1
100
2
-
https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/1deaf198df8242b431783a8ba1b68b22.jpg
fa11ce64b6a99e8950cc78fe461b0ab1
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Central Florida Railroad Depots Collection
Alternative Title
Central Florida Railroad Depots Collection
Subject
Railroad depots
Railroad stations--Florida
Railroads--Florida
Apopka (Fla.)
Orlando (Fla.)
Ocala (Fla.)
Port Orange (Fla.)
Lake Wales (Fla.)
Avon Park (Fla.)
Mount Dora (Fla.)
Punta Gorda (Fla.)
Sanford (Fla.)
Kissimmee (Fla.)
Oviedo (Fla.)
Language
eng
Type
Collection
Curator
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
Description
Collection of digital images, documents, and other records depicting the various railroad depots and railroad stations in Central Florida. Series descriptions are based on special topics, the majority of which students focused their metadata entries around.
Contributor
Bronson, Kelly
Campbell, Tyler
Clemente, Chris
Connolly, Lehman
Covington, Adrian
Gray, Mark
Lester, Connie L.
Mercado, Carlos R.
Moore, Samantha
Santos, Marina
Simons, Nicholas
Smalls, Eric
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/77" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a>.
Coverage
Amtrak Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Station, Orlando, Florida
Apopka Seaboard Air Line Railway Depot, Apopka, Florida
Avon Park Depot Museum, Avon Park, Florida
Avon Park Seaboard Air Line Depot, Avon Park, Florida
Avon Park Atlantic Coast Line Train Station, Avon Park, Florida
Church Street Station, Orlando, Florida
Fort Pierce Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Depot, Fort Pierce, Florida
Fort Pierce Florida East Coast Railway Company Depot, Fort Pierce, Florida
Kissimmee Railroad Station, Kissimmee, Florida
Lake Wales Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Depot, Lake Wales, Florida
Lake Wales Depot Museum, Lake Wales, Florida
Mount Dora Train Station, Mount Dora, Florida
Ocala Union Station, Ocala, Florida
Orlando Railroad Depot, Orlando, Florida
Oviedo Train Depot, Oviedo, Florida
Port Orange Train Station, Port Orange, Florida
Punta Gorda Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Depot, Punta Gorda, Florida
Sanford Atlantic Coast Line Depot, Sanford, Florida
Sanford South Florida Railroad, Sanford, Florida
St. Lucie County Regional History Center, Fort Pierce, Florida
Contributing Project
<a href="http://history.cah.ucf.edu/staff.php?id=525" target="_blank">Dr. Connie L. Lester</a>'s American Economic History Undergraduate Class, Spring 2014
External Reference
Mulligan, Michael. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/225874809" target="_blank"><em>Railroad Depots of Central Florida</em></a>. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Pub, 2008.
Turner, Gregg M. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/184906141" target="_blank"><em>A Journey into Florida Railroad History</em></a>. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2008.
Murdock, R. Ken. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/38291666" target="_blank"><em>Outline History of Central Florida Railroads</em></a>. Winter Garden, Fla: Central Florida Chapter, National Railway Historical Society, 1997.
"<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/items/show/2477" target="_blank">RICHES Podcast Documentaries, Episode 25: The Railways of Central Florida</a>." RICHES of Central Florida. https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/items/show/2477.
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials.
Original Format
1 color map
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Map of St. Lucie County, 1911
Alternative Title
St. Lucie County Map
Subject
Fort Pierce (Fla.)
St. Lucie County (Fla.)
St. Lucie (Fla.)
Sebastian (Fla.)
Orchid (Fla.)
Vero (Fla.)
Indian River (Fla.)
Stuart (Fla.)
Hutchinson Island (Fla.)
Sewall's Point (Fla.)
Description
A map of St. Lucie County, Florida, in 1911. Present-day St. Lucie County was originally inhabited by the Ais tribe. During the early 19th century, Spain issued a 2,000 land grant to James Hutchinson, but the area remained largely uninhabited. During the mid-19th century, Seminoles and runaway slaves took refuge in the area. The county seat, Fort Pierce, was established in 1837 during the Second Seminole War and named after Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin K. Pierce. Under the Armed Occupation Act, the U.S. government began issuing land grants to American settlers. Fort Capron was established in present-day St. Lucie Village during the Third Seminole War in 1851.
