Pioneering at "the picnic grounds"

This past Saturday I visited Fort Christmas Historical Park located in Christmas, Florida, about 22 miles east of Orlando. The park consists of a fort and a number of turn-of-the-century houses and buildings from the area. The local historical society wants to create a living history settlement to preserve the rural heritage - the "Cracker" legacy of east Orange County, Florida. I think they're off to a wonderful start.

The history of the fort is interesting: On December 25, 1837, about 2,000 U.S. Army and Alabama Volunteers arrived near the site of the Historical Park to construct a supply depot. They aptly named the fort "Fort Christmas." The U.S. was in the midst of the Second Seminole Indian War, and after the fort was built, about 80 soldiers remained encamped there. As the war progressed, the military action moved southward. Supply ships that once used the St. John's River near the fort were now being rerouted through Jupiter Inlet further south. For this reason, Fort Christmas was abandoned just three months later in March of 1838.

The current fort is a full-size replica of the original; it was built as a bicentennial project in 1976-77. It was quite hot the day I visited, but thankfully the block houses of the fort were AIR CONDITIONED, believe it or not, and contained museum-type exhibits on the fort and its inhabitants, and the Indians who lived in the area. There were a number of displays of Seminole patchwork clothing worn by Indians, which I found interesting since I had purchased a Seminole patchwork apron back in NY at a thrift store several years ago that looked very, very similar to one of the costumes here.

But what I really loved about my visit was the turn-of-the-century rural homes, typical "Cracker"-style housing. (Crackers were generally the pioneer folks who built a life in this area of Florida. For more info on on Crackers, click here or here.) Most of these homes contained furniture and furnishings of the time period; there was a delightfully musty old smell inside that was somehow comforting. I spent several hours exploring the houses, taking photos inside and out, and spent the last half hour rocking in a big ol' rocker on the front porch of the Woods House, listening to the incessant buzzing of the cicadas and the chirping of the birds, watching butterflies and dragonflies, and enjoying the occasional breeze that came my way. Made me wish I had brought some crocheting or knitting with me. Ah, but there will be a next time . . . since I fell in love with the houses, and visiting them is free. Plus, I came across several pictures of people with the last name of SAVAGE and several references to Savages in the local Christmas newsletter which piqued my genealogy curiosity.

For many years locals have called this park "the Picnic Grounds", I suppose because at the front of the park there are a lot of picnic tables with grills and several pavilions for use, along with a large children's playground, a volleyball court, softball field, tennis court, basketball court, and horseshoe pits. It looks like a typical picnic area at a campsite. And it looks like the locals get a lot of use out of these facilities. There was almost no one touring the fort and buildings (which was fine with me), but a LOT of folks were in the picnic area, including the "Hancock Reunion" in Pavilion 2. Then again I suppose local folks have seen these buildings a million times.

As I was walking back to my car about noontime, I smelled the wonderful aroma of charcoal burning and food grilling. Off to the left, people were standing in one of the pavilions and I heard a man speaking loudly. As I got closer, I realized he was saying grace for everyone: ". . . and bless this food . . . Amen", which drew a hearty round of AMENs in response from the folks.

I couldn't have asked for a better morning or a better way to end my visit. :-) Lori