Fort Christmas, Florida has been used as a gathering place since the late 1880s. The original 10 acres of the park were officially donated to Orange county by M.M.Smith on June 6, 1930. A pavilion was built by the WPA during the 1930s. Since that time the park has expanded to 25 acres.
Mom and Bill enjoying french fries and pork bar-be-cue at the Bluegrass Fest on March 21, 2009. As you can see it was a beautiful, sunny day.
One of several bluegrass bands performing on the stage under a canopy of oak trees dripping with Spanish moss.
Bill standing at the entrance to Ft. Christmas. On Dec. 25, 1837 a force of 2000 US Army and the Alabama Volunteers arrived near this spot to construct a supply depot which was aptly named Ft. Christmas. The USA was in the midst of the Second Seminole Indian War, with the battle of Okeechobee also taking place on Christmas Day. As the war progressed, military action moved southward. As a result supply ships had to reroute through Jupiter Inlet. It was no longer timely for ships to utilize the St. John's River. For this reason, Ft. Christmas was abandoned in March of 1838,
This is a picture of the inside of the fort. Notice the Spanish moss hanging from the trees. In 1776, as a bicentennial project, Orange County Parks and Recreation Dept. along with the Army Corp of Engineers began construction of a full-size replica of Ft. Christmas. The new replica was completed in Dec. of 1977, one mile south of its original location, exactly 140 years later. (Do the math, the original fort was used for 3 months. It took over a year to build the replica.)
In 1990, the Ft. Christmas Historical Society developed a master plan to create a living history settlement at Fort Christmas Historical Park. The society has become instrumental in the preservation of rural heritage, the "Cracker" legacy of east Orange County.
This is a tree prepared for turpentining. Part of the bark is cut away and a series of "Vs" are cut into the tree. This would injure the tree and cause the gum to "bleed" out of the wood. A metal gutter was placed in the cut so the gum would drip down into a hanging clay cup called a Herty cup, collecting the turpentine.
This one room house with attached kitchen was home to a family with 10 children. When the boys reached the age of 12 or 13 they went to the barn to sleep. Notice the netting over the bed.
Originally beds were lined next to each other on this wall of the house.
This is the fireplace located opposite the bed area. It is constructed of mud and wood (stone being very scarce). Of course in time the wood dried out and would catch on fire. The fireplace was built so that when it caught fire it was simply pushed out of the wall and would burn outside and not catch the house on fire. They would simply build another fireplace to replace it.
A picture of a living room in one of the later houses. This house was lived in until the 1950s.
As you can see, some of the residents were rather well off and had many "fine" things.
Kitchen area. Earlier I mentioned the "Crackers" The term "Florida Cracker" refers to the original colonial era American pioneer settlers of the state of Florida. The first Florida Crackers arrived in 1773 when Spain traded Florida to Great Britain.
Bedroom furniture including a cradle.The term "Florida Cracker" is now used as a proud self-description. Since the huge influx of new residents into Florida from the northern parts of the United States and Latin America, in the late 20th and early 21st century, Florida Cracker is used by some Floridians informally to indicate that their family has lived there for many generations and/or they were born and raised in the state of Florida. It is considered a source of pride to be descended from frontier people who did not just live but "flourished in a time before air conditioning, mosquito repellent and screens."
The ranch house kitchen.
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