Henry Flagler's (1830-1913) railroad system expanded to the present-day St. Lucie County area in the 1890s, allowing the area's pineapple, fishing, seafood canning, and cattle industries to expand. Citrus became another prosperous industry in the area during the early 20th century. St. Lucie County was officially created from the southern portion of Brevard County in 1905. Indian River County separated to form its own county in 1925 and Martin County was established from the southeastern portion of St. Lucie County and the northern portion of Palm Beach County that same year. The western part of the county was used to form Okeechobee County in 1917.
St. Lucie County benefited from Florida's land boom in the 1920s, but was also affected by Florida's bust in 1929 and the Great Depression in the 1930s. During World War II, the U.S. Naval Amphibious Training Base was established in Fort Pierce, marking the beginning of the county's population boom that would last throughout the 1950s. St. Lucie County saw a population boom in the late 20th century. In the 21st century, the county was devastated by two major hurricanes in 2004 and from the financial collapse beginning in 2008.
Source
Digital reproduction of original color map: Rand McNally, 1911: <a href="http://fcit.usf.edu/florida/maps/" target="_blank"><em>Exploring Florida Maps</em></a>, Florida Center for Instructional Technology, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida.
Publisher
<a href="http://www.randmcnally.com/" target="_blank">Rand McNally</a>
Date Created
1911
Date Copyrighted
ca. 2001-2012
Contributor
Winkelman, Roy
Is Format Of
Original color map: Rand McNally, 1911: Private Collection of Roy Winkelman.
Is Part Of
<a href="http://fcit.usf.edu/florida/maps/" target="_blank"><em>Exploring Florida Maps</em></a>, Florida Center for Instructional Technology, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/97" target="_blank">Central Florida Railroad Depots Collection</a>, RICHES of Central Florida.
Format
image/jpg
Extent
385 KB
Medium
1 color map
Language
eng
Type
Still Image
Coverage
Fort Pierce, Florida
Port St. Lucie, Florida
Sebastian, Florida
Orchid, Florida
Vero, Florida
Indian River, Florida
Stuart, Florida
Hutchinson Island, Florida
Eldred, Florida
Viking, Florida
Oslo, Florida
Micco, Florida
Gifford, Florida
Olney, Florida
White City, Florida
Ankona, Florida
Jensen, Florida
Tantie, Florida
Sewall's Point, Florida
Stanwood, Florida
Narrows, Florida
Toledo, Florida
Rio, Florida
Fort Van Swearinger, Florida
Fort Vinton, Florida
Accrual Method
Donation
Mediator
History Teacher
Geography Teacher
Provenance
Originally published by <a href="http://www.randmcnally.com/" target="_blank">Rand McNally</a>.
Rights Holder
Copyright to this resource is held by the <a href="http://fcit.usf.edu/florida/maps/" target="_blank"><em>Exploring Florida Maps</em></a>, and is provided here by <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a> for educational purposes only.
Contributing Project
<a href="http://history.cah.ucf.edu/staff.php?id=525" target="_blank">Dr. Connie L. Lester</a>'s American Economic History Undergraduate Class, Spring 2014
Curator
Moore, Samantha
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="http://fcit.usf.edu/florida/maps/" target="_blank"><em>Exploring Florida Maps</em></a>, Florida Center for Instructional Technology, University of South Florida<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank"><br /></a>
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
External Reference
"<a href="https://www.stlucieco.gov/media/history.htm" target="_blank">St. Lucie County History</a>." St. Lucie County. https://www.stlucieco.gov/media/history.htm.
<a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/45847969" target="_blank"><em>St. Lucie County: History Alive</em></a>. Fort Pierce, Fla: St. Lucie County Historical Commission in cooperation with St. Lucie County Leisure Services, St. Lucie County Public Schools, and the St. Lucie Historical Society, 2000.
Rights, Lucille Rieley. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/30974273" target="_blank"><em>A Portrait of St. Lucie County, Florida</em></a>. Virginia Beach, VA: Donning Co, 1994.
Transcript
ier[?]
Micco
River[?]
Sebastian
Orchid
Stanwood
r[?]
Toledo
Narrows
Gifford
Olney[?]
ST. LUCIE
Vero
mee[?]
Fort Vinton
Oslo
Viking
Indian River Inlet
St. Lucie
St. Lucie Sd
Fort Pierce
HUTCHINSON ISLAND
enger[?]
