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The Hotel Jacaranda

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. A favorite place of mine in Avon Park Florida – aside from the historic Avon Park Depot Museum – is the historic Hotel Jacaranda – AKA “The Jac” – AKA “Queen Of The Ridge”.

Built between 1923 and 1926 along Main Street in the historic downtown district – it’s been operating continuously as a hotel with a restaurant for the past 98 years. It’s named for an estimated 150-year-old Jacaranda tree that had to be knocked-down and removed to make room for the building at its location at 19 East Main Street. The entire mile-long Main Street historic district (eastward from U.S. 27) is on the National Register Of Historic Places.

During the late-1920s and into the 1930s it housed visiting major and minor league baseball players who were training in the city. Babe Ruth stayed at the hotel, as did Clark Gable, George Burns and Gracie Allen, and other famous stars of sports and screen. During World War 2 it housed military pilots who were training at the nearby Army Airfield.

Since 1988 it’s been owned and operated by the South Florida State College Foundation. The college has classrooms within the building as well as offices and student dorm rooms. Culinary students train in the kitchen of the restaurant and create many of the meals that are served to its customers. I’ve enjoyed a half-dozen delicious meals at the restaurant, and I’ll continue to support them and enjoy the ambience of the historic hotel.

If there ever comes a time where I need to vacate my home for a night or two (power outage, no A.C. in the summertime, no water, etc.) – then I would definitely consider checking the availability of a room at The Jac. I would love to spend a night or two there.

Financial donations support continuous restoration of the hotel.

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Next #TravelThursday – Pioneer Daze is coming. I’ll tell you all about it. Let’s keep traveling together.

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

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Blogging History Travel

Tasmania Florida

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Last week I wrote about the historic Avon Park Depot Museum – operated by the Avon Park Historical Society. It’s located about 4½ miles from my neighborhood. On a recent visit a friendly docent greeted me, and we had a nice conversation about local history – not just of Avon Park, but also of the entirety of Highlands County and beyond. Truly I could have spent several hours in conversation with him.

He told me about Tasmania (Florida) and Fisheating Creek. That led me to do some historical research on the ghost town and the natural free-flowing stream that runs alongside it.

So Tasmania is actually located in western Glades County (our neighbor to the south). It’s about 10 miles west of the small community of Palmdale, and about 4 miles south of the Highlands County line. What remains of Tasmania are foundations and a few farm buildings along what is now Tasmania Road, or Glades County Road 731. (That zigzagging road also enters Highlands County.)

Tasmania was established during the late-1880s, and it got its name in 1916. The small settlement along Fisheating Creek (its original name) was mostly abandoned during the Great Depression of the 1930s when it was bypassed by the railroad to the east (along what is now U.S. 27).

Fisheating Creek begins in the hills of southwestern Highlands County, and it flows downhill for about 50 miles southward into Glades County and then eastward into Lake Okeechobee providing the big lake with about 9% of its water (the second-largest natural source of water after the Kissimmee River). There’s actually a gap in the 30-foot-high Herbert Hoover Dike that surrounds Lake Okeechobee where Fisheating Creek flows freely through to the lake on its west side. (The dike parallels the Creek at its mouth.)

I’m glad I had that conversation with that docent on that day in Avon Park. I got to learn all about Tasmania and Fisheating Creek. I’ve driven over the Creek about 60 times over the past 18 months via U.S. 27. Now when I drive over it – I’ll be thinking about everything that I’ve learned about it from source to mouth – from swampland past settlement to lake.

As a fellow historical museum docent – I’m encouraged to know that my visitors are learning about the local area from me, and then they are leaving and telling their family and friends about their experience. They may also be doing historical research of their own. That’s a great way to preserve, protect, and promote history around us.

Florida Fish And Wildlife Conservation (FWC) Commission –
Fisheating Creek Wildlife Management Area

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Next #TravelThursday – we take a trip out west to Texas. Let’s keep traveling together.

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

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Blogging History Travel

Avon Park Depot Museum

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. 113 weeks ago I wrote all about my first visit (which was really my second visit) to the historic Avon Park Depot Museum – operated by the Avon Park Historical Society. It’s located about 4½ miles from my neighborhood. I visited the museum on a previous trip to the area in February 2021. I arrived at the museum. I took a couple of exterior photos. I walked-up to the front door, and it was locked shut. #COVID

What a disappointment. I immediately returned southward to Sebring. That disappointment actually led me to a big “reveal” with the Sebring Historical Society that began my relationship with them.

