Floridiana Magazine

History. Heritage. Home.

Year in Review: Natural Florida

Florida is home to 175 state parks, trails, and historic sites, with countless other wildlife refuges and wildlife drives.  Looking back at 2018, we visited numerous places we consider to be natural Florida – some of them more than once.  Links to the original posts are embedded within the descriptions.

Pioneer Park, Zolfo Springs

Encompassing more than 115 acres, Pioneer Park sits at the intersection of U.S. Highway 17 and State Road 64 in Zolfo Springs in Hardee County.  The picturesque Peace River meanders through the park and serves as the source of many activities, from kayaking to canoeing, and even fossil hunting.

Other points of interest include the Hardee County Wildlife Refuge, the old pool house and the Cracker Trail Museum.  One of our favorite spots is the Pioneer Village which houses an old cabin, a blacksmith shop, and an old locomotive.

If you plan to visit, you might want to plan for February 28 through March 2 in order to experience the 51st Annual Pioneer Park Days.  You can find out more about the event in our original post here.

Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive

It’s hard to imagine someone living in the city relishing a two- or three-hour, eleven-mile drive.  But what if that drive steers you away from the clogged highways and winds through a wildlife paradise?  Whether you are looking for a leisurely way to spend the day or a chance to see Florida’s wildlife up close, the Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive is well worth the time.

From the moment you enter the Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive, the melody of Mother Nature replaces the sound of the city.  On both sides of the single-lane, hard-packed shell road, birds wade along the shoreline, alligators glide through the water, and osprey circle overhead. It is a photographer’s playground and a wildlife lover’s wonderland.

Since it is only 20 minutes from home, we have been to the drive four times over the past year. Each time provided a new experience for us – whether it was a bird or animal we hadn’t seen before or the sheer number of alligators out sunning themselves.

Make sure to take along your camera and binoculars because there are so many photo opportunities.  To truly enjoy the drive, plan on at least two hours and remember to be patient.  Even though there are areas to pull over, most of the drive is single-lane and it’s not uncommon to be in a line of slow-moving cars with occupants looking at all there is to see.

The Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive begins at Lust Road and ends on Jones Avenue, and is open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, from sunrise to sunset.

Sweetwater Wetlands Park, Gainesville 

Sweetwater Wetlands is a man-made habitat located on the north end of Paynes Prairie in Gainesville.  The park, which is said to be shaped like an alligator head, was created to improve the water quality in the Alachua Sink and the Floridan Aquifer.  With more than three and a half miles of easy trails on 125 acres, Sweetwater Wetlands offers amazing views of plants, animals, and more than 215 species of birds.  If you’re lucky, you will be able to see the wild horses or bison that roam the prairie. Of the two times we have been to the park, we have been able to see some of the horses.  Viewing platforms, trails and boardwalks provide an up-close view of nature at its finest.

The park is open seven days a week, even on holidays, from 7:00 a.m. until sunset. There is a $5.00 entrance fee for the park.

FM Notes

With a renewed annual pass to Florida State Parks, we will be adding more to our 2019 calendar.  Leave a comment with your favorite park to visit in Florida.

 

Caladium Festival Lake Placid, Florida

Florida is home to many festivals, ranging from the absurd to the logical.  By definition, festivals celebrate something unique about a community or its culture.  For the central Florida town of Lake Placid, that uniqueness is its designation as “Caladium Capital of the World” and 2018 marked its celebration of the 28th Caladium Festival.

History of the Caladium Festival

The idea for the Caladium Festival came from the Highlands County Tourist Development Commission as a way to promote the industry and, at the same time, create an event to bring visitors into town.  With the help of Carolyn Phypers of Happiness Farms and Dot Bates of Bates Sons and Daughters Caladiums, the first festival was held in 1990 at the warehouse at Happiness Farms.  Small in scale and mostly informational, it involved a steak dinner cooked by the Highlands County Cattlemen and served by the Cattlewomen, industry talk by caladium growers, and bus tours to the fields.

After that first festival, Carolyn, Dot and their families expanded on the event by moving it downtown to Stuart Park and added in arts and crafts, entertainment and food vendors.  From its first year with about 100 visitors, the event has grown to tens of thousands.

The Caladium Festival Today

Happiness Farms and Bates Sons and Daughters both continue to play a major role in the Caladium Festival.  Bates sells potted plants, while Happiness offers up bags or boxes of bulbs.  What once sold out on the second day of the festival is now selling out on day one.  Folks have found out if they come early, they are sure they get their preferred plants. Both growers donate their net proceeds to the Lake Placid Chamber of Commerce to continue funding the festival.

Bus Tours of Caladium Fields

To get an up-close view of the caladium fields, bus tours are offered at regular intervals throughout the festival. (We might also add the buses are air-conditioned!)  The tours, led by local growers, offer up a lively discussion of the industry as well as question and answer sessions on a wide range of topics.  Out the bus windows, rows upon rows, acres upon acres, showcase a kaleidoscope of colors.

