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.
This park was often covered with water during the rainy season. Lake Cherokee was formerly known as Lake Minnie after Minnie Hall, the daughter of pioneer Dr. Fergus Sloan Hall and wife of Ollie Poyntz. Before that, it was known as Lake Eva, after a member of the Lee family.
In the early 1880s, an ordinance was passed to keep cows off the downtown streets. Put Myers, a cowboy who lived on Division St., started a cow-sitting service. He would gather the cows from their owners' homes early in the morning, herd them out of town to let them graze for the day, then get them back by suppertime. This area was one of his favorite places for bringing as many as 100 cows at a time.
The park was created from twelve lots deeded from Charles Beuchler in 1923.
This home was built in 1922 on Cherokee Cir., between present numbers 615 and 627, with the two-story portico facing Lake Cherokee. It was moved here after 1925 and was the home of Edward S. Bridges. It is patterned after the home of his brother, John Bridges, which was designed by New Jersey architect Wilson C. Ely. John's home was erected in 1916 and still stands at 50 W. Lucerne Cir. S., and has been transformed into offices.
In 1870, James J. Davis, one of the area's first surveyors, settled between here and Greenwood Cemetery. This lake is named after him. Davis served as a trustee of the Lake Conway School and was a member of the Board of Public Instruction. The city established this road encircling the lake in 1926.
This was the home of Alvin James Thomas, who moved to Orlando in 1925 from Bristol, Georgia. He founded the Thomas Lumber Company and helped establish the local chapter of the Bahia Shrine.
H.A. Vivian of Ireland moved to Canada, Ocoee and Apopka and, after the 1895 freeze, Orlando. His first Orlando home was on Lake Dot, and then he built a home and dairy farm on Lake Cherokee, on Euclid Ave. His cows grazed on pasture land which now is the subdivision known as Lancaster Park.
This neighborhood was developed in the 1920s near what was, at the that time, the city's southeastern boundary. The many large oak trees that line the roads were planted years before. The entrance gates were built with a Mediterranean style before the end of the 1920s. Development began in earnest in 1926 by the Sias-Shepard-Wright Investment Company, was sold in 1928 to T.F. Cousins of Brooklyn, and essentially halted with the financial crash of 1929. It was not completed until the 1950s.
This is one of the earliest of the larger homes built in Lancaster Park. Constructed in 1925, it shows a Mediterranean Revival style. It features a rusticated arch entranceway and a stepped buttress.
This was the home of Glenda E. Hood and her husband, Charlie. When Glenda took office in 1992 at the age of 40, she was the youngest person ever to serve as Orlando's mayor. Re-elected twice, she served as Orlando's 31st mayor until she resigned to serve as the Florida Secretary of State in 2003. She also served as Chairman of the Florida and National Leagues of Cities.
Built in 1923, this is one of the first homes built in this neighboorhood. It is eclectic in design, in that it shows the ambiance of a country cottage while using some Classical elements and a tile roof.
This was the home of Melquiades Raphael Martinez, born in Cuba in 1947 and airlifted to a Florida camp for refugees when Castro came to power. He went to law school at Florida State, practiced law in Orlando and headed the Orlando Housing Authority and the Orlando Utilities Commission. He was elected to be the Chairman of the Orange County Commission, and left that post to be the U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Appointed by Pres. George W. Bush, Mel became the first Cuban Cabinet member.
This was the home of J. Rolfe Davis, who moved to Orlando from Tennessee in 1925. He opened an insurance agency in 1942 and served as mayor of Orlando from 1953 to 1956. He was the first to drive across the causeway which splits Lake Lucerne, now know as the J. Rolfe Davis Causeway.
Dr. William Carter Person served in the Confederate army and graduated from Missouri Medical College, then arrived in Orlando in 1890. The following year, he bought a lot on the northeast corner of E. Jackson St. and Magnolia Ave., and built this large house and lived in it for 16 years. It was later sold to Marcellus Moss, who in 1941 moved it to this location.
The wood frame home is dominated by an imposing portico supported by Ionic columns. This is an example of the Classical Revival style.
William R. Boone was the last principal at Orlando High School, which was located in what is now known as Howard Middle School on Robinson St. He had served for 31 years as the principal of the high school, and was scheduled to be the first principal of the new high school opening in the fall of 1952 at this location. On the last day of official existence of OHS, Boone suffered a fatal heart attack in the school's hallway. To honor his years of service, the new high school was named after him.
Charles and Jessie Kieser and their children moved here from Columbus, Ohio, in 1909 with everything they owned. While the women and nine-month old Robert rode in the passenger section of the train, the men rode in a boxcar with the household goods and livestock. They settled on the shore of Lake Lancaster on this corner.
Charles worked for Cohoon Machinery, installing irrigation systems in the local groves. Shortly after he put up the water tower in Winter Garden, he was killed by an automobile on Edgewater Dr., in an apparent hit-and-run accident. He died without a will and the land was tied up in guardianship for the children for a long time. The land could not be sold, and eventually was lost for unpaid taxes.
Jessie's father, William Umbaugh, was a Union veteran of the Civil War and for a time resided in the Old Soldiers' Home in Ohio. William checked himself out of the home because he no longer wanted to live with "those old people", and came to Orlando. In 1915, at the age of 78, he drowned while swimming across Lake Lancaster.
This home with its tile roof was built in 1925 with a Mediterranean Revival style. It has an assymetrical design which emphasizes its corner location. Distinguishing elements include an arcade of windows which wraps around the corner of the house. It was substantially remodeled in 2006.
Perry R. Holland was the city's building appraiser and a merchant, built several homes in the area for resale, and lived in this one. It was constructed in about 1925 and was a simple cube with a concrete shingled hip roof. It has since been substantially modified.
Although this house from about 1927 has a symmetrical floor plan, it has an unsymmetrical appearance because of the off-center front gable. It was the home of Dr. Vernon W. Estes who, with his brother H.O. Estes, owned chain of drug stores. He also was the mayor of Orlando in 1935-37.
Warren Frost lived in this Spanish Colonial style home built in 1925. It has a "T" shape plan dominated by a high tower or "mirador" over the front entry porch.
This eclectic Classical Revival style home was built in 1923 by E.D. Kenyon for Josiah Ferris, Jr., the son of the man who had founded the Orlando Daily News and Independent newspapers. The son carried on the newspaper business.
This style is inspired by the columned Greek Revival homes of the Old South. The windows are somewhat shaded by the roof overhangs, and ventilation is provided by transoms and a center hall. The Colonial origins of the design are bolstered by the roof dormers.
This Neo-Classical style home was built in 1924 by Joseph E. Woodrick for H.A. McPherson.
For a time, this was the home of Clarence Brown, who moved to Orlando from Noblesville, Indiana, in 1914. After working in the men's department of a large store and then traveling for a clothing company, he opened his own clothing stores along Orange Ave. and operated them until he retired in 1955.
This home was built in 1923 for Dodge distributor Miller O. Phillips. The unique roof eaves form a gambrel profile with the second floor roof having the appearance of a shed dormer.
Walter Essington moved to Orlando in 1914 and formed a partnership which acquired the South Florida Sentinel and Orlando Morning Sentinel newspapers. Essington sold his interest in the partnership in 1925. He also served as the County Food Administrator during World War I.
This "L" shape home dates to about 1919. It features a hip roofed porch and shed dormers on the primary roof.
Attorney Edward R. Gunby arrived in Orlando in 1883, and later served as its mayor. The 1887 home is distinguished by its jerkinhead roof and dormers. South of this home were located the Weeks house (demolished 1944) and the Cheney/Odlin house (destroyed 1915), which completed the southern end of the six "Honeymoon Row" homes. This house was substantially remodeled in 2002.
This Georgian Colonial Revival house was designed by Murry S. King and was built by L.C. Townsend in 1920 for Dr. Hal M. Beardall. Dr. Beardall was a prominent member of Orlando's English colony and one of the city's leading physicians and was one of the first doctors to volunteer to serve in World War I.
Attorney George R. Newell of Maryland built his home here in 1885, facing Lake Cherokee. City commissioner George Stuart Jr. led an unsuccessful attempt to block its demolition, which occurred in January of 1975 to make room for the present townhouse complex. When the next house to the east was built later, its plans purposely copied much of the design of the Newell House.
This Queen Anne style home was built in 1884 by banker Oliver T. Poyntz. It is the northernmost of the "Honeymoon Row" houses on Lake Minnie (Cherokee). The second owner was Jessie Malory Thayer, who wed William R. O'Neal in 1914.
The home was shown near the beginning of the 1985 motion picture "D.A.R.Y.L.", which also used the lake across the street for the splashdown scene near its end.
This Colonial Revival style duplex was built for R.B. Tilley, Jr. in 1936.
This house was built in 1912 for H.A. Grant. Later, Mr. and Mrs. Frederick E. Godfrey lived here. On January 31, 1930, they hosted ex-president and Mrs. Coolidge for dinner. Before 1921, this street was known as Elliott St.
This is a Georgian plan hipped roof cottage, built in 1910 by F.W. McAulay for Fred B. Dale, a New York resident who intended to winter here. In 1914, Dale formed Orlando Building and Land Company with C.H. Bryant. Dale also developed homes on nearby Margaret Ct. This is one of Orlando's few remaining examples of this style.
Dykes and Stringle built this Colonial Revival style home in 1911 by Allen A. Smith. It was later occupied by Harold Bourne, a colorful member of Orlando's English colony who died in 1958 at the age of 104.
Josiah Ferris, Sr. was a member of a pioneer Tampa family who moved to Orlando in 1887 to carry on a newspaper and printing business. He lived in this house, built in 1915 with a cube shape and a hip roof.
This home was built in about 1910 and for a time was the residence of Mayor Bob Carr, who remodeled it extensively. It has a gable roof with a rear slope extended to form a salt box or catslide roof.
This Colonial Revival style cottage was built in 1910 by J.E. Smith for C.A. Hovey. In 1913-19, Hovey developed Hovey's Court, a cluster of nine bungalows around a common courtyard at 545 S. Delaney Ave.
This was the home of Robert Spencer Cohoon of Cincinnati, who started Cohoon Machinery, a machine company. The pedimented gable is a Classical Revival style detail.
This Dutch Colonial home with a Swedish gambrel roof was built in 1910 by H.E. McMillen for Nannie Cohoon. The next home to the south was a 1908 T-shaped house with double Tuscan columns, and was built for A. Cohoon. It was torn down in 1988.
Carl Jansen moved to Orlando in 1903 and was hired as a bookkeeper for the M.O. Overstreet Turpentine Company. He later lived in a house constructed here in 1926.
John F. Gordon came here from Mississippi in 1880 and operated a sawmill where the railroad tracks cross Colonial Dr., east of I-4. He also owned a grocery store and served as a deputy sheriff. His home with a jerkinhead roof was built for him in 1893 near this spot.
Harold Bourne came from London in 1882 for hunting and polo, and built a Colonial Revival style home here. Nearby Bourne Pl. is named after him. M.C. Wright acquired the home here in 1909 and it was later removed.
E.W. Dupee had this T-plan house built in 1894 with decorative eave brackets. In the 1920s, it was the home of H.L. Morris, an official of the Eatsum Products company.
This two-story wood frame house with a rectangular plan was built in 1931, apparently as two apartments.
Joseph W. Douglass built several houses on this street, including this one in 1916. He owned a furniture business and, with his brother Elisha, also had a livery stable.
This 1914 bungalow with a gable roof was the home of developer M.J. Daetwyler, the organizer of the Real Estate Exchange.
This street is named after Julius C. Anderson, who came here from Georgia in 1874. He built a two-story house here, and served as Orange County Sheriff from 1887 to 1890.
This Bungalow was built in 1913 with an unusual gable and cross gable roof and a porch that was later enclosed. It was the home of R.J. Waldron.
In 1910, this was thome of John Pendleton Holbrook who moved from Kentucky to Orlando in 1908. He served as secretary and treasurer of the automobile club and was one of the 75 Orlandoans who were known as the Good Roads Boosters. He was the first Ford dealer between Jacksonville and Tampa. Holbrook also established one of the state's largest citrus groves and an exclusive residential development along Lake Adair.
This cottage with a steep gable roof was built in 1912, and was the home of I.A. Trainer. A small garage with a jerkinhead roof was built in the rear.
In 1926, the Board of Public Instruction paid $120,000 for the Smith-Compton property to make room for Cherokee Junior High School. Its construction cost $350,000, and it was completed in 1927. It was designed by Howard M. Reynolds and built by James Petersen Construction Co. The Smith home was moved to Palmer St. to make room.
Built in 1925, this Colonial Revival style structure was the home of L.A. Engleman. It is distinguished by the large flat-roofed rectangular entrance portico supported by ten round tapered columns. It later was the home of the Iris Daniel Engle School of Music and, later, the Palmer House Bed & Breakfast.
Holly Reed Smith of Kentucky came to Orlando in 1889, and became affiliated with the Orange County Abstract Company. He was a lawyer, civil engineer and real estate dealer. His home occupied half of the block bounded by Palmer St., Eola Dr., Lake Cherokee and Summerlin Ave. When Cherokee Junior High School was built in 1925, the house was moved across Palmer St. and made into two apartment houses.
This Colonial Revival style home was typical of those built by Orlando's prominent citizens of the 1920s. This one was constructed in 1926 for Dr. T.A. Neale.
This two-story red brick Colonial Revival style home was built in 1925 with a slate-covered gable roof. It was the residence of Julian Howard, a prosperous auto dealer who operated the Howard Motor Company at the northeast corner of Marks St. and Orange Ave.
This home, built in about 1910 for W.H. Wood by H.E. McMillen, has a Colonial Revival style with Prairie style influences.
This home built in 1922 features windows with a Moorish design. It was the home of Carrie Lee Wood Temple, the widow of the man after whom the Temple orange was named.
This Southern Colonial Revival style home was built in 1927 for A.T. Carter.
Flashbacks: The Story of Central Florida's Past, by Jim Robison and Mark Andrews (The Orlando Sentinel 1995)
Historical, Architectural and Archaeological Survey of Orlando, Florida, (Bureau of Historic Sites and Properties 1983)
History of Orange County, Florida, by William Fremont Blackman (The Mickler House 1973)
History of Orlando, by E.H. Gore (1951)
Orlando: A Centennial History, by Eve Bacon (The Mickler House 1975)
Orlando History in Architecture, (Orlando Historic Preservation Board 1984)
Orlando: The City Beautiful, by Jerrell H. Shofner (Continental Heritage Press 1984)
Proposed Lake Cherokee Historic District, by Divoll & Yeilding, Architects (1979)
Click here for a copy of the trail rules.