PINE CASTLE - Home for the Holidays Part 8: The Finale!

 

PINE CASTLE

Home for the Holidays

Celebrating America’s 19th Century Paradise

 

I’ll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams…

Pine Castle today seems more a state of mind. Google the name and the internet will inform you it is a “census-designated place in Florida”. Schedule a meeting in downtown Pine Castle and the other party will likely ask that you be more specific. A local might feel compelled to clarify they now actually live in Edgewood or Belle Isle, whereas the newcomer might ask for directions to the Pine Castle itself.

As to Pine Castle’s borders there is much confusion. The original Pine Castle, the residence built on Lake Conway in 1874 by Will Wallace Harney (shown above), the very structure for which an 1884 town of Pine Castle was named, would today pay property taxes to the Town of Belle Isle. Airplanes now land 7 miles east of the Harney's lakeside residence at Orlando International Airport, on a World War II runway named Pine Castle Airbase. At least one Pine Castle old-timer recalls a welcome to “Pine Castle” sign on Orange Blossom Trail, 2 miles west of the Harney homestead.

The Pine Castle, Pine Castle, Florida

In February 2021, Pine Castle Pioneer Days will again be celebrated at Cypress Grove Park, two miles north of Harney’s historic Lake Conway residence. But travel to this park from Harney’s place at Pine Castle – or Belle Isle of today - requires driving through the J. J. Reeves 1913 Add to Pine Castle – or today the Town of Edgewood – and then passing through the Ghost Town of Gatlin, an 1880s city founded by Edward Hobbs and son Sidney, residents of Louisville, Kentucky - Will Wallace Harney’s old stomping ground prior to relocating to Pine Castle in 1869. A town of Gatlin encircled Gatlin Hill on three sides – where Harney himself lived in yet another lakeside cabin after moving out of the Pine Castle – a cabin located on land his in-laws had homesteaded when Harney first settled further south at Lake Conway.

Confused? Suffice it to say Pine Castle is more than a present-day census-designated place. Pine Castle is a historical central Florida location - having no defined town limits. It is, as I first stated, a state of mind!

Beyond Gatlin: a History of South Orange County

IF YOU HURRY, click on the book cover above to order from Amazon

for Christmas gifting.

By Richard Lee Cronin 

Pine Castle of 1869 was in many ways synonymous with Fort Gatlin of 1838. Each were part and parcel to the settling of South Orange County, including Kissimmee, which in 1887 became part of a new Osceola County. Edgewood and Belles Isle, both 20^th century creations, are reimagined communities that had previously encompassed the first 19^th century settlements at Fort Gatlin - and Beyond Gatlin – South Orange County’s Gateway, Pine Castle.

With his new castle-like residence on Lake Conway finished in time for Christmas, Will Wallace Harney invited friends and neighbors to celebrate the 1874 holiday at the, “Pinecastle on Lake Conway”, on the west shore of a lake the Indians had called “Beautiful Water.” Harney himself described his residence: “The house stands on the edge of a slope, a double-winged structure around a central octagon of two stories twenty-four feet in diameter, surmounted by castellated peaks and gothic pointed roof visible at every angle.”

“Many Kentuckians and Virginians were present”, wrote Harney, and guests from near and far enjoyed the Orange Glee Club and an accompanying band playing such favorites as “My Old Kentucky Home.” Life in central Florida’s 19^th century wilderness was anything but easy, but for one extra special Pine Castle Christmas, “the turreted, castellated pine castle glowed and sparkled like a great jewel cut in brilliant facets.”

“At 11 o’clock,” wrote Harney, “the folding doors again opened; the Cherokee rose table glittering with decorations and spread with the feasts of delicate tropical fruits, wine-like coffee and the inevitable eggnog under its lace of froth, and an hour of feasting followed.”

Despite hardships, Pine Castle’s earliest settlers paused to celebrate Christmas. Tis a tradition we enjoy to this very day. Merry Christmas to you and yours!

 

And speaking of tradition, mark your calendar for 

PINE CASTLE PIONEER DAYS

February 27 & 28, 2021

Cypress Grove Park

Reserve a seat today for my FREE Presentation

NAMESAKES of PINE CASTLE'S LAKES

UNDER THE HISTORY TENT

Pine Castle Pioneer Days

12 NOON, Saturday, February 27, 2020

Email Rick@Croninbooks.com and ask to reserve a seat(s). I will confirm your FREE reservation, and also set aside a FREE autographed booklet,

Namesakes of Pine Castle's Lakes booklet.

BUT RESERVE TODAY - SEATS ARE LIMITED

MERRY CHRISTMAS

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

From CroninBooks and CitruslandFL

 

PINE CASTLE: Home for the Holidays Part 7 - Mary E. Randolph

 

PINE CASTLE

Home for the Holidays

 The Randolph Bedroom, Vaucluse, Virginia,

William M. Randolph died here in 1876

 

Mary E. (Pitts) Randolph, Part 7 of 8

 

Lake Gem Mary, the smallest of three Orange County lakes which helped fortify Fort Gatlin during the Second Seminole Indian War, became known by its present-day name around 1870, the year after William Mayer Randolph bought the land on the north side of the fort. Randolph then named the small lake on his land for his wife, Mary Ellen (Pitts) Randolph.

Neither William nor Mary appeared to be in a rush though to settle at Fort Gatlin, despite their family members setting up homes all around the old fortress. William continued living in New Orleans, where his successful law practice was located, traveling occasionally to Florida to visit his family. Mary did set up a home in Orange County, but not at Fort Gatlin. Mary lived at first nearly 20 miles north, at Fort Reid, where she and her husband also owned property.

Randolph’s Fort Reid property was already historic when they acquired it in 1869. A residence existed on the 40 years referred to then as Woodruff Place, a grove and home of pioneer Elias Woodruff. And so, at Fort Reid in 1869, Mary E. (Pitts) Randolph partnered with Sarah Jane (Couch) Whitner to manage the first-ever freestanding hotel south of Lake Monroe. In fact, the Randolph’s 1869 Christmas gathering likely took place here at the Woodruff residence.

Mary Randolph and Sarah Whitner opened their hotel in the spring of 1870 under the name Alaha Chaco, or Seminole Indian for Orange House Hotel. The historical significance of their venture, and the grove the hotel was built upon, is worth reiterating; Mary and Sarah partnered in 1869 to open the FIRST hotel in Orange County, Florida, on 40 acres that had already become a historic orange grove dating to 1854.

 

The family of William & Mary Randolph, scattered throughout the South at the end of the Civil War, reunited in central Florida, selected neighboring homesteads, and spent their first Christmas together as central Floridians in December of 1869.

“We kept Christmas here where it never snows or grows apples to the maturity of Apple Toddies. Instead, there is an orange punch about which Hebe and he Nectarine Gods had better inquire.” Will Wallace Harney, January 24, 1872

 

After the death of William M. Randolph in 1876, Mary continued to acquire property around her Fort Gatlin property, acreage that eventually became known as the “Randolph Peninsular”. In fact, for a time during the early 1880s, one traveling south from Orlando either on foot or by train crossed land belonging to Widow Mary Ellen (Pitts) Randolph.

 The Randolph Peninsular as per Orange County Clerk of Court

 Exhibit 55: Beyond Gatlin, A History of South Orange County

 Mary Randolph’s Peninsular of the 1880s included area 7 shown, plus area 6 (this lot was referred to by Mary as the “McBaker” parcel – see Part 6). Mary also acquired the area identified as 7a, but gifted this parcel to her grandson, William Randolph Harney.

 

The Randolph’s three grown children had relocated to Orange County with their parents. Mary St. Mayer Randolph, the eldest, had married Will Wallace Harney in the summer of 1868, and arrived in Florida with her husband and six-month old child via a rugged journey of a thousand land miles. Mary (Randolph) Harney spent her first and only Florida Christmas with her clan in 1869, dying soon after the New Year. She was buried atop Gatlin Hill, a few steps from the old fortress, but moved relocated to Greenwood Cemetery later by her son.

William Beverly Randolph, son of William & Mary, homesteaded adjacent to the homestead of Will Wallace Harney (See Part 3 of this series). Fanny Lambeth Randolph, youngest of William & Mary Randolph’s children, resided with her mother at the Orange House Hotel in Fort Reid, where she died in 1892, leaving three children and her husband, Benjamin M. Robinson.

Randolph contributions to the development of South Orange County were many. William and Mary both earned mentions in my books First Road to Orlando and Beyond Gatlin: A History of South Orange County. Mary E. (Pitts) Randolph however was more than wife, a hotel operator, and land speculator. She was also a grandmother, “mamma” to those who lovingly knew her as the matriarch of the Fort Gatlin Randolph’s. In that role, likely one Mary enjoyed the most, she was immortalized by her son in law and poet, Will Wallace Harney.

It was a lazy afternoon in 1873, and the grandparents were visiting the Harney Homestead. The renowned New Orleans Attorney at this moment was simply grandpa, dozing by Lake Conway as his grandson played ball with Mustard, the family dog.

“A sweet little rustic scene it is

Of tropical splendor and homely bliss.

The sunburned baby, as brown as a nut,

Tosses the ball in the broad log-hut.

Till Mustard catches it, hand over hand,

And rolls outside, with a bump, on the sand.”

 

Baby and Mustard Playing Ball was written by Will Wallace Harney in 1873. His poem informs us that despite the daily trials and tribulations settlers had to endure in the wilds of 19^th century central Florida, there was also those precious moments when they could pause and be parents – or grandparents, even when an unsuspecting snake burst on the scene.

“Courage little one, chubby and tough,

But surely now you have done enough?

Not, with your baby and naked hands,

To grapple the pretty thing in the sands.

Yet grandpa’s shout and mamma’s scream

Burst like life in a startled dream.

Too late, but Mustard has heard the call,

And goes for the snake instead of the ball.

 

Mary Ellen Pitts, born 1816 at Essex County, Virginia, met William Mayer Randolph (1815-1876) at Tallahassee. They married in Kentucky September 10, 1838. Her family brought about the Randolph’s move to New Orleans, but they also established a home at St. Charles, Missouri prior to the Civil War. She died at Orange County, Florida October 12, 1886, and was laid to rest at Gatlin Hill, beside her husband William and firstborn child Mary, at old Fort Gatlin.

That same month, in the same year, son in law Will Wallace Harney released his poem called The Reapers.

Next week, PINE CASTLE: Home for the Holidays, concludes as we feature yet another amazing Fort Gatlin area pioneer.

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PINE CASTLE Home for the Holidays - Part 6: J. McRobert BAKER

 PINE CASTLE

Home for the Holidays

Celebrating America’s Paradise

 

Part 6: The Senator of Fort Gatlin

Joseph McRobert Baker 1825-1864

The name Joseph McRobert Baker never made it into Orange County history books, not until, that is, I introduced the man - and his involvement in settling 19^th century central Florida - in my book, Beyond Gatlin: A History of South Orange County. Published in 2017, I am honored to say this book became the recipient that year of Pine Castle Historical Society’s 2017 Book Award.

Joseph Baker’s absence from central Florida history is not because he failed to accomplish things worthy of mention. As a Florida State Senator in 1856, for example, J. McRobert Baker served as Chairman of a Special Committee assigned to review an 1854 Act that significantly reduced Orange County’s landmass. The committee found nothing unconstitutional about the formation of Volusia County though, and so recommended the Bill be passed. That formation of Volusia County meant Orange County lost half of its 1850 population, not to mention the elimination of all of Orange County’s oceanfront property.

Baker’s involvement in central Florida however did not end with forming Volusia County. After serving one term as Jacksonville Mayor, Joseph McRobert Baker, while continuing to live at Jacksonville, became active as well in central Florida politics. Baker served three terms as State Senator of the 19^th Senatorial District in 1856, 1858 and 1859. His district encompassed Orange and Sumter Counties, a territory that included Fort Gatlin.

While Baker represented the district in 1856, Aaron Jernigan organized the Orange County Militia at Fort Gatlin. Later that year at Fort Gatlin, Captain Isaac N. Rutland took over command of Jernigan’s Militia. Then, in 1861, Baker was deeded 30 acres at Fort Gatlin, a deed made out to “Joseph M. Baker of Sumpter County”. His land bordered the northwest shore of Lake Gatlin and included the west half of what remained at that time of the abandoned Army post.

Area #6 on the above map shows the location of the 30 acres owned by J. McRobert Baker.

Areas #1 thru #5 were featured in earlier Parts 1 thru 5 of this series. 

As Joseph McRobert Baker was being deeded land at Fort Gatlin, Captain Isaac N. Rutland was heading to Tallahassee, where he served as a delegate at Florida’s 1861 Secession Convention, representing Florida’s 19^th Senatorial District – the district Joseph McRobert Baker had represented a year earlier as State Senator.

Isaac voted NO to Secession, vanished during the War, and then, like Joseph McRobert Baker, Isaac Newton Rutland was also left out of Orange County history books.

Orange County’s 5 Star Rated Civil-War Historical Mystery Novel

Meanwhile, back at the fortress:

“Half a mile or more from where I write is the site of old Fort Gatlin, with its camp drill grounds and marks of old quarters and chimneys standing till last year, a refuge of the pioneer from the Indians.”

Will Wallace Harney, October 22, 1871

Portions of the old fort were still standing when Joseph McRobert Baker acquired his land, a known fact as 7 years later, in 1868, Pine Castle's legendary Will Wallace Harney, a newcomer then to the area, crossed Baker’s property on his way south to Lake Conway. In 1871 Harney described the fort’s ruins as quoted above.

“Senator Baker’s Fortress”, the title of Chapter 3 of Beyond Gatlin: A History of South Orange County, describes the importance of Baker’s parcel to the overall settlement of the South Orange County. Surveys completed 20 years before Baker bought here details how the Fort Mellon to Fort Gatlin trail meandered for nearly 28 miles, from lake’s edge at Lake Monroe, south through a vast uninhabited wilderness, through what would one day become the Village of Orlando, only to end abruptly at a fortress named Gatlin. The Fort Mellon to Fort Gatlin trail became the First Road to Orlando!

 

First Road to Orlando, Second Edition (2015)

The purpose of Fort Gatlin in 1838 had been to station troops in proximity to Lake Tohpekaliga, but General Jesup reached Tohopekaliga using an alternate route - further west, from Lake Eustis via the west side of Lake Apopka. But it seems unlikely the Gatlin bound trail dead ended at the Fort Gatlin grounds. We can establish that, by the mid-1840s, Aaron Jernigan had extended the 1838 trail south from the fortress to lake’s edge at Lake Tohopekaliga.

Until the forts trail was replaced by a trail further west of the fortress, where Orange Avenue now runs north and south, the main road south from Orlando required travelers to take a sharp turn at Fort Gatlin. Those desiring to visit David Mizell, Sr. on Lake Conway would turn left (east), but those continuing south via the easiest route would turn right (west) – to get around Lake Gatlin and larger Lake Conway. And turning westward at Fort Gatlin crossed the land Joseph McRobert Baker had selected as his very own parcel in 1861. What did the ex-Senator from Jacksonville have in mind for this parcel?

Baker’s 1861 ownership at Fort Gatlin is especially noteworthy when considering others who owned land in the immediate vicinity. Last week this series featured Isaphoenia C. Speer and her property north of Fort Gatlin at Lake Pineloch. The old forts trail also crossed her 160 acres in its approach to the north side of the fortress. Adjacent to Baker, on the south side of Lake Gatlin, was nearly 280 acres owned by the original surveyor of South Orange County, Benjamin F. Whitner. And off to the east was the sprawling Mizell estate.

The Civil War interrupted whatever plan was in store for old Fort Gatlin of 1861, and by the time guns finally fell silent, the only pre-war Fort Gatlin trail landowner to survive was Whitner. As for Joseph McRobert Baker, he had been killed on the battlefield in 1864 at Richmond, Virginia. 

Beyond Gatlin: A History of South Orange County

After War’s end, the Randolph family joined with Benjamin F. Whitner in an attempt to bring the Fort Gatlin area back to life. William M. Randolph purchased hundreds of acres, and following his death, his wife, Mary (Pitts) Randolph, continued to add to the family’s landholdings. One parcel acquired by Mary on June 1, 1882 included a notation that the land was being acquired from: “Amelia E. Baker, being the widow of J. McRobert Baker, deceased.”

Next week, PINE CASTLE: Home for the Holidays, Part 7, continues as we feature yet another amazing Fort Gatlin area pioneer, Mary E. (Pitts) Randolph. 

Is Holiday Shopping on your mind?

Give a lasting gift of central Florida history

BEYOND GATLIN: A History of South Orange County

Rated 4 Stars at Goodreads.com  

Not quite at the Free shipping order amount?

A Central Florida Civil-War Novel

Based on true-life pioneers and a real-life mystery

THE RUTLAND MULE MATTER

VISIT CRONINBOOKS.COM WEBSITE FOR MY COMPLETE COLLECTION

Click on link below to purchase Beyond Gatlin now: 

https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Gatlin-Orange-Florida-History/dp/1977714730/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Beyond+Gatlin%3A+A+history+of+South+Orange+County&qid=1604499081&sr=8-1