Instructions:
1....Print this file.
2....At its end, click on "rules" to see a copy of the trail rules, print it, and then click where indicated at the end of the 3-page rules and patch order form to get back to the list of Florida trails.
3....If you want a hand-drawn map showing the locations of all of the sites, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to Steve Rajtar, 1614 Bimini Dr., Orlando, FL 32806.
4....Hike the trail and order whatever patches you like (optional).
WARNING - This trail may pass through one or more neighborhoods which, although full of history, may now be unsafe for individuals on foot, or which may make you feel unsafe there. Hikers have been approached by individuals who have asked for handouts or who have inquired (not always in a friendly manner) why the hikers are in their neighborhood. Drugs and other inappropriate items have been found by hikers in some neighborhoods. It is suggested that you drive the hike routes first to see if you will feel comfortable walking them and, if you don't think it's a good place for you walk, you might want to consider (1) traveling with a large group, (2) doing the route on bicycles, or (3) choosing another hike route. The degree of comfort will vary with the individual and with the time and season of the hike, so you need to make the determination using your best judgment. If you hike the trail, you accept all risks involved.
This road is named for James W. Jones, who moved his family from Tennessee to Texas in 1904 to try farming, and heard about Zellwood in 1908. He came here in 1909 and was quite impressed. Jones persuaded friends and relatives from Texas and Tennessee to join him here, in the area known as the "Apopka Sawgrass". His enthusiasm earned him the nickname "Sawgrass".
Arthur King followed Jones' advice and in December of 1909, bought ten acres of recently drained marshland for $1,000. Jones Vincent came here from Texas in 1911 to grow vegetables, but would wind up raising ferns.
On December 1, 1911, a Pullman car full of "agricultural pilgrims" arrived, and another train with livestock and equipment came the next day. All except for King avoided the muck, trying oranges and other ventures.
In 1914, King gave up the battle of fighting unpredictable cold and water on his land, and moved to higher sandy soil to attempt to raise citrus. By 1917, the few remaining farmers reached the same conclusion, abandoning their farms and allowing Lake Apopka to flow back over the land.
This was the location of the depot of the Tavares, Orlando and Atlantic Railroad Company (TO&A). The railroad reached Zellwood in 1885, and made regular stops for many years thereafter.
The depot was converted to a feed store in 1978, and was later removed.
This road is named for Pittsburgh steel magnate James Laughlin, Jr., who made his home north of Lake Maggiore in Zellwood.
Lemuel H. Davis completed the Apopka Canal which had been started by J.G. Speer's Apopka Canal Company. The canal, which connected Lakes Apopka, Beauclair, Dora and Eustis, lowered the level of Lake Apopka enough to expose about 20,000 acres for cultivation in 1893. Prior to that time, the muck and sawgrass reached nearly to present-day Orange Blossom Tr.
Another attempt at bringing the area under cultivation was attempted by Zellwood Florida Farms, which obtained permission to lower the level of Lake Apopka. In May of 1915, 135 truck farmers met at Tildenville on the south end of the lake to try to stop the project.
Orlando attorney Leroy B. Giles and L.W. Tilden were successful in having legislation adopted which prohibited private parties from lowering the level of any body of water with an area of more than two square miles. Unfortunately for the farmers on the south shore, it was determined that the lowering proposed by Zellwood Florida Farms would not be affected by the legislation, since it wouldn't bring Lake Apopka below its "low water mark" of 62 feet.
Zellwood Florida Farms built a 45-room Holly Arms Hotel on the edge of the sawgrass, which opened for business in 1916. It advertised "steam heat and modern conveniences".
Orlando native H. Carl Dann developed 61 real estate projects between 1910 and 1930. He built suburban housing, country clubs, hotels, and a large failure in Zellwood. He proposed to develop the state's largest concentration of mucklands outside the Everglades, namely this area north of Lake Apopka.
Dann had DeLuxe Bus Lines of Orlando bring people on a new route to the Holly Arms Hotel and Zellwood, where he proposed to grow potatoes, which were in short supply at the beginning of World War I. Tracts were sold and potatoes were planted and, although they grew, they rotted as soon as they were gathered, probably because of a lack of potash and phosphate in the soil.
