Old grocery store complete with grumpy clerk! by B A Bowen Photography

We had fun much fun at the Crowley Museum and Nature Center – Heritage Festival this past Saturday!
“Where Southwest Florida History and Nature Meet” is the motto of the Crowly Museum and it is indeed a perfect blend of both. Take a stroll back in time as you visit the Museum and General Store filled with furniture and artifacts of the Crowley Family dating back to the Pioneer Days. The General Store is a complete replica of the Original Miakka general store with tools, glassware, and even a paper cut-out of a Grumpy Clerk to give it that old time feel. The complex also has the 1892 restored two story Tatum House that once housed over thirteen children! Be sure to go inside and take in the charm of the antique furniture and schoolroom. They are certainly a reflection of the times! There is also a fully operating Sugarcane mill that can be viewed as you journey from one pioneer house to another.

For a more natural experience, take a stroll down the Pine Level Trail, that was once an old wagon trail used by the pioneers to travel to Braidentown (AKA Bradenton).   There is also the 1/2 mile boardwalk that takes you on a journey through tall Cabbage Palm/Oak Hammocks, out to the Tatum Sawgrass Marsh that once served as a ricefield, and enjoy the fall colors as you pass through the Maple Branch Swamp. Enjoy the lush ferns, wild coffee, and butterfly orchids that line the trail.  There is also plenty of seating along the way. Climb the two story observation tower for a panoramic view of the marshland. This tower is also a favorite spot for birders.  Roseatte Spoonbills, Sandhill Cranes, Egrets and woodstorks among others can often be seen foraging in the marshland.  As the trail loops back to the visitor center, listen for the hoot of the Barred Owl in the trees or observe the Bald Eagles Nesting in the tall pines. For more inforation on this intriguing piece of Florida History go to: http://www.cmncfl.org/experience.htm

Click here to view more photos of the Crowley Museum and Nature Centeron Flickr.

Gears and turbine driven by the boiler B A Bowen Photography

 One of the staples of Historic Homosassa Springs and one of my favorite places to take me back in time is the Yulee Sugar Mill.
Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins State Parkis one of the most intact historic sugar mills in the state Florida and sits right on SR 490 just outside the historic downtown city of Homosassa Springs. The park offers a small interpretive walk that explains each stage of milling sugar cane into sugar as well as the history of the site. There is a huge Chimney that lies only a few feet from the edge of SR 490 and is connected to a 40 ft long cast iron boiler housed in a furnace hewn of native Florida limestone. The furnace served two purposes. First to provide heat to the kettles that process the sugar and also to heat the water, pumped in from the well below, to steam to drive the steam engine. The engine via a piston and driving rod, transferred linear motion into circular motion via a flywheel.  The flywheel meshed to turn the gears attached to the rollers to squeeze juice from raw stalks of sugar cane. This section was known as the Grinder. The juices then flowed from the settling vats into the “Grande” kettle, which was the largest of the 5 kettles built into furnace. The “Batterie” kettle
lies at the opposite end of the grand kettle and was directly fired by the furnace. The chimney draft pulled the heat through the furnace to head to the other kettles which consisted of the Syrop, Flambeau, and Propre Kettles. Each kettle was cooler than the last until it reached the Grand Kettle. The juice was hand dipped from the largest and coolest kettle to the smaller hotter kettles and ended up as syrup in the

Boiler

batterie kettle. Here the juice had reached the “strike” stage where it was considered sugar. Slaves would transfer the syrup via ladle into a trough hat that poured it into large wooden vats where it cooled to form sugar crystals. This sugar was not white like our current day sugar. It was moist and cured to a light brown. The crystals were then sliced and stored in a “purgery”. The purgery was a small storage room where it was left to cure in wooden barrels know as “hogsheads”

 David Levy Yulee was chosen as Florida’s first U.S. Senator once it became a state in 1845. He was very instrumental in building railroads, best know for his track connecting Cedar Key across Florida to Ferandina on the Atlantic Coast. Although Yulee was one of Florida’s most outstanding historic figures, over one hundred years ago, he found himself in the middle of one of the nation’s bloodiest wars. David married a gal from Kentucky and then moved to paradise- a 5100 acre plantation along the Homosassa River. Here he created a plantation called “Margaritaville” that grew and processed sugar cane with slave labor. By 1851 Yulee was living in wealth and prosperity as his plantation held 150 slaves and his mill was going strong. In 1861 Yulee chose to serve in the newly created Confederate Congress and used his mill to supply sugar products to the troops. His mansion was also used as a storage place for war supplies and ammunition. Unfortunately, this noble commitment to the South made Yulee a prime target for the north. A Union Naval Force came down the Homosassa River in 1864 and raided Yulee’s mansion of supplies and burning it to the ground. Due to the inland location of the

Flambeau Kettle for processing sugar

Sugar Mill, it evaded damage but eventually waned to ruin as Yulee was sentenced to jail in Georgia. Eventually he was pardoned by President Ulysses S Grant and moved to New York where he resumed his interests in the Railroad. Yulee died in 1886 in New York.

Picnic area at Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins State Park

The ruins changed hands several times and was eventually deeded to the state of Florida in 1953. Across the street from the Mill you can enjoy a small picnic area with a pavilion, grills, and several scattered picnic tables under a shady canopy of giant live oak trees. No fees apply.

Click here to view more photos of Yulee Sugar Mill Ruinson flickr.