 

After a drive by the fields, the bus makes a stop in one of Lake Placid’s neighborhoods to see a home landscaped with caladiums.  At one time, entire neighborhoods would get involved with planting caladiums.  They were given the bulbs free of charge if they would plant them in time for the festival. These plants, with their heart-shaped leaves and vibrant colors, are easy to grow and brighten any yard.

 

These bus tours are very popular and certain times often sell out, so visitors are advised to buy tickets in advance of the show to secure a seat.

While the caladiums are the stars of the show, there is so much more to the Caladium Festival.  A walk along Interlake Boulevard or any of the side streets surrounding Stuart Park provides a glimpse at booths featuring arts and crafts, plants, and other specialty items.  In addition, there is also a variety of food vendors and entertainment acts.

Clowns

In a community known for its clown college, it’s also a given that Toby’s Clowns will be on hand to offer up their skills of face painting and balloon artistry, and at the same time, a lot of smiles to kids of all ages.

Car Show

For those who are interested in cars and motorcycles, the Caladium Car and Bike Show is a must see.  Billed as the largest auto show in Lake Placid, De Vane Park turns into an outdoor showroom for new and old cars and bikes.  A walk up and down the rows can reveal some pretty cool cars and a link to the past.

Town of Murals

Caladiums are also the topic of one of the many murals around Lake Placid since they play such an important part of the town’s history.  Nearly 50 murals in all are painted on the sides of buildings around town, each one depicting something different about Lake Placid, its culture or some of its prominent citizens.

(To read more about the murals of Lake Placid, check out our post “Town of Murals: Lake Placid, Florida.”)

Other Places to See

Visitors wanting to get out of the sun have a number of places they can visit, like the Lake Placid Chamber of Commerce on Oak Avenue.  The Chamber has a lot of information about Lake Placid, along with the original prints of the murals.  The Lake Placid Mural Society is also housed in the chamber building.  Along Interlake Boulevard, one of the most popular locations is the Caladium Arts and Crafts Cooperative, which features unique items made by local artists and crafters.  Spread out over 10,000 square feet, everything from original paintings to quilts to year-round Christmas collectibles can be found here.  Yes, there are caladium themed items as well.  Main Street also has a lot of interesting shops and restaurants as well.

29th Annual Caladium Festival

If you missed this year’s festival, make sure to mark your calendars for the 2019 festival on July 26, 27, and 28, but don’t wait until then to visit this gem of a town.  Take a day, spend time taking in the murals, then head over to Henscratch Farms and Sugar Sand Distillery.  It’s a Florida trip definitely worth taking.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The Florida Highwaymen

Growing up in a home filled with paintings and paint supplies provided me with a deeper understanding and appreciation for art.  Canvases lined our back room.  Some were framed and finished.  Some were not.  Those paintings stood waiting for that one extra paint stroke to be added to a tree, a river, or a deer. I didn’t realize it at the time, but one of those paintings was done with the instruction of Robert Butler, a Florida Highwayman, at a day-long class that my mom, Nancy, took in 1990.

Painting by Nancy Collins (Mom) under the instruction of Robert Butler

Signature, Instructor Robert Butler, 1990

Mom remembers the painting class from 28 years ago at a local art studio like it was yesterday. “He painted from his head,” she says, “from memory of things he had seen.  He taught me a lot about painting Florida landscapes.”

Butler passed away in 2014, and like other Florida Highwaymen, left an indelible mark on many artists and art lovers.

The Highwaymen – Then

Although they did not acquire the name “The Highwaymen” until years later, the group consisted of 25 men and one woman, all African-American, who painted Florida landscapes from the mid-1950s through the mid-1980s.

Inspiration for these artists initially came from A.E. “Bean” Backus, a popular landscape artist at the time.  One of the founders of the Highwaymen, Alfred Hair, met Backus during a school field trip to his studio, went to work for him building canvases, and learned to paint. Hair took Backus’ techniques and tweaked them to meet his own needs of making money in a short period of time.

Carports, sheds and backyards in the Fort Pierce area served as painting studios.  Upson board, a popular building material at the time, and oil-based paint were the supplies of choice.  At a time when segregation was the norm, galleries would not accept their paintings, so the artists sold out of their trunks along Florida highways – mostly on A1A and U.S. 1 from Daytona Beach to Miami – and door-to-door to motels, doctors’ offices, banks, real estate offices and other businesses.  The paintings brought in about $20 each and provided an alternative to working minimum wage jobs or picking citrus.

Highwaymen paintings all exhibit the same characteristics: Florida the way it was before development took over.  Vibrant red Poinciana trees, moss hanging from cypress trees, and palm trees swaying in the breeze of a calm summer day or blowing during a raging Florida storm are the subjects of many of the paintings.  So too, are sunrises and sunsets, marshlands and native Florida wildlife.