Eldred
White City
Tantie
Ankona
River[?]
Fort Van Swearinger
Jensen
Rio
Eagle [illegible]
Stuart
Sewalls
Ankona
Eldred
Fort Pierce
Fort Van Swearinger
Fort Vinton
Gifford
Hutchinson Island
Indian River
Indian River Inlet
Jensen
Micco
Narrows
Olney
Orchid
Oslo
Sebastian
Sewall's Point
St. Lucie
St. Lucie County
St. Lucie Sound
Stanwood
Stuart
Tantie
Toledo
Vero
Viking
White City
-
https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/d058903e87f2c1d6531e53bd087419a1.pdf
9b10a5fa2f4ca472e2b32695d7eb3bd0
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Miami Collection
Alternative Title
Miami Collection
Subject
Collection of archival items related to the history of Miami, Florida. The Tequestas were the first known inhabitants of the Miami area before explorer Pedro Menéndez de Avilés (1519-1574) claimed the land in 1566 for Spain, which established a mission there the following year. After Spain ceded the Florida Territory in 1821, the U.S. constructed Fort Dallas, which served as an important battlefront during the Second Seminole War. For much of the 19th century, Miami remained a region of wilderness, and it was one of the few area's to survive the Great Freeze of 1894 with relatively few damages. Soon after, Henry Flagler (1830-1913) expanded his Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) to the area, and Miami was officially incorporated as a city on July 28, 1896.<br /><br />Like other parts of Florida, Miami prospered during the Florida Land Boom of the 1920s, but also floundered when the real estate bubble burst in 1925. The following year, the Great Miami Hurricane of 1926 devastated South Florida and the Great Depression began just three years later. During World War II, Miami played a vital role in battling German submarines, resulting in increased population growth in the post-ward period. Miami experienced another spurt in population growth when hundreds of thousands of people fled Cuba, following the takeover by Fidel Castro (1926-). Despite a number of social crises in the 1980s and 1990s, Miami remains a major international, financial, and cultural center.
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/collections/show/182">Miami-Dade County Collection</a>, RICHES of Central Florida.
Language
eng
Type
Collection
Coverage
Miami, Florida
Curator
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
External Reference
"<a href="http://www.miamigov.com/home/history.html" target="_blank">City of Miami History</a>." City of Miami. http://www.miamigov.com/home/history.html.
"<a href="http://www.historymiami.org/research-miami/topics/history-of-miami/" target="_blank">MIAMI: ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF HISTORY</a>." HistoryMiami. http://www.historymiami.org/research-miami/topics/history-of-miami/.
Document
A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Letter from Carl Arvil Mead to Oscar Winfield Mead
Description
A letter from Carl Arvil Mead to his father, Oscar Winfield Mead, most likely written the winter of 1920 when Carl Mead and his family were in Miami, Florida. He was from Walton, Indiana and his father was from Pekin. In the letter, Carl Mead describes the sandy beaches of the Biscayne Bay area, the cost of house rentals , the Rickenbacker Causeway, the economic development of the city, the drive from Indiana to Florida, the family's trip to Vero, tasting various Florida fruits, and the cost of groceries and gasoline.
Date Created
ca. 1920
Coverage
Miami, Florida
Vero, Florida
Creator
Mead, Carl Arvil
Source
Digital transcript of original 3-page letter from Carl Arvil Mead to Oscar Winfield Mead: Private Collection of Ann Wilder.
Source Repository
"<a href="http://www.miamigov.com/home/history.html" target="_blank">City of Miami History</a>." City of Miami. http://www.miamigov.com/home/history.html.
"<a href="http://www.historymiami.org/research-miami/topics/history-of-miami/" target="_blank">MIAMI: ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF HISTORY</a>." HistoryMiami. http://www.historymiami.org/research-miami/topics/history-of-miami/.
"<a href="http://www.covb.org/index.asp?SEC=7A2FDAEA-D94A-426F-B0C9-C376A4297189&Type=B_BASIC" target="_blank">The City of Vero Beach - A Brief History</a>." City of Vero Beach. http://www.covb.org/index.asp?SEC=7A2FDAEA-D94A-426F-B0C9-C376A4297189&Type=B_BASIC.
"<a href="http://www.verobeach.com/history.html" target="_blank">History of Vero Beach, Sebastian & Indian River County, Florida</a>." VeroBeach.com. http://www.verobeach.com/history.html.
