Two weeks ago, after our exhausting off-road biking adventure, we paid a visit to Fort Christmas.  We went there several times when the girls were young, on our own and for Indian Princess outings.  But that was a long time ago.  The girls have grown a lot since then, and so has the fort.

They now have a large collection of old Florida houses, and we enjoyed a trip back in time as we wandered from one to another.  Bear in mind that Florida is a young state, even if it does have our country's oldest city.  Sometimes it seems more like the Wild West than the East Coast.

Here's a somewhat random assortment of pictures.  I love my digital camera.  (Thanks, Janet!)

The fort as we remembered it

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Even the 50's count as historical here.  This house is only slightly smaller and actually has one more bedroom than the house where I spent the first nine years of my life.  I didn't think it small then!

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Florida's equivalent of tapping maple trees for syrup.

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Smokehouse from 1900.  Smoked meat hanging from the roof.  Did you ever wonder where smokescreens come from?

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These pictures from the 1900 house are for my friend who works in a living history museum and has her own spinning wheel.

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And this one from the 1915 house is for my other friend who is a master quilter—just in case she ever reads my blog....

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From the 1870's—mosquito netting a must-have

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From the 1927 house.  My mother grew up about 60 miles from here.  Even though her family kept a hotel, not a farm, I couldn't help thinking of her when we toured this one.

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When you think cowboys and cattle drives, do you think Wild West?  Florida was the land of the open range until 1949.

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If you look closely at this fur animal license from the 1930's, you'll learn a few things.  That the Florida Game and Freshwater Fish Commission, which runs the camp Heather attended when she was nine, has been around a long time.  That nutrition probably wasn't the best for these pioneers and their children.  That this 33-year-old example of these tough, hard-working farmers, ranchers, and cowboys was only 4' 10" tall and weighted 85 pounds!

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This ranch house came from what is now the Tosohatchee State Reserve, where we were biking earlier in the day.

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Hey, wait a minute!  I grew up with that sink!

Posted by sursumcorda on Thursday, May 31, 2007 at 7:55 am | Edit
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