After 1918, the Zellwood Farms land was abandoned, and a 1926 hurricane put the area under six to eight feet of water. It wasn't until 1943, using experience gained in the Everglades, that the mucklands became productive to raise crops as part of the war effort.
In about 1920, Richard Whitney bought the bankrupt Zellwood Farms Company. A five-term president of the New York Stock Exchange, Whitney formed the Alpha Peat Company in 1922 to harvest and sell peat. He renamed it the Florida Humus Company in 1925.
In 1935, Whitney pleaded guilty to extensive embezzlement and was imprisoned. The company barely survived. Zellwin Farms Co. later cultivated the property, which was sold in about 1998. Zellwin's office was located here.
The citizens of Tangerine, a short distance to the northwest, declined to allow the railroad to run through their town, so in 1886 a TO&A depot was built a little to the west of this spot. The location was known as Gainsboro, founded by Col. George T. Gaines and Sons.
J.S.C. Crummey and J.W.H. Hamilton of Georgia ran a turpentine still in the Gainsboro area at about the turn of the century. No evidence of the depot or the turpentine operation remain.
This section of road was a part of the Dixie Highway, which was the dream of Carl Fisher of Indianapolis. He had made his fortune in the new auto industry, and wanted to build a highway from Chicago to Miami. When news got out, many communities formed associations to lobby for inclusion on the route.
The Dixie Highway Association met in Chattanooga and chose a route passing through Tallahassee and Jacksonville, and proceeding south along the east coast. Frenzied lobbying also produced an inland route passing through Gainesville, Ocala, Winter Park, Orlando, Kissimmee, Bartow and Arcadia, rejoining the coastal route at Palm Beach.
In 1915, Fisher led an auto cavalcade from the Midwest to Miami, popularizing auto trips to Florida. The Dixie Highway was officially open for traffic in October of 1925 from the Canadian border at the northern tip of Michigan to Miami.
This road is named after Dr. Orwin W. Sadler and his family, who lived on their homestead, named "Sloewood", located to the west in Tangerine. His son, S.S. Sadler, served as chairman of the Orange County Commission, and was instrumental in obtaining hard-surfaced roads for this area.
This church began as a mission of the First Baptist Church of Mount Dora, holding services as the Lake Ola Baptist Chapel in the "Bird House" next to the Lake Ola Motel to the north on Orange Blossom Tr. It was established as a separate church on October 4, 1964, with Rev. Tommy Parker as the pastor. The original sanctuary here, now used as the fellowship hall, was completed in 1964. In 1990, the present sanctuary was built.
This cemetery has graves predominantly of black citizens of the area. A relatively high percentage of the grave markers are of military veterans.
The Oak Hill Cemetery Association was organized in January of 1886, for Zellwood and Tangerine to jointly maintain the grounds of Evergreen Cemetery. The cemetery itself was established in 1890, and the earliest grave is probably that of William Clark Yeates of England, who died that same year. The Yeates family plot is centrally located, surrounded by a rusting iron fence.
A little to the east of the Yeates plot are the graves of the McDonald family, who founded the community of McDonald between Zellwood and Plymouth. Andrew A. McDonald (1818-1896) was the first settler there, arriving from Virginia in about 1873. His eldest son, Dr. M.G. McDonald, practiced medicine there in the 1880s. Another son, Marion Fitzhugh McDonald (1868-1936) became a charter member of the Plymouth Citrus Growers Association, which organized in 1909.
Percival McDonald (1866-1938) operated a general store. He also operated a packing house with S.W. Eldredge of Apopka, but it closed after the 1894-95 freezes. Percival and two of his brothers then moved to Mexico, and he didn't return to Plymouth until he retired thirty years later.
Other grave markers are of individuals whose names are mentioned throughout this hike plan.
What is now a private school was once the estate of James Laughlin, Jr. Approximately 100 acres with 15 buildings were bought by Dr. Pierre W. DuBose in 1934 for $27,000. He converted it to an interdenominational preparatory academy which catered to the children of Christian ministers and evangelists. It was a boarding school until about 1980, when it switched to a day school for young children.
As you enter the property, you may notice four headstones to the north, just off a walkway. They include Pierre, G.W. and L.H. DuBose.
This classroom building was dedicated in 1959 to the memory of Ellis Saunders Allen, Sr., a surgeon from Louisville, Kentucky.
