2012-1205 FL

We arrived in FL on 12/05/2012 and stayed at Mid-Atlantic Three Flags in Wildwood, FL for two weeks. On 12/07/2012 we visited Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park in Homosassa Springs, FL, and Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins Historic State Park also in Homosassa Springs, FL. The park showcases native Florida wildlife, including manatees, black bears, bobcats, white-tailed deer, American alligators, American crocodiles, and river otters. Manatee programs are offered three times daily. At the Wildlife Encounter programs, snakes and other native animals are featured. Recreational opportunities include picnicking, nature study, and birdwatching. The park features a children’s education center, providing hands-on experiences about Florida’s environment. Transportation from the visitor center on U.S. 19 to the West Entrance is available by tram or boat. The picture is of a Alligator on a bank of a pond in the park.

The Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins Historic State Park in Homosassa preserves a small reminder of the once remarkable empire of David Levy Yulee, Florida’s first United States Senator. The Yulee Sugar Mill began operating in 1851 to process the sugar cane grown by Yulee in the rich lowlands along the Homosassa River. The machinery was brought in by ship from New York and included a state of the art steam engine which drove the grinding machinery. Using the labors of 69 slaves, Yulee built the mill of hewn Florida limestone, brick and wood. In addition to the steam-operated grinding or pressing rollers, it also included large kettles for cooking down the juice squeezed from the sugar cane. By the time of the Civil War, the Yulee Sugar Mill was employing the labors of more than 100 slaves then in full operation. Sugar was exported from the Homosassa River to ports all along the Gulf and Atlantic Coasts. The picture is of the Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins.

We drove to Cedar Key Museum State Historic Site on 12/09/2012. Established in 1962, Cedar Key Museum State Park offers a fascinating collection of exhibits and artifacts that date back to the earliest days of human habitation on the islands. From ancient Native American artifacts to exhibits explaining the Civil War and subsequent cedar industry of the keys, the museum does an outstanding job of introducing residents and visitors to the unique history of this special place. As the historical marker standing by the walkway leading to the main museum building notes, Cedar Key was the end point of the famed walk from Kentucky to Florida of noted naturalist John Muir. His historic journey produced some of the finest observations on Southern botany ever recorded. The picture is of the Cedar Key Museum.

Also located at the Cedar Key Museum is the St. Clair Whitman’s House. Restored to how it appeared in 1920, the house is a beautiful and charming way to step back in time and experience Cedar Key of old. The home’s former owner, Mr. St. Clair Whitman, was an avid collector of shells and other natural objects. Many of his unique shells are on display in the house, which appears much as it did when he lived there. Mr. Whitman also collected prehistoric Indian artifacts and other items of historical interest, and his collection formed the bulk of what the museum had to offer when it first opened. The picture is of the St. Clair Whitman’s House.

We move to NACO Peace River Resort in Wauchula, FL for 3 weeks on 12/19/2012. We visited the Sanibel Island Lighthouse on 12/30/2012. Punta Rassa, located on the mainland across San Carlos Bay from the eastern end of Sanibel Island, soon thereafter became a substantial port as cattle were driven to its docks from across Florida to be loaded onto vessels and transported to Cuba. In 1856, the Lighthouse Board recommended a beacon be established on Sanibel Island to light the port, but no action was taken. After the Civil War, another request for the lighthouse was made in 1878. Congress was slow in granting sufficient funds for the project, but all of the needed $50,000 was finally obtained in 1883. Work on the lighthouse foundation began on the eastern tip of the island in March of 1884, while the superstructure was fabricated in the north and shipped to the site. Two square keeper’s dwellings with hipped roofs and supported by iron pilings were also built at the station along with a 162-foot wharf. Just two miles from Sanibel Island, the ship carrying the lighthouse material for both Sanibel and Cape San Blas sank. Divers were able to recover almost all of the pieces, and the lighthouse, consisting of four iron legs arranged in a pyramidal fashion around a cylindrical central column, was ready to be lit by keeper Dudley Richardson on August 20, 1884. A third-order Fresnel lens graced the tower at a height of about ninety-eight feet. Just like its twin at Cape San Blas, the central column of the Sanibel Island Lighthouse stops about ten feet from the ground and must be accessed by an external staircase. Accompanied by his wife and two sons, Henry Shanahan moved to Sanibel Island from Key West around 1890, and soon became the assistant keeper at the lighthouse. When Keeper Richardson resigned in 1892, Shanahan applied for the position. At first, the authorities refused to promote him to head keeper since he was illiterate. Sanibel Island Lighthouse However, when he threatened to otherwise resign, they gave him the promotion. After several years of living at the lighthouse, Shanahan’s wife died, leaving him with their seven children. A widow happened to also be living on the island raising her five children. Soon, she and Shanahan married, and then together had one more, making a total of thirteen children. Needless to say, the family helped in running the lighthouse, and when Henry passed away in 1913, his son Eugene became a keeper at the lighthouse. Later, one of Henry Shanahan’s stepsons, Clarence Rutland, served as a keeper from 1936 to 1941. In 1923, the dwellings were modernized receiving indoor plumbing and bathrooms, and enclosed porches. That same year, the light was converted from kerosene to acetylene gas. Roughly 670 acres were originally reserved for the lighthouse, but by 1923 the boundary of the station property only extended 1,000 feet west of the lighthouse. Coast Guardsman Bob England came to the lighthouse in 1946 with his wife and infant daughter. The following year, a hurricane caused severe erosion on the island and left one of the dwellings standing in a foot of water. Due in part to concerns over erosion, the lighthouse was automated in 1949. The dwellings were not long empty, as that same year they became home to employees of the J. N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge. The picture is of the Sanibel Island Lighthouse.

Safe Travels