Enchanting EMERALDA Island
Sister-City
Brunswick, North Carolina
Looking west across Lake Griffin from Emeralda Island
Ghost Town of SLIGH on distant bluff across Lake Griffin (see below)
Among my Father’s leisurely Sunday
afternoon drives in our 1955 Ford, had I been raised here in central Florida, one
drive I am certain would have included a journey into Lake County’s rural northwestern
countryside. Dad would have explored and then written of the charm of Emeralda Island
especially, a little community chock full of history. So then, let us go there
now!
Returning to Ghost Town Higley, my last
post, drive west on ‘Em En El Grove Road’ a mile and cross County Road 452,
where the name changes to ‘Emeralda Island Road’. Continue west until you come
to a sharp left turn. At this point, Emeralda Island Road becomes a north-south
artery, and at this point, it is visible to view 157 years of incredible central
Florida history. The house at this turn in the road, says Lake County’s
Property Appraiser, was built in 1863.
To fully appreciate the significance of home’s
age, consider several facts: Neither Eustis, Mount Dora, Tavares, nor Lake
County existed in 1863. This area was then Orange County, the county seat of
which was Orlando, at that time a tiny four-acre village, itself only six years
old. There were no railroads then, and the few dirt trails that existed were
old military and Indian trails.
When build in 1863, the Reverend Willets D.
and wife Sarah (Stanaland) Sellers had owned the land for 14 years. The
Reverend died in 1858, so by 1863 Widow Sarah was living with son Jesse and
family. 11 years after the house was built, Widow Sarah, in 1874, sold the land
that had been the family’s homestead for 25 years.
Reverend & Sarah Sellers came to
Florida from Brunswick, North Carolina, where generations of Sellers had lived
since before the days of America’s Revolution. Florida had yet to celebrate its
5th Anniversary of Statehood when the Sellers family settled on land
that was only steps from the Marion County line. So close in fact, the family
was listed in the Marion County census of 1850 and 1860.
Land transactions and homestead deeds however
were recorded at Orange County, establishing too the 1874 buyers were a
consortium of investors from a small settlement to the south, a city that could
not settle on a formal name until 1887. But EMERALDA Island had an identity
crisis as well though, for it was at times referred to as ESMERALDA Island.
(Red Star is location of 1863 Sellers Residence, Blue Star was Sligh Landing of 1885)
Although cluttered with trees and debris in
the early 1860s, the spooky Ocklawaha had become a gateway to Lake Griffin and
today’s Lake County region in the 1870s, before the first railroad arrived. (Ocklawaha
– The River Gateway is Chapter 27 in my “Tavares: Darling of Orange County,
Birthplace of Lake County).
Webb’s Historical of 1885 did not mention Emeralda
Island as a city, but while describing the riverport town of SLIGH, Webb’s said
this of its neighbor across the river: “Esmeralda Island, two miles east, is
nearly one solid orange grove. From the foot of the lake during the winter of
1883-4 were shipped ten thousand boxes of oranges, which amount will be
materially increased each season as the trees come into bearing.”
The Sellers family had sold their home 10
years before Webb’s publication. Georgia’s Savannah Morning News also wrote of
Emeralda Island in May of 1885, telling of a proposal to build a railroad from
Silver Springs “to the new town of Lisbon”, adding that the route, as
projected, “is to run through Emeralda Island.” And in December 1885, Weekly
Floridian told of the planned ‘Leesburg, Esmeralda and Lake George Railway’,
adding that growers were offering a bonus of $6,000 if the railroad established
a depot at Emeralda Island.
Emeralda Island as one big orange grove
likely came about by the consortium of investors who purchased the Sellers
homestead in 1874. Those new landowners, Andrew J. Cassady and Drs. Leffers and
Hopson, were also participants in the 1886 “boom town of Lisbon”.
Leaving Emeralda Island southbound, the
next sign of civilization today is Lisbon. Known in earlier times as OAK BLUFF
and ALSOBROOK’S FERRY, Lisbon is our next stop when this Lake County series
continues next Friday.
Holiday shopping made easy! Why not give a lasting gift for the history buff in your family - Tavares: Darling of Orange County, Birthplace of Lake County.
Perfect companions: First Road to Orlando; Beyond Gatlin; Orlando Lakes; The Rutland Mule Matter; CitrusLAND: Ghost Towns & Phantom Trains. Visit my CroninBooks.com website for details on each.
Buy the Tavares book at Amazon by clicking on my book cover above.
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