Eatonville Historical TrailEatonville Historical Trail

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.

Eatonville Historical Trail

Copyright 2009 by Steve Rajtar

(From Interstate 4, exit on Lee Rd., then go east until Lee ends at Orlando Ave. (US 17-92). Go north on Orlando Ave. and west on Lake Ave., which turns into Kennedy Blvd. Park on the north side of Kennedy Blvd., between Calhoun Ave. and Carver St. Walk to the vacant lot just east of the Eatonville Commercial Center, and look south across Kennedy Blvd.)(0.0 miles so far)

South side of Kennedy Blvd., between Calhoun and College Aves. (332 E. Kennedy Blvd.)

1....Town Hall

Eatonville is named for Capt. Josiah Eaton of Maitland. In the early 1880s, a band of Union Army veterans established a colony on the site of Fort Maitland, which was a Seminole War military outpost and antebellum plantation community due east of here. The residents of Maitland wished to incorporate as a town in 1884, but lacked the 30 adult men necessary to do so.

According to some historiams, the black voters gave Lake Maitland enough votes to incorporate, but they also elected a black mayor and town marshal, which white residents found unacceptable.

The white residents of the Town of Lake Maitland helped the blacks establish their own community, on a 22-acre site bought by Judge Lewis Lawrence from Capt. Eaton on May 24, 1881, which was added to land previously purchased by Joe Clark from Eaton. The town was incorporated in August of 1887 by a unanimous vote of the 27 qualified voters as the first black town in the U.S. The name of Eatonville was proposed by Judge Lawrence, after the man who had sold him the land for the town.

Early Eatonville attracted settlers because it was a quiet, peaceful, ideal family environment. The September 22, 1889, edition of its weekly newspaper, The Eatonville Speaker, claimed that "the slightest frosts are almost unknown". Advertisements offered 44' x 100' lots for $35 cash, or $50 payable over time. Citizens could participate fully in the democratic process. By 1905, the town had grown to ten buildings and 300 acres of land. Thirty years later, Hungerford School itself exceeded both of these totals.

The Town Hall for many years was a gray building with a stone appearance. The building was remodeled in 1996 to give it a more modern appearance.

(Continue east on Kennedy Blvd. to the intersection with Calhoun Ave., and look southeast across the road.)(0.0)

Southeast corner of Kennedy Blvd. and Calhoun Ave. (412 E. Kennedy Blvd.)

2....Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church

The survival of Eatonville can be attibuted to the strong leadership of its churches and schools.

The Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church was founded in 1883, and used the same church building as the Methodists, meeting on alternate Sundays. In 1889, the Baptists bought an old wooden frame building on Eaton St. for their separate meetings. After 1895, they outgrew that and built a larger church near the present building. In 1909 another church was built, moved to the corner of Kennedy and Calhoun in 1948, and was used by the congregation until it burned in 1972.

The present church building was opened for use in 1999 at a cost of 1.25 million, replacing a sanctuary which had opened in January of 1975.

The third pastor of the church, for 15 years beginning in 1902, was Rev. John Hurston, who was the third mayor of Eatonville (1912 to 1916) and the father of writer Zora Neale Hurston. He was instrumental in developing some of Eatonville's first municipal laws.

(Turn around and look to the north.)(0.0)

Northwest corner of Kennedy Blvd. and Calhoun Ave. (24 N. Calhoun Ave.)

3....Former Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church

When the new church building was erected across the street, the 1909 building was rolled across Kennedy Blvd. to this site and converted into a home.

(Look east across Calhoun Ave.)(0.0)

Northeast corner of Kennedy Blvd. and Calhoun Ave. (403 E. Kennedy Blvd.)

4....Site of Dash Store

Rev. John Dash was born into slavery in 1851. He came to Eatonville from Atlanta in 1920, and ran a general store from the front portion of his home here. He was in demand to preach in various churches in the area. His house was across Calhoun Ave. (midway between Kennedy Blvd. and Clark St.), and his orange grove extended eastward to West St.

The store was run by Rev. Dash's widow until the late 1940s. The site is now occupied by a hair styling salon.

(Walk north on Calhoun Ave. to the intersection with Clark St.)(0.1)

Southwest corner of Calhoun Ave. and Clark St. (30 N. Calhoun Ave.)

5....Site of Crooms House

Here was the home of Columbus H. Crooms, who served as mayor from 1938 to 1963. During his term, the first fire station opened in 1955, a city water system was established, and street lights were installed.

