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.
In the late 1940s, this was the office of M.H. Sears, a local realtor. He, along with Sis Hahs Kerns and a tourist from Michigan, suggested the name Land O'Lakes in a naming contest in 1949. Sears promoted his entry by bringing several pounds of Land O'Lakes butter to the meeting of the Civic Association where the name was considered. The name is appropriate, since the community includes 50 natural lakes.
The building later was the home of Lutz-Land O'Lakes Realty.
In 1933, William J. and Maude Clark moved to Land O'Lakes and bought this property, making monthly $10 payments. The house was built with windows of an unusual design, and later was owned by their son, W.J. Clark.
In 1907, Arthur B. Hale moved to Tampa from Tennessee, and for a time this was his residence. While in Tampa, Hale worked for the Tampa Ice Company and later owned his own business, Hale and Buerke Electric Company. In 1937, he was appointed chairman of the State Road Board. During the early part of World War II, he was the head of the War Production Board in Tampa.
In 1923, William Curtis Law and his wife, Zona Lee Law, moved here from Suwannee County. They cleared this land and planted citrus groves. From 1934 to 1950, Mr. Law served on the Pasco Board of County Commissioners. The county courthouse in Dade City was dedicated to his memory.
This area was known as the Denham-Drexel community until June 13, 1949, when the name was officially changed to Land O'Lakes. That name had been proposed by Sis Hahs Kerns, an individual who was characterized as sort of a one-woman community news reporter. She wrote stories of whatever was going on, made copies, and passed them around. The Hahs family had moved here from Frederickstown, Missouri, in October of 1914.
This area was served by a two-room schoolhouse, known as the Drexel School. In 1948, a new $50,000 school was built here, and the Drexel School became its lunchroom. It is named after Judge James Wilton Sanders, who was previously the principal of Zephyrhills High School, and from 1912 to 1920 served as the school superintendent.
Tampa attorney J. William Dupree was injured in an auto accident, and when his injuries prevented him from going back to work he spent his time developing a 25-acre garden on his 900-acre estate. In 1941, he opened a portion of it to the public, and it included a lodge with a gift shop and restaurant, plus electric-powered boats on the lake. Thousands visited the gardens.
By 1943, tourism dwindled and the kitchen and gift shop were closed. Then the boat tours were eliminated. After a ban was placed on unnecessary civilian travel, the gardens were closed.
The lodge later became the residence of Fran Hendrix. The hundreds of remaining acres are now the site of homes. All that remains of the original facilities are the ruins of the old stone ticket booth.
In the years before 1900, the Ehren Pine Company Sawmill located to the northeast of here was said to be the largest in the state. The company was owned and operated by Frederick Ernest Mueller, who also built a hotel and houses for the employees.
Wages were paid in aluminum coins which could only be used at the company commissary for the purchase of food and supplies. A post office not far from it was listed as the smallest in the U.S. in Ripley's Believe It or Not.
Just to the east of the cemetery, on the Tampa to Brooksville Trail, ran the Concord Stage Line. Heading north, it would stop at Fort Taylor just over the county line, and then come here to Ehren. At the time, the route was called the Twenty-Mile Level Road. Both passengers and freight had to ford streams because of the absence of bridges. The stage coach line went out of business when the railroads arrived in the 1890s.
This area's first attempt at settlement was hampered by the presence of hostile Seminoles, who were removed by the mid-1850s. At that time, a relay station was started here on the stagecoach line which ran from Tampa to Brooksville, and the resettlement of this area accelerated. Citrus became the main industry by the 1930s.
Several of the surrounding settlements' schools and post offices were consolidated to form what is now Land O'Lakes, including Fivay Junction, Big Cypress, Disston, Ehren, Drexel, Godwin, Mexico, Pleasant Plains, Shingleton Stemper, Myrtle-Denham and Tucker.
A contest was held to name the resulting community. At a community meeting, real estate broker M.H. Sears showed off a brightly colored container of Land O'Lakes butter, and the citizens present voted to adopt that name. At the community's annual flapjack festival, the butter is supplied by the Land O'Lakes Company of Minnesota.
Founding of Land O'Lakes, by Mary Gaulden (1990)
The Historic Places of Pasco County, by James J. Horgan, Alice F. Hall and Edward J. Herrman (Relard Printers, Inc. 1992)