Botanical Wonders

The Monday meeting of the Florida Trail Association – Pinellas Chapter was a full house at Bill Jackson’s Sporting Goods as the crowd gathered to meet with and see Florida Hiking Expert and award winning author, Sandra Friend’s, presentation on her latest book, Exploring Florida’s Botanical Wonders.

The audience was captivated by the pictures of the wondrous flowers in the presentation as Sandy took us on a journey from the western most edge of the panhandle, down the Florida Peninsula, into the wilds of the Everglades, and then out to the Florida Keys. The diversity of flora in Florida is only surpassed by California and Hawaii in the fifty states.

Botanical Wonders leads you to the Largest Oak Tree in Florida, to the soggy bogs that produce fields of rare Carnivorous plants, to where the ancient Giant Cypress trees are hidden, to the special Gardens that boast the largest diversity of passion flowers and palm trees, past the exotic Kapok tree, and to the rare endangered Torreya Trees. The state of Florida boasts eighty-one distinct biological communities more than 4,200 unique plants recognized by botanists. The state contains several world-renowned hot spots for flora, including the Apalachicola River valley, the Lake Wales Ridge, the Big Cypress Swamp, and the Everglades.  Sandra includes engaging descriptions of the 250 selected plant communities, as well as directions to and pertinent information about each location. This book ranges from both natural areas as well as public botanical gardens, and is truely a guide for nature lovers of all ages.

It is truly a treasure to have all of this wondrous information compiled in one place!

Pavilion at James E Grey Preserve

James E Grey preserve is not easy to find but worth the hunt!  This preserve lies at the west end of a Plathe Road off Rowan Road. When you turn west onto this road, there will be a “No Outlet Sign. Not only does the road end, you must drive through an open gate that gives it the appearance of a private drive. You will have every inclination to turn around..but don’t!  Once you follow this drive the 80 acre preserve encompassing the Pithlachascotee (Cotee)
River is an oasis of old Florida Wilderness in the middle of suburban Pasco County.
At the trail head there is some parking, a pavilion, fishing dock and canoe put-in. On hot summer days I have seen teens use this area as a swimming hole diving off the Oak Tree Branches that reach over the river. Although this is not recommended. Like any other natural part of Florida, there are gators and water snakes that live in the tanic waters.

Kayaking the 'Cotee River

The park is the end of a Florida Canoe Trail that runs from Frances Park 4.5 mile down the river. The river runs slow but has many hairpin turns that will be challenging for the beginner but navigable. This section is very scenic with practically no development along the shores of the river.  Visitors can also kayak through the canals of the preserve, which has natural Florida ecosystems, hardwood hammock uplands and swamps.

Boardwalk at James E. Grey Preserve

The City of New Port Richey recently (2007) built a 1/2 mile board walk with a fishing pier that runs along the river. This section is classified as one of Florida’s Great Birding Trails.  Actually, the brown Birding Trail Signs on Rowan Road are the only indication that a park is back here.  The Park information sign boasts that 140 different species of birds has been spotted here.
The trails continues around the park and back to a picnic area that has restroom facilities, three tin roofed pavilions with grills and picnic tables, and a large parking area. There is a total of 2 miles of trails in the park for hiking and birding.

This is also a fun place for GEOCaching. I will not tell you which caches are here..but the coordinates of the park are: Lat. 28 deg 14 min N, Long. 82 deg 42 min W.   Here is my hint: Bring children…there will be some crawling in the dirt!

Hiking Trail at James E. Grey Preserve

History: The Preserve is named after James E. Grey, a Pasco County Pioneer that died in 1985.   Mr. Grey was the first male child born in the City of New Port Richey after it was established in 1915.  He was considered a small hometown hero as the first Quarterback of the Football Team at Gulf  High School and, later, the Captain at the local volunteer Fire Department.

Wildflowers, James E Gray Preserve

About the Author: Barbara was the owner of  an on-line store Riverbanks  Outdoor Store for several years and has frequently engaged in outdoor sports for years including camping, mountain biking, whitewater rating, kayaking, snorkeling, and hiking.    Barbara also hosts a blog Riverbanks Adventure Forum that focuses on product reviews and adventure vacations.

James E Grey by B A Bowen Photography

Totch a Life in the Everglades

Loren “Totch” G. Brown. His father was a skilled fisherman, hunter and gatherer. Totch learned to live off the sea and the land and survival was second nature to him.  Totch’s family lived off the land for many years in the Everglades traveling from one small island to the next. His father was skilled at building shelters and tools.  His mother was a trooper at keeping up camp and caring for small children in this harsh environment.  Sleeping under mosquito nets was second nature to them. Totch tells the tales of the early Everglades before development occurred in Collier County and before it became a National Park.  Not comfortable with civilian life, Totch still made his living skinning gators and selling them.  He spent many months outwitting the Forrest Rangers to hold on to his livelihood.  True stories written in Totch’s natural style and interesting reading for those interested in survival in the Wetlands.    I found this book both educational and intriguing. The stories and photos give a real life view of what life was like in the last frontier of Florida.

About the Author: Barbara is the owner of  an on-line store Riverbanks  Outdoor Store for several years and has frequently engaged in outdoor sports for years including camping, mountain biking, whitewater rating, kayaking, snorkeling, and hiking.    Barbara also hosts a blog Riverbanks Adventure Forum that focuses on product reviews and adventure vacations.