(Continue north on Calhoun Ave. to the intersection with Eaton St.)(0.2)

Northwest corner of Calhoun Ave. and Eaton St. (130 N. Calhoun Ave.)

6....Open Door Baptist Church

The congregation of Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church split in 1931, with the splinter group forming Open Door. Some members continued to attend both churches.

(Walk east on Eaton St. to the intersection with West St., then look to the north.)(0.3)

North of intersection of Eaton and West Sts.

7....Lake Sybelia Trail

In early Eatonville, Lake Sybelia was connected to what is now Eaton St. by a trail that, heading northward, passed by the old cemetery on the right and the ball field on the left, before reaching the lake near the Ladies Club pavilion. The cemetery became inactive in about 1931 and was acquired by a developer who built homes on the land.

Not far from here are the 10 acres claimed by squatter Larkin Franklin, a full-blooded Mohawk Indian who came here in the early 1920s with his wife and three children. He was a fruit picker, and later a caretaker of several citrus groves, eventually owning his own.

(Walk south on West St. to the intersection with Kennedy Blvd.)(0.4)

Northeast corner of Kennedy Blvd. and West St. (501 E. Kennedy Blvd.)

8....Site of Joe Clark's Store

Joseph E. Clark of Covington, Georgia, born in 1859, came to Florida at age 17 and worked clearing land, preparing it for planting as orange groves. Before the generosity of Judge Lawrence enabled the founding of Eatonville, he and Allen Rickett had unsuccesfully tried to establish a settlement for freedmen in other parts of Florida. They were unable to do so because no one would sell them land for such a purpose.

In some of Zora Neale Hurston's books, there is a reference to the "lying porch", the community gathering place where the men would meet and tell stories. It was a part of Joe Clark's general store, located here. Clark served as mayor from 1900 to 1912, and was the postmaster of the post office located in the store. Clark owned a 25-acre grove with more than 500 trees, and 25 rental homes.

From 1935 to 1980, this building was the Green Lantern Night Club, built and operated by James Steele. In 1980, it was converted to a grocery store.

(Look diagonally to the southwest across the intersection.)(0.4)

Southwest corner of Kennedy Blvd. and People Ave. (426 E. Kennedy Blvd.)

9....Heroes' Night Club

This night club opened in 1946 as Club Eaton, the first "big time" club in the town. In the 1940s and 1950s, it booked the Drifters, the Inkspots, Duke Ellington, B.B. King, Sam Cooke, Cab Calloway, James Brown, Bobby Bland, Tina Turner, Fats Domino, Aretha Franklin, and others. It became Mr. B's Club in 1985 and, later, Heroes' Night Club.

The building was constructed by Conder Merritt, at one time one of the wealthiest black men in Central Florida.

(Walk east on Kennedy Blvd. to the intersection with East Ave.)(0.5)

Northwest corner of Kennedy Blvd. and East Ave.

10....Site of Sewell House

In Zora Neale Hurston's Dust Tracks on a Road, there is a reference to a yellow painted house. It was on this corner, and belonged to Willie Sewell, one of the early officers of the St. Lawrence A.M.E. Church.

This intersection was known as Hurst's Corner, and was the transition point from Maitland to Eatonville.

(Walk 200 feet west on Kennedy Blvd.)(0.5)

North side of Kennedy Blvd., across from Taylor Ave. (603 E. Kennedy Blvd.)

11....St. Lawrence African Methodist Episcopal Church

In 1881, the African Methodist Church was established. Judge Lewis Lawrence donated to its trustees a church building, built in 1886, and two 50' x 100' lots at this site, and the church's name was soon changed to honor its donor. Rev. W.E. Fields was the first regular preacher, with Rev. D.A. Perron as the presiding elder. When it was outgrown in 1900, it was rolled across the road for use as a library.

A new church and parsonage was built in 1909. The last service was held in it on September 30, 1968. On the following Monday morning, it was demolished and for four years the congregation worshipped in the church annex. The present church was completed on August 17, 1972.

The road now known as Kennedy Blvd. was also previously known as Lawrence Ave. and Eatonville Ave.

(Carefully cross Kennedy Blvd. to the southeast corner.)(0.6)

Southeast corner of Kennedy Blvd. and Taylor Ave. (550 E. Kennedy Blvd.)

