Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush, On a Cold and Frosty Morning–Nursery Rhyme

Yes I’m back…pictures are still in the Cotswold — lots of stuff to take picture of there.

Had a nice weekend…how about you…got busy yesterday and wasn’t able to do my blog so finally here it is…don’t sigh this one might actually be interesting—this week we’re visiting some sites and giving you a few facts about areas that you might not know…so get your suit case packed as today it’s small towns in Central Florida (now you’re yawning–stop that).

Quotes are from nursery rhymes if you haven’t guessed

and we’ll have a happy ending for all of those who subscribe and are fans of Outlander—I know I miss them too–him especially—but.

This old man, he played one,

He played knick knack with his thumb.

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In the northern outskirts of Orlando’s Bedroom communities is Longwood, Florida and Longwood actually has a downtown that very few people ever see (it’s north of 434 on Ronald Regan Blvd)—it’s not huge but it’s village pretty and has several historical building–including the Longwood Inn (above). https://www.facebook.com/LongwoodVillageInn/ The Inn was built in the late 1800’s and today contains suites for business office—though the lovely lobby still resembles the hotel that it once was.

The hotel does have some claims to fame:

In the 1920’s a National Governor’s Convention was held here.

And it’s even been in the movies–in 1964 it was used in the filming of

Johnny Tiger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Tiger

Starring Robert Taylor, Chad Everett and Linda Scott

The Inn was declared a Historical Landmark on the Florida Bi-cen Trail in 1976.

“Some people gave them white bread

Some people gave them brown,”

NEXT STOP IS NORTH WEST:

EUSTIS

http://www.eustis.org/

The Census Bureau estimated the population in 2008 to be 19,129

Many residents in this Florida town off the main tourist haunt routes are retirees. The town is located on Lake–yeah Eustis (duh) and has a stellar library (Eustis Memorial http://www.eustismemoriallibrary.org/about-us ).

The town was originally named Pendryville for A.S. Pendry who built a hotel here in the 1880– The hotel was called The Ockawooka unil it was bought by Waterman who owned New York’s Waterman Fountain Pen Company and rename the hotel the Fountain Inn. The Depression (which started earlier in Florida than most of the rest of the US) when it closed and the building was donated to the city. This eventually became the original building for the Waterman Hospital.

The hotel was also the site of the first school and first post office in the town.

During the 1940’s Eustis was considered the Orange Capital of the World.

Featured Point of interest/Eustis:

On 117 Dredrich St.

You’ll find the home of one of the founders of the town: Moses J. Taylor as well as one of it’s main financers. A native of Conn. he came to the area by way of Tallahassee in the 1870’s. He had formerly been a major in the Union Army.

The current house was restored in the 1980s and the separate kitchen (very popular before A/C as it keep the house separated from the hot cooking area) and servant quarters were incorporated into the total living area.

Jack Spratt could eat no fat,

His wife could eat no lean,

And betwixt them both,

They licked the platter clean.

Going North on CR 452 you come to

FT. MASON

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Mason,_Florida

Originally a minor outpost that eventually became a major port during the steamboat era. Here fruit grown in the area arrived to be loaded on shallow-draft steamers which then took an ardous journey along the winding creeks and lakes and then down the Oklewaka to the St. Johns and finally Jacksonville where it could be shipped anywhere in the world.

After the railways arrival in the area the town declined rapidly and with the major freezes in the last part of the 20th c even the citrus left the area for good.

“Then Jill came in and she did grin,

To see Jack’s paper plaster.

Cont north 452

which ends at CR 42

Then north on SR 25–which was originally US 441 before they built a new one 3 miles west.

This tiny town was named after the lake (they do that a lot in Florida) and the Lake was named for Nathaniel Ware–note the difference in spelling—no idea how that happened….I said named not spelled.

“This old man, he played two,

He played knick-knack with my shoe,”

Summerfield

This use to be a land of plantations before the Civil War including that of John C. Summer.

“Curly locks, curly locks, wilt thou be mine?

Thou shalt not wash dishes nor yet feed the swine.”

Also on Lake Weir

OKLAWAHA

A post office was built here in the 1880’s and a developer in the 1920’s had big plans before the Depression put a halt to these which had included digging a 4 mile canal to the Ocklawaha River so Yachtsmen could have access to the southern areas of the lake.

But the 1930’s would bring this town fame…or maybe that should be infamy? This was when a pair of visitors came to the area and they would make this small town a historical foot note for as long as crime is remembered.

Point of interest:

In November (1934) an older lady named Barker and her son Freddie along with a few associates came to the area. Nothing outstanding until you understand that they were better known as Ma Barker and the Barker gang. They came here to lie low after a kidnapping a member of the Hamm Brewing family to avoid the FBI. They rented a remote cottage (see above)

Things went well for awhile till Freddy–as the story goes, started taking his machine gun to the lake to shoot ducks. Naturally news of these kind of incidents so went to more populous area of the state and then to the rest of the world.

On 1/16/35 14 FBI agents surrounded the cottage and demanded surrender. The Barker’s reply was less than friendly and involved that duck shooting machine gun. The Feds returned fire–NON-Stop for 45 minutes straight and then on and off for another 5 hours. When they finally entered the house both Ma and Freddie were just bullet punctured corpses.

P.S. Don’t know the status of the house now as it was proposed for purchase by Marion Co. in 2012 for a historical park, but it fell to one of our gracious (anti-crime I guess) Governor Rick Scott’s Veto days…so if it is still in plans, sold or just falling apart…sorry can’t tell you haven’t been there in years.

Hark, hark, the dogs do bark,

The beggars are coming to town:”

BELLVIEW

One more area of interest and infamy here is this town which was found in late 1880s in the area of what was once a Seminole Meeting place called Nine Mile Pond…and that site was once the place of meeting between the Seminoles and army troops—a peaceful one for a change–no that wasn’t the infamy..

But in 1982 the area became a disaster area when unregulated underground gasoline storage tanks were found to have been leaking into wells that supplied some 7,000 residents water. The clean-up took months and during that time water had to be trucked in from Ocala. It was due to this incident that Florida re-examined and rewrote it’s under ground tank storage regulations.

“Hush-a-bye, baby, don’t you cry, go to sleep you little baby,

When you wake you shall have all the pretty horses,”

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Welcome to the People’s Choice Awards, pretty much the only place you’ll see Phillip and Elizabeth Jennings and Uber A duking it out in the same category.

The Americans, Pretty Little Liars, Atlanta and Baby Daddy are among the varied nominations for the 2017 honors, which were announced Tuesday. This year’s honorees also include Outlander, The Walking Dead, Stranger Things and The Big Bang Theory.

The ceremony will air Wednesday, Jan. 18. Check out the full list of TV nominees below: (for full listing: http://tvline.com/2016/11/15/peoples-choice-awards-nominations-2017-full-list-nominees/

Favorite TV Show
The Big Bang Theory
Grey’s Anatomy
Outlander
Stranger Things
The Walking Dead

Favorite Premium Sci-Fi/Fantasy Series
Game of Thrones
Marvel’s Luke Cage
Outlander
Stranger Things
Westworld

Favorite Sci-Fi/Fantasy TV Actor
Andrew Lincoln
Ian Somerhalder
Jensen Ackles
Sam Heughan
Tyler Posey

Favorite Sci-Fi/Fantasy TV Actress
Caitriona Balfe
Emilia Clarke
Jennifer Morrison
Lauren Cohan
Millie Bobby Brown

Let me guess Sam and his phone?