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.
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