12....First Church

The first St. Lawrence church building was moved across the road to this site in 1900. The present porch replaced large pillars, which were standing at least into the 1940s. Through the generosity of the wife of Bishop Henry B. Whipple of Winter Park, it was made into a library. The 150 books donated by Mrs. Whipple later went to the Hungerford School, and the building here was used as a beer parlor and dance hall, and was then converted to a residence.

(Walk south 100 feet on Taylor Ave.)(0.6)

East side of Taylor Ave., between Kennedy Blvd. and Lemon St. (11 Taylor Ave.)

13....Moseley House

All citizens were encouraged to buy homesites, most having dimensions of 40' x 100'. Many bought additional lots for small gardens, large vegetable plots, or orange groves.

Joe Clark's niece, Matilda Clark, married Jim Moseley, son of Eatonville's fourth mayor, Sam Moseley, and they lived in this house, built in 1903. Matilda Clark was considered by many as a walking historian of Eatonville.

(Walk north on Taylor Ave. to the southwest corner.)(0.6)

Southwest corner of Kennedy Blvd. and Taylor Ave.

14....Site of First Post Office

In 1920, this was the Lester property. It had been the site of the first Eatonville post office. It is now part of the property occupied by the Eatonville Fire Department.

(Walk west 120 feet on Kennedy Blvd.)(0.6)

South side of Kennedy Blvd., between Taylor Ave. and People St.

15....Zora Neale Hurston Monument

This stone monument was dedicated to "Eatonville's Daughter". It claims "She Jumped at the Sun". The plaque states that Hurston was born in 1890, but many authorities believe that she was born in 1901.

(Continue west on Kennedy Blvd., then walk south 80 feet on People St.)(0.6)

Southeast corner of Kennedy Blvd. and People St.

16....Police Department

This station was dedicated as the home of the fire department on January 27, 1982. On the grounds is a memorial to Chief Horace Baker, dedicated January 21, 1989. It later became police headquarters.

(Continue south 90 feet on People St.)(0.7)

East side of People Ave., between Kennedy Blvd. and Lemon St. (approx. 107 S. People St.)(0.6)

17....Site of Jail and Police Station

In the 1920s, when People Ave. was a canal running from Lake Sybelia to Lake Bell, on its eastern bank at this site was the jail and police station. It was built on the order of Mayor John Hurston, who served from 1912 to 1916. Prior to that, the occasional lawbreaker was simply forced out of town and asked not to return.

Today, this is still the police station, with the current building dating from 1971. The canal, which carried storm water from the central part of town, was filled in during 1928.

(Cross People St.)(0.7)

West side of People St., between Kennedy Blvd. and Lemon St.

18....Site of Hurston House

There is no universally accepted site of the home of Zora Neale Hurston, but many believe that the Hurston family had their home where there is now this vacant field.

Zora Neale Hurston was born in Eatonville in 1901 to Rev. John and Lucy Potter Hurston. She attended Hungerford School, then traveled north to become a maid. She graduated from the high school division of Morgan College in Baltimore in 1918. She studied literature at Howard University in Washington, D.C., from 1923 to 1927, and while she was there she had a piece published in Stylus magazine in 1923.

She received a scholarship to Barnard College and became its first black graduate. In the 1930s, Hurston was Eatonville's most educated citizen.

While she attended Columbia University, her work caught the attention of anthropologist Frank Boas, who encouraged her to collect African-American tales. She received Guggenheim fellowships to colect folklore in Jamaica, Bermuda and Haiti. Hurston is considered by many to be the first native anthropologist, studying her own community.

She was one of the leaders of the Harlem Renaissance movement in the 1930s, but was condemned by some black critics for not being militant enough. Her anthropological work was overlooked by most of her contemporaries for its not being "scholarly" enough. In 1938, she worked as a junior interviewer for the W.P.A. Florida Writers Project for a salary of $67.20/month, collecting for white anthropoligists information they were incapable of obtaining.

A bogus morals charge in 1948 was later dropped beause she had been falsely accused. She was driven into depression and hiding in the Benton's Quarters section of Fort Pierce, where she worked some years as a maid, and for a while was a reporter for a black weekly newspaper. She died in anonymity there on January 28, 1960, after living at the segregated Lincoln Park Nursing Home, operated by the St. Lucie County Welfare Agency. After her suicide, she was buried in an unmarked grave. Novelist Alice Walker found the grave in an abandoned graveyard and gave it a marker in 1973 reading "A Genius of the South".

Her major works were Jonah's Gourd Vine (1934), Mules and Men (1935), Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937), Dust Tracks on a Road (1942), Tell My Horse, Seraph on the Suwanee, and Moses Man of the Mountain. Her reputation was rescued in 1978 by anthropologists, and she has enjoyed more fame in death than she did in life.

(Walk south on People St., west on Lemon St., and north 100 feet on the west side of West St.)(0.8)

West side of West St., between Kennedy Blvd. and Lemon St.

19....Site of Brazell Store

Matthew Brazell had a store here, where there is now a vacant lot. During his tenure as mayor from 1916 to 1920, he persuaded the county to hardsurface Eatonville Rd. (Kennedy Blvd.) from the west end of Maitland to Forest City Rd.

(Walk south on West Ave. to the southwest corner of the intersection with Lemon St.)(0.8)

Southwest corner of Lemon and West Sts. (140 S. West St.)

20....Eatonville Elementary School

Eatonville Elementary, a one-room schoolhouse, was built here in 1930 during the term of Mayor Augustus Johnson. This area of town was known as Mars Hill. In 1967, it became the site of the Eatonville Kindergarten and Day Nursery, established in 1962. This gives working mother a place to leave small children while they work. It was later called Nannie-Lee's Little Angels Child Care and then Divine Individuals Child Care.

(Continue south on West St. until you cross Lime St.)(0.9)

Southwest corner of West and Lime Sts. (200 West St.)

21....Site of Steele Property

In 1918, there were only two automobiles in Eatonville. One was owned by Jim Steele, who had a large homestead here, and the other belonged to Kelly Baldwin. Steele came from Mississippi in 1917 to work as a fruit cutter. Thirty years later, he owned a large orange grove, three rental houses, a three-bedroom home with modern conveniences, and two cars. The family's holdings dwindled rapidly following his death in 1955.

This is now the site of some houses and apartments called Nouvelle Maison and later, Oak Haven Villas.

(Continue south on West St. to the intersection with Ruffell St.)(1.0)

Southwest corner of West St. and Ruffell St. (400 Ruffell St.)

22....Denton Johnson Community Center

Town recreation director Denton "Pop" Johnson, who came here from Detroit to retire in 1969, organized a tennis team and took it to tournaments, where it faired quite well. At locations such as Rollins College, spectators who were impressed donated money, which was used by Johnson to build the town's tennis courts in 1973. In 1984, two years after Johnson's death, this community center was named for him.

(Walk west on Ruffell St. until it ends at College Ave.)(1.2)

Southwest corner of Ruffell St. and College Ave. (230 S. College Ave.)

23....Hungerford Elementary School

This school, named after the couple who donated the land for the private high school, opened in 1951.

(Walk north on College Ave. to the intersection with Lime St.)(1.3)

Southeast corner of Lime St. and College Ave. (827 College Ave.)

24....Site of Calhoun House

Augustus Johnson moved here from Sanford to build a home on this site for Mary Calhoun. The two-story brick home stood from 1920 to 1987, when it was demolished and the land was cleared.

(Walk north on College Ave. to the intersection with Lemon St.)(1.4)

West side of College Ave., between Kennedy Blvd. and Lime St. (100 E. Kennedy Blvd.)

25....Site of Robert Hungerford Normal and Industrial School

In 1889, Russell C. and Mary Clinton Calhoun founded the only school for blacks in Central Florida. They had come to Eatonville in 1888, after attending Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, which they used as a model for their new school. They began with one female boarding student, who lived in the Calhouns' home. They received a $4,600 donation from George B. Childs of Saratoga, New York, to construct a boys' dormitory.

In 1898, Edward C. and Anna Hungerford of Chester, Pennsylvania, donated 160 acres adjacent to Eatonville, which eventually became part of the town. The school built there was named in memory of their son Robert, a physician who died after contracting yellow fever while treating black children who had been ignored by white doctors during an epidemic in the lowlands of Louisiana.

Contributions of money helped the school to purchase land and construct permanent facilities. In 1889, the cornerstone of Booker T. Washington (who had given $400) Hall was laid. It was a fully equipped classroom and administration building. George B. Cluett gave $8,000 toward the construction of other campus buildings, including dormitories for boys and girls.

In 1902, Bishop H.B. Whipple donated the Memorial Bell. At the end of that year, the estimated value of the school was $12,000. A girl's dormitory, laundry room and sewing room was built and named Calhoun Hall. In 1903, the students built Cluett Hall.

The curriculum was patterned after Tuskegee and Hampton Institutes, with the belief that every student needed to use both head and hands. The school had its own sawmill. All students were enrolled in basic academics and one or more vocational subjects.

Russell Calhoun died in 1909, and his widow Mary ran the school for the next ten years. John C. Jordan, one of the school's teachers, ran it during the 1920s. In 1931, Capt. L.E. Hall became principal, renovated the buildings, and increased enrollment.

During World War II, the student body became less stable. In 1945, a boys' dormitory, academic classroom building and auditorium were built to replace Cluett Hall which had burned in 1942. Enrollment began to shift from boarders to day students. The state began to provide public schools for blacks, so there was a decreased need for a black private school in Central Florida.

Administration of the school was turned over to the Orange County Public School System in 1950, with the transition overseen by principal Frank M. Otey. In 1951, six classrooms were added and Calhoun Hall was demolished. In 1952, a cafeteria was built, the home economics building was removed, and other facilities were expanded. Hungerford High School soon became one of the top schools in Florida, academically, vocationally and athletically.

Near the corner of Kennedy Blvd. and College Ave. is a marker placed here on June 24, 1979, dedicating this area as the R. Calhoun and L.E. Hall Memorial Park in honor of the first and fourth principals of Hungerford.

(Walk north on College Ave. and west on Kennedy Blvd. to the intersection with Wymore Rd.)(1.7)

Southeast corner of Kennedy Blvd. and Wymore Rd.

26....Wymore Career Education Center

In 1964-65, Interstate 4 was built through Eatonville and the Hungerford campus. Although the town was not given an exit from the highway, the view did provide increased exposure. Extensive excavation allowed the school to sell dirt for highway construction, and fill in low areas and swampy land on the remaining school property. The football field was reconstructed, and bleachers were built.

In 1967, Orange County changed the school's mission from an academic-vocational school to an alternative school providing vocational training and career education for non-college bound students. The name was changed to the Wymore Career Education Center.

Now located on the campus are the Wymore Community School, the Wymore Adult and Community Education Center, and the Wymore Secondary School.

(Continue west on Kennedy Blvd. to the intersection with Campusview Dr.)(2.2)

Southwest corner of Kennedy Blvd. and Campusview Dr.

27....Catalina Park

This and the nearby Campusview Development are subdivisions which opened this area to homebuilding in 1950-52. Since you passed under Interstate 4, you have seen a great deal of more recent development, in many areas of commercial activity.

(Continue west on Kennedy Blvd. to the woods just past Kingston Court Apartments.)(2.8)

South side of Kennedy Blvd., at west end of city

28....Lake Weston

Through the trees to the southwest can be seen Lake Weston, named after Sam Weston. He came to Eatonville in the 1920s and found a job as an orange picker. Eventually, he was able to plant and own his own land, and acquired 100 acres west of here. Today, Lake Weston Elementary School sits on the southwest portion of his property outside the city limits of Eatonville. When the name for this lake was chosen, the general public was not aware that they had named it for a black man.

(Carefully cross Kennedy Blvd. and walk east to the intersection with Deacon Jones Ave.)(3.4)

Intersection of Kennedy Blvd. and Deacon Jones Ave.

29....Deacon Jones

After Zora Neale Hurston, David "Deacon" Jones is probably the most famous resident of Eatonville. He played 14 years in the National Football League as a defensive lineman and is enshrined in the Professional Football Hall of Fame. He was the NFL's most valuable defensive player in 1967 and 1968.

Jones has also served as chairman of the Watts Summer Games, a director of the Boys Club in San Diego, company chairman for the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation, and founder of the Deacon Run for Learning Disabilities. In 1987, he received a Living Legends Award from the Town of Eatonville.

(Continue east to the intersection with Bethune Ave.)(3.4)

Intersection of Kennedy Blvd. and Bethune Ave.

30....Mary McLeod Bethune

In 1904, Bethune founded the Daytona Normal and Industrial Institute for Girls with $150 cash. Two wealthy benefactors made it possible to buy 22 acres on the site of the city dump. The school expanded from an elementary school to a college.

It merged with Cookman College in Jacksonville in 1923, and patterned itself after Booker T. Washington's Tuskegee Insitute in Alabama. Students studied both liberal arts and vocational education.

(Continue east 500 feet on Kennedy Blvd.)(3.7)

North side of Kennedy Blvd., between Bethune Ave. and Lake Destiny Dr. (201 W. Kennedy Blvd.)