Meanwhile I’ve been visiting the Depot Museum in downtown Avon Park on a fairly regular basis. My friend Elaine is the Museum Curator, and she frequently updates the museum with new displays – both temporary and permanent. It’s a very nice museum to visit set in a historic train depot, and the trains keep on rolling by. (They just don’t stop.)

On some days you may even be able to get a bonus exclusive behind-the-scenes tour inside this railroad dining car (acquired in 1986) that last saw action as part of Amtrak’s Auto Train. It’s now used for special catered dining events by groups of 16 to 36 (by reservation only).

The museum is a traditional historical museum for the city of Avon Park. You can easily spend an hour or two checking it all out and allowing the docent and curator to share history with you. It’s currently open from 10 AM to 3 PM on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. It’s located at 3 North Museum Avenue right after the first set of railroad tracks if you’re driving east on Main Street from U.S. 27. Make a left at Museum Avenue, and you’ll see the museum and the dining car on the left-hand side.

The docent on duty at the museum during my visit last month told me all about Tasmania Florida and Fisheating Creek. That led me to do some historical research on the ghost town and the natural free-flowing stream that runs alongside it. I’ll share what I learned next – #TravelThursday. Let’s keep traveling together.

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

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Frostproof Florida

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. 6 weeks ago I embarked on a short road-trip up into the neighboring county to my north – Polk County Florida. (I live about 8 miles from the Highlands / Polk County Line.)

I went to the Eagle Ridge Mall – 31 miles north in Lake Wales. While we have a “dead mall” here in my county (just a few miles south of my neighborhood) – I think that Eagle Ridge Mall is perhaps just a “half-dead mall”. While it’s far from its late-1990s peak – there’s actually life in this mall with lots of little family-owned stores and a surprisingly large and vibrant food court. There are also many different entertainment options open including a Regal Cinemas, a bowling alley, and an arcade. It sure looks like management knows what they are doing to keep the mall open for business – particularly small businesses – during these tumultuous times for shopping malls nationwide.

From the mall I took Chalet Suzanne Road over to Florida State Road 17. (Chalet Suzanne was a popular French restaurant in the area for over 80 years from 1931 to 2014. Famous movie stars dined there. The building is on the U.S. National Register Of Historic Places.)

Florida State Road 17 is also known as Florida Scenic Highway 17 (or The Ridge Scenic Byway) in this area. I enjoyed the ride and its view southward with 24 miles of scenery up and down the rolling hills and around the curves alongside the orange groves, natural lakes, and historic communities. Elevations exceed 300 feet above sea level at its highest point south of the small town of Hillcrest Heights.

The Byway runs parallel to U.S. 27 the entire way, and it was once known as Alternate U.S. 27. It serves as a local bypass to U.S. 27 in both Polk County as well as Highlands County (my home county).

I entered (from the north) – and drove through – Frostproof Florida – for the first time ever. It’s the southeasternmost municipality in Polk County. It was settled during the middle part of the 19TH Century, and it was incorporated in 1921. Previously known as Fort Clinch, Keystone City, and Lakemont – not quite 3,000 residents call Frostproof home. Its population has remained fairly steady since the 1950s.

Frostproof is sandwiched between two natural freshwater lakes – Lake Clinch (1,219 acres) on the west side – and Reedy Lake (3,504 acres) on the east side. It’s low land, and parts of the scenic highway drop to nearly 100 feet above sea level.

I enjoyed lunch at a popular restaurant on the north side of Frostproof called Frostbite. They serve your typical fast-food items as well as every ice cream dessert imaginable. It’s highly-rated by reviewers on Google. They are open every day from 11 AM to 9 PM. Just find a table, be seated, look over the menus (already on each table), and a member of the wait staff will come to you for your order. I had a wonderful cheeseburger (made to order) and a side of fries to go along with my sweet tea. #Yum

U.S. 27 is really a nice drive between Sebring / Avon Park and Lake Wales and points north and west. I fell in love with the Heartland of Florida because of U.S. 27 and its own unique scenery and history. But Florida Scenic Highway 17 is also a nice drive through a part of the region that seems to be stuck in time from an era long gone by. It’s unspoiled Florida at its most beautiful !

Next #TravelThursday – Will I ever reach my 25TH cruise ? Let’s keep traveling together.

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