Rights Holder
Copyright to this resource is held by Ann Wilder and is provided here by <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a> for educational purposes only.
Transcript
See uploaded file. I hope it uploaded as there is not much indication. If not -
268 N.W. 27th Terrace
Miami, Florida
Dear Father:
After about 6 days’ travel we arrived here and are well located at the above address. This place is out in the thicket almost but by no mean is it at the edge of the City as there is city for some eight miles north west of here. Enough laid out to build a city like Chicago.
The soil here is sand, not sandy, but pure san and this is filled with rock white as snow. Looks like lime hardened and as it is exposed to the air becomes harder. I would judge it is of coral formation.
I am planting some garden, but Florence says she isn’t going to worry herself about any garden as I will not raise anything anyway, but you know how well she likes those big watermelons and I sure planted some of those seeds first thing. I also planted beans, radishes, lettuce and tomatoes, aim to be living fine by Christmas, “don’t you know.” This *quotation, the southerner adds to every sentence he tells you.
There are hundreds of tents here, people living in them the year around. They charge $5.00 per month for a place large enough for a tent to be place on the summer season and $15 per month commencing Nov. 1st for the winter season. Houses or shacks rent from $50 to $500 per month. If you had your house here furnished as it is, it would rent for $150 per month, but would probably sell for $10,000, located within 2 miles of the business section. Lots anywhere within a mile of the main business section sell or $1,000 up per front foot. I have decided that to judge a piece of property at what I think it is worth and then multiply it by ten or more and that will be what they will ask you for it. Too high for me, scares me out, guess I haven’t the nerve or don’t know a bargain when I see it.
We have been over to the beach a few times. There is a road built across Biscayne Bay about 150 feet wide and they call it the “Causeway” then when you get across this which is three or four miles long, you are on a large island of some 500 acres or probably more. This is all laid out in lots with some very fine buildings on it, that, maybe, if I get my nerve up, I may price some of those lots. Suppose they are worth from $5,000 up.
The children have a fine time hunting shells on the beach and they sure are pretty. We were in bathing Thursday. It is like bathing in brine if you are covered with mosquito bites. The ocean looks pretty and is unlike other clear water as it looks so blue and tastes so salty, makes your nose and eyes smart and burn like onions do some times. Florence and Betty are scared of the waves which are three or four feet high, but the girls and I went out some 50 yards, where, if the water were still, It would not have been two feet deep with a solid sand bottom, but the waves went over their heads often and they sure had a fine time. It is so hot here you *simply cannot stand it to be out in the boiling sun long at a time, so the bathers go late in the afternoon and they are there by the hundreds.
The business section of the town is growing very rapidly, many new buildings going up, 7 or 8 banks with fine buildings. I have not seen any of their statements yet, do not know how large they are. Garages by the hundreds. I don’t have a desire to loaf around those places any more. I surely have my fill of them.
There are over 1300 real estate offices in the city, a real bunch of grafters. In fact the place in general has that appearance. If you see anyone coming tell them to be sure and bring a well filled pocket book as they will need it.
On our western trip we were in an altogether different country from this. It was farming and grazing country, while this is a fruit and truck country. Florence thinks the garden spot of the world lies in and around Walton, Indiana, and I believe she would like to be home right now. Coming down thru Kentucky, the roads were good but very rough; full of holes and up one hill and down another; sand later on and ground about like southern Indiana, plenty of red clay and red sand. Niggers and sweet potatoes, mules and mosquitoes in abundance. Corn all the way, but very poor. I can raise more corn on a town lot in northern Indiana than they raise on ten acres in Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, or Florida. Between each row is a row of peanuts which look fine. Plenty of fine roads in Tennessee. We came through Nashville, on to Birmingham and Montgomery, Alabama. Out of Birmingham we came through *mountains. Not such mountains as the Rockies around Salida and Gunnison, Colorado. The children call them knobs.
We stopped at Claud Smith’s at Vero, Fla. He came from Walton 18 months ago, and is putting out a truck farm. The fruit here is of so many different varieties and flavors. Ate some apricotta (avocado) pears that look good but taste so slick and sickening. Have a seed as large as a hen egg. Mangoes, a fruit, not a pepper, whose taste is little better, pineapples, oranges, grape fruit and bananas in abundance. In our yard we have a banana in bloom, guava trees and fruit getting ripe in the yard now, *also one tree of limes. The guavas are the size and shape of a lemon but taste like *mayapples, turpentine and onions all stirred together. Think you’d like them? The limes taste like lemons but much stronger and not so large. Ruby says they surely make castor oil out of them.
