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.
William H. Earl donated the land on which this hall sits. Its first name was Tangerine Hall, later changed to Tangerine Community Hall, and then to Johnston Hall.
After the 1894-95 freezes, Earl not only restored his groves, but also bought groves from others anxious to be rid of them. By 1904, he owned seven groves on the east side of Lake Ola.
The Tangerine Improvement Society was founded on April 3, 1909, for the general improvement of the town. They hold their meetings in the present building.
George H. Wood homesteaded near here and named his property "Deer Park" in 1882. He bought this land from Raymond J. Wright and built his home here at the center of town in 1884, at the location later known as Woodlawn Villa. At a prayer meeting in his home in 1886, plans were laid for the organization of a congregational church.
Clarence Estey arrived in Tangerine in 1919, and became the storekeeper and postmaster. In 1920, he married Winifred Wood and they made Woodlawn Villa their home.
Raymond J. Wright came here in 1878 from Port Huron, Michigan, in search of a healthful climate. He bought over 100 acres here north of Lake Ola, setting out about ten for an orange grove with the help of Holland Williams. His son, W.G. Wright, drew the early maps of the region.
For obvious reasons, the house, built in 1884, is known as "Seven Chimneys".
Lewis Marot came here with his brother Henry in 1879 from St. Louis with a covered wagon and a pair of mules. He set up business in Tangerine's first store, built by Holland Williams at this location. Initially, his supplies came by ox cart driven by Williams from Ft. Mason on the north side of Lake Eustis.
Then, on a weekly basis, Marot drove his mules and wagon to the nearest store - in Mellonville 25 miles away - to bring supplies and mail back to the village. Marot was the first storekeeper and served as the community's first postmaster.
Marot moved to the community of McDonald to the south, where he was later bludgeoned to death with an axe. The store was taken over by Charles Newell, and the store finally closed in 1970.
Prior to the Wauchusett House becoming the center of social activities for the town, the hall located here just south of the store hosted most community activities.
On October 18, 1885, Rev. Perrin B. Fisk of Waitsfield, Vermont, preached the village's first sermon here. He was the Home Missionary Societies' appointed minister to the Congregational Church in Mount Dora, and was asked to continue holding services here.
In the beginning, the nearest post office was in Mellonville, 25 miles away. The mail was brought to Tangerine on horseback, until Lewis Marot began his weekly trips there by mule and wagon. Marot served as postmaster from 1879 to 1902.
He was followed by John L. Stewart (1902-13), Mrs. William Layton (1913-19), Clarence H. Estey (1919-33), John W. Jepson (1933-37), and Ward S. Estey, who took over in 1937. In 1946, Estey built a new post office at this site.
In 1883, J.M. Bourland built the Bourland House here, Tangerine's first hotel. The name was soon changed to the Acme Hotel, operated by Mr. Reddick. It was then bought by William H. Earl of Worcester, Massachusetts, who in 1884 renamed it the Wauchusett House. It burned down in June of 1888 along with three other homes in a fire that began in A.C. Bennett's barn, and was rebuilt. For a time, it was also called the Lake Ola Lodge.
The hotel was the social center of the town. It hosted various groups, such as the Saturday Afternoon Leisure Club and the Literary Society, who met there weekly.
Dr. Benedict Lust bought it in 1913, and opened it the following year as a sanitarium named Jungborn of Tangerine. It was also known as Qui-Si Sana, meaning "to be young again". In 1927, while known as the Naturpath Sanitarium, it was considered to be one of Florida's leading health resorts.
Dr. Lust, who had arrived here from Germany, retained his loyalty to his native country during World War II. On the property was a tall tree in which he had installed a radio transmitter, and he used it to communicate with German submarines in the Atlantic Ocean until the federal government discovered it and put a stop to it. The sanitarium burned down in 1943.
The name of this lake supposedly comes from the name of the daughter of an Indian chief who had camped here years before the coming of white settlers. The first name given to the village in the 1870s was Olaville.