31....Site of Rainbow Club

The Rainbow Bar, Grill and Entertainment Complex opened here in 1945 and was a popular night spot. Stars who performed here included Count Basie, Lionel Hampton and Duke Ellington. It was operated by E.L. Bing and his uncle, E.J. Bing. Inititally, it was named Tuxedo Junction, and they renamed it after a rainbow because that is something to look forward to, especially after a long, hot day working in the orange groves. It was demolished in April of 2001 after sitting unused for 10 years.

(Walk east on Kennedy Blvd. and north on Wymore Rd. to the intersection with Brook Dr.)(4.2)

Northeast corner of Wymore Rd. and Brook Dr.

32....Cemetery

Although across the border in Maitland, this cemetery contains the remains of many of Eatonville's prominent citizens, including Rev. John Dash, Columbus H. Crooms, and Jim Steele. In the 1920s, the cemetery was located further to the east, near Lake Sybelia.

(Walk south on Wymore Rd. to the red building on the east side of the road.)(4.6)

East side of Wymore Rd., north of Kennedy Blvd. (15 Wymore Rd.)

33....Commercial Building

A business opened here in 1964 as Vereen's Cabinet Shop - Eatonville Diversified. It provided construction services in Eatonville and the surrounding area as the business of Nathaniel Vereen, Sr.

Vereen was the eleventh mayor of Eatonville, serving from 1962 to 1978. During his term, the police department went to a full-time basis, and public transportation began on June 23, 1969, when bus service to Winter Park Mall was instituted. In 1972, municipal sewer lines were installed.

He spearheaded a community effort to build the community swimming pool. He also led the fight to keep Hungerford Elementary School open, following the recommendation by the Orange County School Board that it be closed.

Eatonville's post office was located in this building for a time, and it later housed a hair studio.

(Continue south on Wymore Rd. to the intersection with Kennedy Blvd.)(4.6)

Northeast corner of Kennedy Blvd. and Wymore Rd.

34....Site of Mann's Filling Station

In 1920, Claude Mann had the town's first "modern" filling station here, separated from town by a long stretch of vacant property.

(Walk east on Kennedy Blvd. to the intersection with College Ave.)(4.8)

Northwest corner of Kennedy Blvd. and College Ave. (227 E. Kennedy Blvd.)

35....Zora Neale Hurston National Museum of Fine Arts

A few yards northwest of this corner was a large pond, which was eliminated by 1920. Mack's Auto Repair & Gas, a Sinclair station owned by Mack Robinson, opened here in 1946.

This is now the location of the Zora Neale Hurston Museum, established by the Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community, which also has its headquarters here. On display are photographs of Hurston and events important in her life.

(Continue east on Kennedy Blvd. to the point of beginning.)(5.0)

Bibliography

A Treasury of Florida Tales, by Webb Garrison (Rutledge Hill Press 1989)

A Walking Tour of Eatonville, (Town of Eatonville 1999)

Awesome Almanac: Florida, by Cima Star (B & B Publishing, Inc. 1994)

Eatonville: A Cultural Enigma, by Jessica M. Allen (1994)

Eatonville, Florida: A Brief History of One of America's First Freedmen's Towns, by Frank M. Otey (Four-G Publishers, Inc. 1989)

Flashbacks: The Story of Central Florida's Past, by Jim Robison and Mark Andrews (The Orlando Sentinel 1995)

Florida: A Pictorial History, by Hampton Dunn (The Donning Company 1988)

Florida: A Short History, by Michael Gannon (University Press of Florida 1993)

Florida: The Long Frontier, by Marjorie Stoneman Douglas (Harper & Row 1967)

Fort Maitland: Its Origin and History, by Alfred Jackson Hanna (The Rollins Press 1936)

The History of Public Education in Orange County, Florida, by Diane Taylor (Orange County Retired Educators Association 1990)

History of the First South Florida Missionary Baptist Association, by Altermese Smith Bentley (The Mickler House 1988)

Orlando: A Century Plus, by Baynard H. Kendrick (Sentinel Star Company 1976)

The Pioneer Churches of Florida, by Elizabeth Chase (The Mickler House 1976)

Program From Town of Eatonville Centennial 1887-1987, (Town of Eatonville Centennial Celebration Committee 1987)

Zora!, by N.Y. Nathiri (The Orlando Sentinel 1991)

Click here for a copy of the trail rules.

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