On the Eleventh Day of Christmas...

On the 11^th day of Christmas, my true book gave to me:

ELEVEN Ghost Towns of 1890s West Orange County;

TEN homesteaders of 1882 Altamonte Springs;

An intriguing history of Gatlin’s NINTH District;

The EIGHT-Sided Castle plus the builder’s biography;

SEVEN Honorable Floridians;

SIX swans swimming in a misspelled Iconic lake;

FIVE Gold Star reviewed books:

A FOUR acres gift that became a city;

TRIPLET and other lake namesakes, a total of 303;

SECOND Lake’s story – aka – Lake Monroe to thee;

And A Mule – Isaac’s Rutland Mule – by RLC.

Orange Belt Railway opened West Orange County to development in the 1880s. Towns sprang up all along the railroad’s route, cities such as Sylvan Lake; Palm Springs; Forest City; Lakeville and others. Then came the freeze of 1894-95. Ride along with Edward T. Stotesbury of Philadelphia, PA soon after the freeze – and meet the real-life homesteaders who had become town builders as well as fruit growers. Most lost everything – including their town! “Citrusland: Ghost Towns & Phantom Trains is available at Winter Garden Heritage Foundation Museum and Amazon.com

Plats of Ghost Towns are included as Exhibits

HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM CITRUSLAND