We also have some trees that they say bear mulberries and pigeon peas, on fruit on them till February. That is all the fruit we have in the yard. *Cocoanuts in nearly every yard where they have been there long, as it takes ten years to grow trees to the producing stage.
The forests and swamps are covered with pines and palms, such as palm leaf fans are made of, some trees thirty feet high, with oleander and hibiscus and other pretty flowers growing wild. Saw plenty of hogs running wild, the real elm peeler type and the cattle not much better. No wonder milk is $1.00 per gallon, as there is no grass and poor quality of cattle. Flour is $1.80 per 24 pounds, eggs 46 cents a dozen potatoes 7 cents per pound, meats a little higher than mother [something missing], bananas and oranges a little higher here than at home. Oranges and grapefruit will be in full season about Nov. 15th.
We came over several toll bridges and one toll road that cost 75 cents for 15 miles. The roads in Georgia and Alabama are mostly good, quite a little asphalt. One place in Alabama we came down an old railroad bed for 50 miles. About 25 miles out of Birmingham while driving at night it came on a severe rain storm. We were along a large telephone system and such popping and cracking you never heard. Then came a blow out. We stayed by the roadside all night. Our hinged front seat worked fine as did also the hammocks for the girls. The mosquitoes were awful.
Gasoline gets higher until you get to Vero where it is 27 cents. It is 24 cents here. Corn is $2.25 per cws, oats $1.25 a bushel. It seems to be the freight rate that does it.
All the coast towns are nice but the northwest part of Florida where there is too much pure sand. Southern Georgia has lots of pecan growers.
Carl
Alternative Title
Letter from Carl Mead to Oscar Mead
Subject
Miami (Fla.)
Vero (Fla.)
Beaches--Florida
Contributor
Wilder, Ann
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/collections/show/183" target="_blank">Miami Collection</a>, Miami-Dade County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
Requires
<a href="http://www.adobe.com/products/reader.html" target="_blank">Adobe Acrobat Reader</a>
Format
application/pdf
Extent
47.8 KB
Medium
3-page letter
Language
eng
Type
Text
Accrual Method
Donation
Provenance
Originally created by Carl Arvil Mead.
Curator
Wilder, Ann
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
External Reference
268 N.W. 27th Terrace
Miami, Florida
Dear Father:
After about 6 days’ travel we arrived here and are well located at the above address. This place is out in the thicket almost but by no mean is it at the edge of the City as there is city for some eight miles north west of here. Enough laid out to build a city like Chicago.
The soil here is sand, not sandy, but pure san and this is filled with rock white as snow. Looks like lime hardened and as it is exposed to the air becomes harder. I would judge it is of coral formation.
I am planting some garden, but Florence says she isn’t going to worry herself about any garden as I will not raise anything anyway, but you know how well she likes those big watermelons and I sure planted some of those seeds first thing. I also planted beans, radishes, lettuce and tomatoes, aim to be living fine by Christmas, “don’t you know.” This *quotation, the southerner adds to every sentence he tells you.
There are hundreds of tents here, people living in them the year around. They charge $5.00 per month for a place large enough for a tent to be place on the summer season and $15 per month commencing Nov. 1st for the winter season. Houses or shacks rent from $50 to $500 per month. If you had your house here furnished as it is, it would rent for $150 per month, but would probably sell for $10,000, located within 2 miles of the business section. Lots anywhere within a mile of the main business section sell or $1,000 up per front foot. I have decided that to judge a piece of property at what I think it is worth and then multiply it by ten or more and that will be what they will ask you for it. Too high for me, scares me out, guess I haven’t the nerve or don’t know a bargain when I see it.
We have been over to the beach a few times. There is a road built across Biscayne Bay about 150 feet wide and they call it the “Causeway” then when you get across this which is three or four miles long, you are on a large island of some 500 acres or probably more. This is all laid out in lots with some very fine buildings on it, that, maybe, if I get my nerve up, I may price some of those lots. Suppose they are worth from $5,000 up.