This classroom building was also dedicated in 1959, but to the memory of Ellis Saunders Allen, Jr., who, like his father, was a surgeon in Louisville, Kentucky.
James Laughlin, Jr. built his first home on a 200-acre estate on the shore of this lake in about 1890, and that house with its later additions is still standing next door. Later, he built this home which he named "Sydonie" (or "Sidonie"). It was completed in 1904 and cared for in the 1920s by Reasley Vincent, Sr. The home has 42 rooms including 13 bedrooms, 10 bathrooms and a pool in the basement. The syle is largely Arts and Crafts, but you can also see some Mediterranean Revival details such as the red barrel tile roof, sloped buttress and tan paint.
The area around this lake was the site of considerable growth in the 1880s, especially for wealthy northern industrialists looking for winters homes or agricultural opportunities.
This is the Pierre Wilds DuBose Academy Auditorium, named in memory of the founder of the school, who was born on May 9, 1892, and died December 15, 1959. The academy has been the target of vandalism, much of it intended to be against another school. Unfortunately, the vandals have mistaken this for that other school. It features a Spanish Mission entryway displaying the school seal.
This is the oldest currently operating store building in Orange County. Lewis Osborne and Lilla Hammond Osborne bought the store from Lewis' father, Caleb Osborne, who had bought it from A.H. Ashman in 1894, when it had served as a trading post since 1886 or earlier. While it was owned by the Osbornes, the General Mercantile Store included a hardware store, post office, library, and meeting room.
It was sold in 1930 to William S. Jones, who operated his store here until 1944.
The first school in Zellwood was built from poles in 1877. It also served as the town hall, courtroom, opera house, and a church. It was outgrown and replaced in the mid-1880s.
The elementary school was originally built in 1878, and burned down in 1882. It was rebuilt that same year for $500 and donated labor. The present school was built here in 1959.
This two-story house was the home of James Wesley King, and is one of many which were abandoned after the devastating freezes of 1894-95. It features a wraparound porch and a tin roof.
At a meeting in 1906 in Lewis Osborne's home, friends gathered for Sunday worship and Bible study. Later meetings were held in a hall above a store on Jones Ave. The church officially organized on April 30, 1911, with 12 charter members and Rev. King Jones of Orlando as pastor.
The Methodists used the Episcopal Church building for their twice monthly preaching services until construction was complete on their own building on a lot donated by Mr. and Mrs. James Laughlin. It was finished in 1925, except for classroom doors which were not acquired until 1932.
In 1934-35, the church absorbed many members from the disbanded Conquest Church in McDonald. A parsonage was built in 1948 for $4,500 and an education building was added in 1954-58. The present fellowship hall/education building was erected in 1974-75, and the old one was renovated to include a church office.
This building is dedicated in memory of Lt. Col. Thomas Ellwood Zell. The dedication plaque was presented by The Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States.
Rev. Leroy Giles lived in this area in the 1850s. In about 1875, Philadelphia publisher Lt. Col. Thomas Ellwood Zell was scouting out this area of lakes and hills. He made his home here, as did his brother-in-law and business associate, John Williamson, whose home became the cultural and social focal point of the community.
Zell was a retired military man, and sold parcels of property to other veterans to establish homes and plant citrus groves. He named his winter home "Zellwood", and the growing community and post office also adopted the name. The present post office building was opened in 1975. It features an entryway reminiscent of the Federalist style with four columns and a triangular pediment.
Flashbacks: The Story of Central Florida's Past, by Jim Robison and Mark Andrews (The Orlando Sentinel 1995)
The History of Apopka, by Ralph G. Grassfield (Apopka Printing Company 1926)
History of Apopka and Northwest Orange County, Florida, by Jerrell H. Shofner (Rose Printing Company, Inc. 1982)
History of Orange County, Florida, by William Fremont Blackman (The E.O. Painter Printing Co. 1927)
History of the Zellwood United Methodist Church, (Zellwood United Methodist Church 1996)
Oakland: The Early Years, by Eve Bacon (The Mickler House 1974)
Orlando: The City Beautiful, by Jerrell H. Shofner (Continental Heritage Press 1984)
Webb's Historical, Industrial and Biographical Florida, by Wanton S. Webb (W.S. Webb & Co. 1885)