This section of Orange Blossom Trail was a part of the Dixie Highway, which was the dream of Carl Fisher of Indianapolis. He had made his fortune in the new auto industry, and wanted to build a highway from Chicago to Miami. When news got out, many communities formed associations to lobby for inclusion on the route.
The Dixie Highway Association met in Chattanooga and chose a route pasing through Tallahassee and Jacksonville, and proceeding south along the east coast. Frenzied lobbying also produced an inland route passing through Gainesville, Ocala, Winter Park, Orlando, Kissimmee, Bartow and Arcadia, rejoining the coastal route at Palm Beach.
In 1915, Fisher led an auto cavalcade from the Midwest to Miami, popularizing auto trips to Florida. The Dixie Highway was officially open for traffic in October of 1925 from the Canadian border at the northern tip of Michigan to Miami.
The first school was a log cabin near here in about 1880 on the east side of Lake Ola, adjacent to the property of Col. George T. Gaines. The sole teacher was Minnie E. Wright, the daughter of R.J. Wright.
This church began as a mission of the First Baptist Church of Mount Dora, holding services as the Lake Ola Baptist Chapel in the "Bird House" next to the Lake Ola Motel on Orange Blossom Tr. It was established as a separate church on October 4, 1964, with Rev. Tommy Parker as the pastor. The original sanctuary here, now used as the fellowship hall, was completed in 1964. In 1990, the present sanctuary was built.
This cemetery has graves predominantly of black citizens of the area. A relatively high percentage of the grave markers are of military veterans.
The Oak Hill Cemetery Association was organized in January of 1886 for Zellwood and Tangerine to jointly maintain the grounds of Evergreen Cemetery. The cemetery itself was established in 1890, and the earliest grave is probably that of William Clark Yeates of England, who died that same year. The Yeates family plot is centrally located, surrounded by a rusting iron fence.
A little to the east of the Yeates plot are the graves of the McDonald family, who founded the community of McDonald between Zellwood and Plymouth. Andrew A. McDonald (1818-1896) was the first settler there, arriving from Virginia in about 1873. His eldest son, Dr. M.G. McDonald, practiced medicine there in the 1880s. Another son, Marion Fitzhugh McDonald (1868-1936) became a charter member of the Plymouth Citrus Growers Association, which organized in 1909.
Percival McDonald (1866-1938) operated a general store. He also operated a packing house with S.W. Eldredge of Apopka, but it closed after the 1894-95 freezes. Percival and two of his brothers then moved to Mexico, and he didn't return to Plymouth until he retired thirty years later.
About 85 feet west of the old windmill and water tank is the grave of Raymond J. Wright, the original owner of most of what became Tangerine. In front of that is the grave of Winifred Estey, who also figured in the life of early Tangerine.
Other grave markers are of individuals whose names are mentioned throughout this hike plan.
Tangerine citizens declined to allow the railroad to run through town, so in 1886 a TO&A depot was built south of Lake Ola. The location was known as Gainesboro, founded by Col. George T. Gaines and Sons.
Previously, the area was served by the Tavares and Gulf Railway, known at T&G or "Tug and Grunt". However, freight had to be transported by water to Tavares, where it would then be loaded onto the train.
J.S.C. Crummey and J.W.H. Hamilton of Georgia ran a turpentine still in the Gainesboro area at about the turn of the century. No evidence of the depot or the turpentine operation remain.
Along the south shore of Lake Ola was the William Morton property, homesteaded in 1874. It was later owned by the Hudson family. It was bought in 1885 by Dr. and Mrs. Orwin W. Sadler, who named it "Sloewood" after the sloe tree, as the blackthorn is known in England. Mrs. Sadler, whose maiden name was Slocum, planted this avenue of camphor trees here in 1900. It led to the family home, which was constructed of lumber cut from longleaf pine trees growing on this property.