The Highwaymen – Now

Of the original 26 Highwaymen, only half are still living, some of them still appearing at events around the state.  At a recent Meet and Greet at the Orange County Regional History Center, six of the original artists displayed and sold their paintings, posed for photographs and signed autographs.

Al Black

Al Black and Doris Keeler (Writer/Blogger)

Al Black, 71, was the original “salesman” for Alfred Hair.  In the early days, Black did not want to paint – he wanted to sell, and that’s what he did.   He loaded Hair’s paintings up in his car, often wet, and went on the road to sell them.  Because the paintings were wet, they were sometimes damaged in the trunk and Black would touch them up before selling them.  That led to his own interest in painting, and after Hair’s death, he painted and sold his own artwork.

The journey has not been easy for this Highwayman.  In the 1980s, the demand for the paintings dried up and Black got caught up in cocaine.  After an arrest and conviction, he spent 12 years in prison.

“When I first went in, I was coming out in the papers.  Everyday I was in the paper,” Black says. “The warden walked up to me and said, ‘are you Al Black, the one I’m reading about in these books?’ I said, ‘Yes sir!’”

That one question and answer led to Black painting more than 100 murals on the walls of the Central Florida Reception Center in Orange County and the Tomoka Correction Institute in Daytona Beach.  His talents were also requested at the Zephyrhills Correctional Institution, and he went there to paint for them.

Black was released from prison in 2009, during which time he says he found God.  His later paintings all have one thing in common – three birds, representing the Trinity.

A small sampling of Black’s paintings. Do you see the three birds in each one?

Today he lives in Fort Pierce, paints and travels with the others.  He is quick to strike up a conversation, but when someone is wanting to buy a painting, that takes precedence, and he stops to sign his work. Even now, Black is surprised at the notoriety of the Highwaymen.

“I never thought it would be like this.” 

Al Black stops to sign a painting purchased at the show

Mary Ann Carroll, “Highwaywoman”

Mary Ann Carroll at her display

Mary Ann Carroll is the only female in the Highwaymen, but she says that doesn’t bother her. “I don’t feel like a queen. I don’t feel any different, I just feel alright,” she says.

Carroll, now 78, remembers those early days well.  She was taken in by Harold Newton and Livingston “Castro” Roberts, who she says she could talk to anytime about anything.  Carroll is grateful for the ability to paint.

“I just thank God for the gifts he gave me. I was blessed coming up.  I didn’t know I would have to raise my children as a single parent.”

Carroll sold her first painting when she was 18 years old. Although Al Black would take some of her paintings on the road, she would often go solo and sell them herself.  Like other Highwaymen, her paintings feature Florida sunsets, waves crashing onto the beach and palm trees, all in vibrant colors.

Collage of Carroll’s paintings on note cards

Besides painting, Carroll also had other jobs to help support her family, including carpentry and house painting. Today, Carroll lives in Fort Pierce and makes appearances at various events around the state.

 Robert Lewis

Robert Lewis is one of the more active Highwaymen and can often be found at community events. While his paintings on display are a sight to behold, the biggest attraction is watching him put brush to canvas. An easel holds a current painting he is working on – a landscape with trees, a dirt path, and a pond.  One of his fans, who has undoubtedly met him before, tells him the left side of the canvas is a little barren.  After looking at it, he agrees and paints in another tree.

Robert Lewis surveys his painting

Lewis adds in a tree at the advice of a fan

While most of the other Highwaymen were self-taught, Lewis graduated college in 1966 with a degree in art education and went on to teach art in school and in college. He never painted with the Highwaymen but knew several of the members and painted on Upson board like the others. Because of his education, his paintings include more wide-ranging subjects than others.

Someone in the crowd that has gathered around to watch him paint says, “You look good.  What is your secret?”

Lewis answers quickly, “I paint!”

 R.A. Roy McLendon

Once an artist, always an artist, and at 86 years old, Roy McLendon still paints. His wooden easel reveals years of paint choices and color mixing.  His paintings reveal more than just landscapes and nature.  They portray people as being a part of the landscape.

McLendon includes people in his landscapes

Tools of the trade

At 86, McLendon continues his painting

Curtis Arnett

At 68, Arnett is one of the youngest of the Highwaymen.  With an early interest in art, he began experimenting with paint after a visit to his high school by Alfred Hair. Arnett also got to know Bean Backus and later Robert Butler. Unlike other Highwaymen, Arnett painted with acrylics instead of oil-based paint.  His paintings feature hammocks, swamps and cypress trees.

