 18,000-square-foot mansion of three stories plus basement, with 41 rooms and 7 baths. The home was named for Laughlin’s wife, Sidney Page Laughlin.  http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2013-05-05/features/os-joy-wallace-dickinson-0505-20130505_1_winter-park-phillips-collection-tiffany-chapel    THOUGH THERE HAVE BEEN SOME SPECIAL INSTANCES OF OPEN HOUSE TOURS IT IS NOT TO MY KNOWLEDGE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.

 

 

Lake Ola Baptist Church                                                                                      North side of Sadler Rd., between Orange Blossom Tr. and Cemetery Rd. (6551 Sadler Rd.)                                                                            This church began as a mission of the First Baptist Church of Mount Dora, holding services as the Lake Ola Baptist Chapel in the “Bird House” next to the Lake Ola Motel to the north on Orange Blossom Tr. It was established as a separate church on October 4, 1964, with Rev. Tommy Parker as the pastor. The original sanctuary here, now used as the fellowship hall, was completed in 1964. In 1990, the present sanctuary was built.     http://www.reocities.com/yosemite/rapids/8428/hikeplans/zellwood/planzellwood.html

 

And as part of my holiday celebrations a catalog feature:  TODAY featuring those interesting food Items

Mackenzie                                                           http://www.mackenzieltd.com/?gclid=Cj0KEQiAhvujBRDUpomG5cq_mI0BEiQA7TYq-ne4tehm-s8M5BeeypmZ_16kgOgFfXY6GuvyAodKlM4aAiuH8P8HAQMackenzie Limited

 

 

Cheese Tortas

Cheese Tortas

Fine cheeses layered with fresh and innovative flavors. Creamy Gorgonzola, pistachios, sun-dried tomatoes, and garden-fresh pesto

 

 

 

Salmon Asparagus Bundles

Salmon Asparagus Bundles

$39.95
 

 

 

 

 

 

Baked Polenta

Baked Polenta

$34.95
Cognac Pumpkin Cheesecake

Cognac Pumpkin Cheesecake

$54.95
CHECK IT OUT THERE’S LOTS MORE
for more present check out my store above….or
my Etsy location:     https://www.etsy.com/your/shops/DragonLaire/
 As long as there’s Christmas, I truly believe
That hope is the greatest of the gifts we’ll receive.–Don Black (“As Long as There’s Christmas”) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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