The children have a fine time hunting shells on the beach and they sure are pretty. We were in bathing Thursday. It is like bathing in brine if you are covered with mosquito bites. The ocean looks pretty and is unlike other clear water as it looks so blue and tastes so salty, makes your nose and eyes smart and burn like onions do some times. Florence and Betty are scared of the waves which are three or four feet high, but the girls and I went out some 50 yards, where, if the water were still, It would not have been two feet deep with a solid sand bottom, but the waves went over their heads often and they sure had a fine time. It is so hot here you *simply cannot stand it to be out in the boiling sun long at a time, so the bathers go late in the afternoon and they are there by the hundreds.
The business section of the town is growing very rapidly, many new buildings going up, 7 or 8 banks with fine buildings. I have not seen any of their statements yet, do not know how large they are. Garages by the hundreds. I don’t have a desire to loaf around those places any more. I surely have my fill of them.
There are over 1300 real estate offices in the city, a real bunch of grafters. In fact the place in general has that appearance. If you see anyone coming tell them to be sure and bring a well filled pocket book as they will need it.
On our western trip we were in an altogether different country from this. It was farming and grazing country, while this is a fruit and truck country. Florence thinks the garden spot of the world lies in and around Walton, Indiana, and I believe she would like to be home right now. Coming down thru Kentucky, the roads were good but very rough; full of holes and up one hill and down another; sand later on and ground about like southern Indiana, plenty of red clay and red sand. Niggers and sweet potatoes, mules and mosquitoes in abundance. Corn all the way, but very poor. I can raise more corn on a town lot in northern Indiana than they raise on ten acres in Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, or Florida. Between each row is a row of peanuts which look fine. Plenty of fine roads in Tennessee. We came through Nashville, on to Birmingham and Montgomery, Alabama. Out of Birmingham we came through *mountains. Not such mountains as the Rockies around Salida and Gunnison, Colorado. The children call them knobs.
We stopped at Claud Smith’s at Vero, Fla. He came from Walton 18 months ago, and is putting out a truck farm. The fruit here is of so many different varieties and flavors. Ate some apricotta (avocado) pears that look good but taste so slick and sickening. Have a seed as large as a hen egg. Mangoes, a fruit, not a pepper, whose taste is little better, pineapples, oranges, grape fruit and bananas in abundance. In our yard we have a banana in bloom, guava trees and fruit getting ripe in the yard now, *also one tree of limes. The guavas are the size and shape of a lemon but taste like *mayapples, turpentine and onions all stirred together. Think you’d like them? The limes taste like lemons but much stronger and not so large. Ruby says they surely make castor oil out of them.
We also have some trees that they say bear mulberries and pigeon peas, on fruit on them till February. That is all the fruit we have in the yard. *Cocoanuts in nearly every yard where they have been there long, as it takes ten years to grow trees to the producing stage.
The forests and swamps are covered with pines and palms, such as palm leaf fans are made of, some trees thirty feet high, with oleander and hibiscus and other pretty flowers growing wild. Saw plenty of hogs running wild, the real elm peeler type and the cattle not much better. No wonder milk is $1.00 per gallon, as there is no grass and poor quality of cattle. Flour is $1.80 per 24 pounds, eggs 46 cents a dozen potatoes 7 cents per pound, meats a little higher than mother [something missing], bananas and oranges a little higher here than at home. Oranges and grapefruit will be in full season about Nov. 15th.
We came over several toll bridges and one toll road that cost 75 cents for 15 miles. The roads in Georgia and Alabama are mostly good, quite a little asphalt. One place in Alabama we came down an old railroad bed for 50 miles. About 25 miles out of Birmingham while driving at night it came on a severe rain storm. We were along a large telephone system and such popping and cracking you never heard. Then came a blow out. We stayed by the roadside all night. Our hinged front seat worked fine as did also the hammocks for the girls. The mosquitoes were awful.
Gasoline gets higher until you get to Vero where it is 27 cents. It is 24 cents here. Corn is $2.25 per cws, oats $1.25 a bushel. It seems to be the freight rate that does it.
All the coast towns are nice but the northwest part of Florida where there is too much pure sand. Southern Georgia has lots of pecan growers.
Carl
apricots
avocados
bananas
banks
Betty Mead
Biscayne Bay
Carl Arvil Mead
citrus
coconuts
Florence Mead
grapefruit
limes
mangos
Miami
oranges
Oscar Winfield Mead
palms
pears
Rickenbacker Causeway
Ruby Mead
swamps
Vero