This was later the home of their son, S.S. Sadler, who served as Chairman of the Orange County Commission. He was instrumental in obtaining hard-surfaced raods for the community.
This is the western end of the Sloewood property, much of which has been developed into newer lakefront homes. The older home still remaining here replaced the one bought by the Sadlers in 1885, and which was torn down in 1936.
The popular park was donated to Orange County in 1924 by Sadie Trimble. It features camping, fishing and a short nature trail.
In the early days, the community obtained much of its freight by water, across the inland chain of lakes to a dock just across the county line in Lake County. It was on Lake Beauclair, near Trimble Park. The community dock was built in the 1920s between the properties of Maj. Marsh and the Wadsworths.
Earlwood Ave. is named after two early families, those of William H. Earl and George H. Wood.
This home was built in the 1920s down the hill, closer to the lake. It was bought by David S. Simpson, moved up here, and enlarged on a number of occasions as his family grew. Until about 2004, it was owned and occupied by his daughter, Abby Jo Simpson Land, and her husband, Henry W. Land, Sr.
The house tucked in near the lake was built in 1926 on property owned by sisters Josephine and Lucy Sadler.
This road is named for Hon. Dudley W. Adams of Waukon, Iowa, and previously of Winchendon, Massachusetts, who settled in 1875 on the east side of Lake Beauclair. He sought relief from bronchial trouble. Adams first constructed a log cabin, then replaced it with a more permanent home.
Adams was a poet, writer, naturalist and past master of the National Grange, and founded the State Horticultural Society. Nearby Lake Angelina is named after a half-sister of Dudley Adams. A village grew up around his home.
Until 1879, the community was called Olaville, after the large lake to the south. At the doorstep of the home of Bessie Heustis, Adams' sister-in-law, grew a tangerine tree. At a meeting of the local citizens held at her log cabin home, the community's name was changed to Tangerine.
The homes of Adams and Heustis were located to the northwest of this location, near the intersection of present-day Dora Dr. and Beauclair Ave.
After using the log cabin east of Lake Ola, a new one-room school was built near this site in 1886. The building was moved next door in the early 1930s. Called "The Teacherage", it was occupied by local teachers.
A two-room school building was erected in its place. At the time, the School Board consisted of J.W. Jepson, Clarence H. Estey and Howard H. Chamberlain. Later, the school building was moved to Fairvilla. The Teacherage and land were sold by the county, and students were bused to Mount Dora.
This park was discussed by the residents in about 1927, and a site was selected in the center of town near the church. The land originally was a part of R.J. Wright's homestead. It later was owned by Mr. Dixon, then Mr. Bonjing, and finally Mr. Bidwell, who sold it for park for $4,000. The deed to the Tangerine Improvement Society, following the satisfaction of the mortgage, was recorded on July 16, 1937.
This church was organized on May 4, 1886, as the Union Church of Christ in Tangerine. Shortly thereafter, the name was changed to the Congregational Church of Christ. The charter members were Thomas Jewett, Mr. and Mrs. George H. Wood, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph W. Leland, Rev. and Mrs. G.B. Sperry, and Mrs. R.J. Wright. Thomas Jewett and George H. Wood were its first deacons.
The church building was begun in 1886 and completed in 1887. The Sunday school was organized that same year. Mrs. George Wood organized the Ladies Aid Society in 1913. In the late 1940s, the name was changed to the Tangerine Community Church.
Flashbacks: The Story of Central Florida's Past, by Jim Robison and Mark Andrews (The Orlando Sentinel 1995)
History of Apopka and Northwest Orange County, Florida, by Jerrell H. Shofner (Rose Printing Company, Inc. 1982)
Orlando: A Century Plus, by Bayard H. Kendrick (Sentinel Star Company 1976)
Tangerine Memoirs, by Winifred W. Estey (The Tangerine Improvement Society 1957)
Click here for a copy of the trail rules.