Category: Driving

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. For the past 2 weeks I’ve written about Fort Meade Florida, and I’m doing it again for the 3RD week in a row. Last Thursday I actually visited and spent 2½ hours in Fort Meade – seeing and doing everything that I said I would see and do.

I arrived at and entered the historic house that is the Historical Society Of Fort Meade Florida Museum shortly after opening time at 10 AM, and I was immediately greeted by one of the docents on duty – Paulette. I signed-in at the guest book (which is a must-thing to do for every visitor at every museum – preferably at the beginning of the visit). I then introduced myself from the Sebring Historical Society as a fellow docent of a historic house that is also a museum.

Right after that – two guys entered the museum, and they proceeded to sign-in at the guest book. (They know and love museums too.) Paulette assumed that they were with me, but I corrected her and told her that I didn’t know them. It was a coincidence that we arrived at the same time. (I actually saw them taking photos of the exterior grounds of the museum, and I did a little bit of that too before I entered the museum.)

The two guys had bicycled from Maryland since the start of September, and in fact they live near Fort Meade Maryland in Severna Park. (You can’t make this stuff up.) They were intrigued to find out about and subsequently visit Fort Meade Florida, so they made sure that their bike route down the spine of Florida included a stop at the historical museum in Fort Meade. They had visited the Mulberry Phosphate Museum on the previous day, and now they were in Fort Meade – known for its phosphate mining. #FortMeadeMiners

They were actually bicycling all the way down to Key West – with a stop that night in Sebring. (Again – this is a totally true story.) In my mind – I’m starting to think that they are readers of my blog, and that they read about the two Fort Meades here on #TravelThursday over the past 2 weeks, but I didn’t ask them about it. I wasn’t there to reveal or promote my blog. (You generally don’t do that in a museum.)

So – the 3 of us together enjoyed an extensive tour of every room downstairs and upstairs. Paulette engaged in great conversation with us as she shared interesting stories behind the historical artifacts and photos. She was born, raised, and has lived her entire life of 78 years – right there in Fort Meade.

I will definitely return to the museum later this year or early next year. A very good docent always leads his or her museum tour so that you see a little bit of almost everything. But you always want the visitor(s) to want to see more on a future visit. Paulette did just that. I’m looking forward to seeing more next time !

After my museum visit – I enjoyed a nice big lunch at Kiki’s Egg House along Charleston Avenue (U.S. 17 through the city). It’s where the locals eat. Food is good. Service is good. ’70s music is good.

And then I went even further up the road to tour the exterior grounds of the Homeland Heritage Park – a Polk County Park. I even walked inside the historic church there.

And then I completed the triple-trifecta of museums by visiting my fellow docents, curators, and coordinators at The Depot Museum in Avon Park (our sister museum in Highlands County). We talked museum business.

What a fun day it was last Thursday. And finally – this completes my unexpected 3-part series on Fort Meade Florida. I’ll begin a 2-part series on our big annual event for the Sebring Historical Society – Pioneer Daze – next #TravelThursday. Let’s keep traveling together.

#CountUp & #TravelThursday is on Facebook. I also run the Sebring Historical Society Facebook page.

All rights reserved (c) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Last week I wrote all about Fort Meade – briefly mentioning the military post and town in Anne Arundel County Maryland that I grew up near in the 1970s. It’s named after U.S. Civil War Union Major General George Gordon Meade (1815-1872). And then I wrote about the other place that’s named after him – 30 miles away from my current home here in the Heartland of Florida.

Fort Meade Florida is a small historic city in rural southwestern Polk County. It’s the oldest city in the county – with origins dating back to 1849. I was planning to visit the city last Thursday, but that’s the day that Hurricane Helene passed us by a couple hundred miles out in the Gulf Of Mexico. (We enjoyed a partly sunny and windy day on that day – with maximum sustained winds of about 25 to 35 MPH and occasional wind gusts over 50 MPH. Very little rain (about a half-inch). Minimum barometric pressure – 998 MB.)

So guess what ? Fort Meade is on my schedule again for today. I hope to visit the Historical Society Of Fort Meade Florida Museum and talk with the docents of their historic house there as a fellow docent of a historic house. After that I hope to enjoy a nice big lunch at Kiki’s Egg House along Charleston Avenue (U.S. 17 through the city).

Fun Fact: Fort Meade is near the north-end of a series of historic cities, towns, and areas along rural U.S. 17 in the Heartland of Florida. The community of Homeland (once known as Bethel) is to the north of Fort Meade (and to the south of Bartow). Further south along U.S. 17 are Bowling Green, Wauchula, and Zolfo Springs in Hardee County, and Arcadia in DeSoto County. Both counties border Highlands County (my home) to the east.

Heading back eastward (and homeward) to the U.S. 27 corridor I may even make a stop at The Depot Museum in Avon Park before heading home. So – if all of that happens today – then this will become a 3-part series, and I’ll write all about it next – #TravelThursday.

#CountUp & #TravelThursday is on Facebook. I also run the Sebring Historical Society Facebook page.

All rights reserved (c) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp