Pine Castle Pioneers / Pine Castle Lakes - Part 3

 

Pine Castle Pioneers / Pine Castle Lakes

Celebrating Pine Castle Pioneer Days ONLINE – Part 3

 

Part 3: Devil’s Bay and Rattlesnake Lake

When last we wrote of Surveyor Benjamin F. Whitner and his two assistants, as you may recall, it was Spring of 1843. Three brave souls were mapping, for the first time ever, South Orange County. Starting at Point Zero near Lake Lancaster, the survey party had worked west, clearing a straight path for six miles to a point that is today Valencia Community College on Kirkman Road. Here, at the “Northwest” corner of Pine Castle Township of 1890, Part 2 of my series ended. And it is at this “Northwest” point where, in 1843, Whitner’s survey team made a sharp turn, and began clearing another straight path – this time southbound - for another six miles. Here, at the “Southwest” corner of Pine Castle Township, was the location later surveyors called “Devil’s Bay”.

Orange County map of 1890 of “Devil’s Bay”.

A bay is most often associated with a coastal waterway, but 19^th century surveyors identified some inland areas as a “bay” too. Central Florida has several lakes named “Bay”. In my Orlando Lakes: Homesteaders & Namesakes book I reference a Will Wallace Harney article of May 1875 in which he writes of “a picnic and fish frolic at Bay Lake”. This lake is south of Pine Castle, and still known by that name today. The 1890 map of Orange County shows Pine Castle’s Bay Lake as the headwater for Boggy Creek.

Devil’s Bay of 1890 was just west of the southwest corner of Pine Castle Township (see arrow on map above). Homesteader SELBY HARNEY, the nephew of Will Wallace HARNEY who came to Florida with his uncle in 1869, lived here alongside Devil’s Bay in the 1880s (see L shaped parcel outlined in red on map above). Selby & Trinity (Yates) Harney resided here during Florida’s Great Freeze of 1894-95, lost their crop, and then moved further south. The abandoned Selby Harney Homestead, in the 20^th century, changed hands several times before eventually becoming part of the Martin Marietta complex.

Where exactly is Devil’s Bay? The Orlando Eye, known as The Wheel at Icon Park, is now located where the “35” appears on the map above.

1954 Aerial of Devil’s Bay area Orange County

The aerial photo above was taken before Martin Marietta, and the red arrow (added) points to a depressed area referred to in 1890 as Devil’s Bay. The easternmost shores of Big and Little Sand Lake are visible on the left side of both the 1890 map and the 1954 aerial photo above.

When Whitner’s 1843 survey team arrived at the southwestern-most corner of Pine Castle Township, the first township surveyed in Lake, Orange, Osceola, and Seminole Counties, the survey party then turned back east. At this point near Devil’s Bay, they began clearing a straight six- mile journey in the direction of today’s Orlando International Airport.

Surveyors pitched tents and set up camps wherever they ended a day’s work, typically said to be about every twelve land miles daily. But the surveyors mapped more than the outer limits of Pine Castle Township, for their task included mapping the entire township, dividing it into 36 individual square-mile Sections. One Section, for example, was the square-mile Section 10, surveyed in 1843 by Whitner and his team. Brothers Isaac and Aaron Jernigan, later that same year, applied for two homesteads of 160 acres each, half of the Section 10 surveyed by Benjamin F. Whitner.

Pine Castle Township Section 29, shown on the 1890 Orange County map above, contains a red square added by this author. Inside that square, dotted lines intersect at a bold black line. This red square is the only alteration I made in Section 29, and I say this because the contents within that square – sketched 130 years ago, – tell a fascinating story of early Orange County.

The bold black line crossing Sections 29 and 32 (top to bottom) is SHINGLE CREEK. Dotted lines are early trails. The trail from the upper right in Section 29 down through Section 31 is nearly identical to John Young Parkway of today. The other trail leaving Section 29 on the right, ends at the 1890 town of Pine Castle. Note too how surveyors show a line, “or ridge” of trees – an Oak Ridge, along each side of Shingle Creek, a riverboat highway during the 1870s and 1880s.

The area east of Section 29 on the same 1890 Orange County map is shown below. Note how the trail leaving Shingle Creek curves northeast to the town of Pine Castle (red star). An orange arrow (added by me) on the map below points to yet another item of interest – RATTLESNAKE LAKE.

One of two 1890 Orange County Rattlesnake Lakes, this one, as reported on page 245 of my Orlando Lakes: Homesteaders & Namesakes, was later renamed ELLENOR for the daughter of Willard & Lena Van Duzor, details of which can be found at Lake ELLENOR on page 89 of my book. “The red blood curdles and hard bones quake,” wrote Will Wallace Harney of Pine Castle in the 1870s, “at the whir of the deadly Rattlesnake.”

Perhaps a warning for those approaching the two Rattlesnake lakes, later developers, no doubt desiring to attract buyers for their developments, changed both Rattlesnake Lakes, opting for more pleasant names. Female names, Ellenor and Kathryn, were selected for each body of water. Where, you might ask, is Kathryn? That one-time Orange County Rattlesnake Lake is now part of Seminole County.

1890 Orange County map of Rattlesnake Lake and Pine Castle

 

Pioneer Days weekend would have been this weekend had it not been cancelled due to the pandemic. The Pine Castle Historical Society was to again sponsor the “History Tent”, and I had been invited to do an in-person presentation of Pine Castle Pioneers / Pine Castle Lakes. Instead, I have adapted my talk to this online format, a four-part series, the conclusion of which will be the next post. In the meantime, I invite you to check out my books either at my webpage or my Amazon Author Page. (You can click Follow Author on my Amazon author page and receive alerts about new publications as they come online).

Pine Castle Historical Society awarded me their 2017 Historian Award for my book, Beyond Gatlin: A History of South Orange County, and much of this four-part series was taken from that book as well as Orlando Lakes: Homesteaders & Namesakes, an encyclopedia-style book of how 303 central Florida lakes came to be settled and named. Both books can be purchased at Amazon.

On March 17, 2021, I will be the online guest speaker at the Orlando Remembered Group meeting which begins on Zoom at 9:30 AM. My talk is entitled, Harriett, Henrietta & Orlando’s Girl School, in honor of Women’s History Month (for details email Rick@CroninBooks.com ).

On March 25, 2021, Winter Garden Heritage Foundation is sponsoring my live on-line presentation of, When Winter Garden was Oakland. Details on how to tune in to this special West Orange County presentation will be posted as the date approaches.

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Orlando Lakes: Homesteaders & Namesakes (2019)

THE AWARD WINNING - Beyond Gatlin: A History of South Orange County (2017)

First Road to Orlando (Second Edition 2015)

The Rutland Mule Matter – A Novel (2015)

CitrusLAND: Curse of Florida’s Paradise (Second Edition 2016)

TAVARES: Darling of Orange County, Birthplace of Lake County (NEW in 2020)

 

Perfect for WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH

 

FLORIDA’S INDIAN RIVER DUCHESS

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Author for Pine Castle Historical Society Publication:

Will Wallace Harney – Orlando’s First Renaissance Man