My CitrusLAND
BY Richard Lee Cronin
WHY
I WRITE ABOUT EARLY CENTRAL FLORIDA?
The short answer is searching for the WHY! My interest in
uncovering the true story of Central Florida began with me traveling down an
entirely different path. ADELAIDE, a quaint little lake outside my Altamonte Springs
home of 1990, started things off. How, I wondered, did it get its name? Would how it was named make an interesting book?
If anyone knew who Adelaide was, they certainly
weren’t saying, but a chance search discovered the answer and much, much more. The
lake’s name dated to the 19th Century, to a railway depot located
near this very spot, a railway station named SNOWVILLE. Why? No, it wasn’t for
Snowbirds, but rather a Chicago couple, he an Ex-Union soldier of the Civil
War, and she, his wife, Adelaide SNOW!
Digging even further, I discovered my Altamonte
hadn’t always ended with an ‘E’. Another Union Veteran, a doctor so it turns
out, had named his Central Florida homestead ALTAMONT after walking to Central Florida from
Ohio. I know, a double why, right?
Continuing my research, I was soon asking
who named ORLANDO. An answer that had served for more than a hundred years was:
“Benjamin F. Caldwell of Talladega, Alabama,” the man who donated land for a courthouse
at Orlando. My immediate question however was, WHY? Why did he give land? Who was
this Caldwell fellow?
WHY so many unanswered questions arising from 19th
Century Central Florida. That's how I got into researching the fascinating story of Central Florida, an enchanting
American Paradise that I lovingly refer to as CitrusLAND. You see, a promise of growing rich from planting Citrus trees encouraged pioneers to come to the wilderness of Central Florida, and the idea of establishing towns and adding to their wealth by selling LAND turned Central Florida into a dreamers paradise.
The story of Central Florida makes all the sense
in the world only after America’s amazing history, combined with in-depth genealogy
research, collide. More than boring history – CitrusLAND is all about uncovering the
MYSTERY!