Curtis Arnett, Photo Courtesy of www.TheHighwaymenTrail.com

Isaac Knight

Isaac Knight sits to the side of his display of large and small paintings. Like fellow painter Al Black, Knight started out selling paintings, but discovered there was more money to be made in painting and selling his own.  He and Black painted what they saw the others painting and used tips they received from Bean Backus to create their own landscapes.  Although he still likes painting with bright colors, Knight’s signature style is now his black and white paintings.

Isaac Knight with paintings

From Roadside to Gallery

The Highwaymen’s paintings offer glimpses of Florida many people will never experience – open spaces, wildlife roaming freely.  Some of them still paint every day, others a few times a week. Their shows are well-attended, by those curious about the Highwaymen, or those who are knowledgeable about the art and the artists.

Times have certainly changed.  Paintings that were once sold along the side of the road for $20 – $30 are now selling for thousands of dollars in galleries and antique stores.  What started as a group of painters just trying to make a living has evolved into an era in Florida’s art history that spanned a 30-year period with more than 200,000 paintings.

 

Additional Highwaymen Resources

The Highwaymen Heritage Trail – A trail in Fort Pierce that features 10 stops of significance to the Highwaymen.

Homeland Heritage Park

As housing developments and retail spaces continue to pop up around the state, more and more of old Florida is disappearing under the guise of progress.  Fortunately, some communities are preserving parts of their past.

Just outside of Bartow, in the small community of Homeland, sits the only historical park in Polk County. Homeland Heritage Park is a five-acre park with original buildings from the late 1800s and early 1900s.  Most of them were donated to the county and moved to the park for visitors to see for years to come.

Homeland School

The Homeland School (once known as Bethel Academy) is the oldest surviving school in the county (built in 1878) and sits in its original location.  Although the original building was only one room, a growing student population necessitated the addition of another room in 1888.

A peek inside the windows reveals a typical classroom of the time period – a teacher’s desk, old wooden chairs, long tables, a chalkboard and pianos.  It was in this room that students were taught lessons in reading, writing, arithmetic and manners.  More than 75 students once attended the Homeland School, until its closure in 1956.

In 1985, the school and property were donated to the Polk County Board of County Commissioners and in 2007 was placed on the National Register of Historic Buildings.

Homeland Methodist Church

During the 1800s, churches served as more than just places for religious services.  They were also the cornerstone of the community and served as the place for social gatherings. In the Homeland community, the Methodist Church was one of those places.


Originally known as Bethel Methodist Church, it dates back to 1878 and was said to be a simple wooden structure that did not have any lights or windows. That old building was replaced by the Homeland Methodist Church in 1887.

One of the features that stands out when looking at this church is the towering steeple.  The original steeple was destroyed by a hurricane in 1946, and was replaced by one made of aluminum.

Another striking feature is the stain glass windows, uncommon for a country church.  Looking through the windows, you can see their brilliant colors shining into the sanctuary.

The church was donated in 1986 and was moved from just off the park property to its current location.

Pole Barn

While the church was the heart of the community, the pole barn was the center of daily life. This outbuilding was the hub of work on the farm.  It was used to store farming equipment and served as shelter for farm animals.

A walk around the barn provides a glimpse into the strenuous daily work.  Farm equipment and an old carriage on display inside the barn are a far cry from the mechanized equipment used today.

Homeland Houses

Visitors to the Homeland Heritage Park can get a glimpse of two different styles of living in the late 1800s and early 1900s.  One of the homes on display is a single-pen log cabin, a single room cabin with a door and a few windows. It was built by Cornelius and James “Jackson” English in 1888 and used as a family residence until the early 1900s.

The wrap around porch was an important part of the cabin and was often the location where daily chores were done.  Sometimes families even slept outside on the porch because it was cooler than inside. The cabin was used by the English family until 1989, when it was donated to the Homeland Heritage Park.

A second residence on park property represented the more affluent pioneers.  The Raulerson House, built in 1900, originally sat at what is now the intersection of County Line Road and Interstate 4 on the west side of Lakeland. It never had running water or indoor plumbing.  The story on the sign at the park says the Raulerson family and the five children lived downstairs in the house, while their grove foreman and his family lived on the second floor.

The Raulersons lived in the house until 1912 and it remained in the family until 1987, when it was donated and moved to the Homeland Heritage Park.

Other Buildings and Park Features

 Two other buildings at the Homeland Heritage Park serve as the park office and the park annex building.  Both were original buildings from the Methodist Church.

A garden, an old cemetery and an outhouse are also part of the exhibit.

What is unique about this park is that the buildings on display are all original buildings once used or lived in within the county. Rather than tearing them down to make room for newer structures, they were donated to the county by their owners and moved to this location.  Homeland Heritage Park is an example other communities could follow to preserve their own history.

Floridiana Magazine (FM) Notes:

The park is open every day to allow visitors the opportunity to take a step back in time and walk through an early community.  You cannot go inside the buildings unless you call to schedule a tour.  The office is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.