Chapter 6 - Letters from Florida
Introduction, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5,
Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Biography of Editor
John H. Weaver Sees Florida Town,
in Which He Once Worked, in Ruins
The Ephrata Review
Fifteen years after his first trip to Florida, Mr. Weaver returned. He built a small travel trailer from a set of plans he purchased from a magazine. It was called a Jim Dandy trailer. It had a pointed front end with a sink and cupboards in the front. There were bunk beds and a coal stove for heating and cooking. I remember how I marveled at this wonderful creation as a boy of seven. Perhaps that is what inspired me to partake in years of camping with my family. JDW
Sarasota, Florida
December 24, 1940
Dear Editor: On November 19 at noon, after making short calls on my two sisters, Mrs. Metzler and Mrs. Shiffer and getting the weight of our trailer at Eberly Brothers (who gave us a bag of coal for our stove, half the bag of which we still have) and calling at the Benjamin G. Wenger home in Murrel, we were on our way to Florida. Mr. Wenger made us a present of some of his choicest apples. We are reminded of Eberly Brothers and the Wengers whenever we have fire in the stove or when we are eating the apples. Many thanks. You remember the proverb--"A man's gift maketh room for him," Prov. l8:16.
Our first stop was with the mission folks in Philadelphia where our daughter Mabel is stationed. They gave us a cordial reception and their good wishes as we left the next morning. Mabel accompanied us about 10 miles out of the city as a farewell and then returned to her post on a trolley.
At noon we stopped near Oxford, Pa. to eat dinner. We were now only on our real southward road.
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Jay and Unfinished Trailer |
We took Route No. 1 at Philadelphia. We stopped 20 miles north of Washington, D.C. for the night at a small trailer camp. At Washington I found the trailer wheels were striking the housings. By putting wood blocks on the springs the trouble was eliminated.
We continued our journey on U.S. Route Nos. 1, 15, and 17. to Jacksonville, Fla., where we again took Route No. 1 to Daytona, Fla., where we took Route No. 92, going west to Sanford, Orlando, Kissimmee, Lakeland, and Tampa.
At Tampa we found at home the Paul Sauder family at 140l E. Ida Street. Paul Sauder is an ordained minister of the Mennonite church at this place. Bro. Sauder gave us dinner. After dinner we made a ten-minute call at the Ybor City Mennonite Mission at 1810 Fourth Avenue. Sister Kennnel and Sister Taylor are stationed here and care for the work.
Leaving Tampa we went to Sarasota, our destination, where we are staying at present. Due to some minor motor trouble and tire incidents through the Carolinas, we were delayed about a day and did not get to our destination until the evening of Nov 27.
A few incidents while en route: We carried the fire in the stove to the North Carolina line. About the central part of North Carolina we started to shed our wraps. Through South Carolina we had the car windows open and I wore no coat while driving for the remainder of the trip. The weather was very warm and the trip more delightful than the trip 15 years ago. That time we traveled in a Model T Ford and with a tent. The roads are splendid. In 1925 it was necessary at some places in Georgia to have Caterpillar tractors to assist the traveler through the mud. There is absolutely nothing like that now.
On our first Sunday while en route, we went to the Methodist Church at Kingsland, Ga., near the Florida line. Small congregation, fine and refined people, good sermon from a young man, a good speaker. We liked these people and appreciated their hospitality.
Kissimmee was our home 10 years ago. How eager we were to see old Kissimmee again. There always seemed to be a big gap between our home and Kissimmee, Fla. And now on Nov. 26 at noon we again were privileged to see these familiar places. There is the First Baptist Church where we used to go. The doors happened to be open and we went in. There were no services. An attending lady entertained us. We have many pleasant recollections of this church. At that time Father Elam Landis was with us.
I stopped at the Oceola hardware store only to find myself a modern Rip Van Winkel. The old firm have all died and the place is in the hands of the younger generation. It reminds me of our I. G. Sprecher's Sons in this respect.
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Two Dwellings |
Our paramount anticipation was to see the Campbell Station boarding house, where we boarded and Inter Ocean City, where I worked 5 years ago. Before we left Kissimmee, we found ourselves lost on a new, wide cement pavement. But we took a chance as it went in the general direction of Campbell Station and Inter Ocean City. To our surprise all of a sudden there loomed up before us the few remaining buildings of Inter Ocean City. The large hotel, the information and administration buildings and the building known as No. 4 and two dwelling houses are all that remains of the city. This part of the intended city was finished when we left in 1926. There were a number of other buildings partly finished when the break came. These were left unfinished. Some were plastered, others under roof only. All were open, without doors or windows. It so happened a few years later there was a tornado through this section which destroyed or damaged the unfinished buildings beyond repair.
I wish to describe building No. 3, which I was most familiar with, to give you an idea of the fierceness of the storm: (I had charge of three buildings like this one). It was two story, 20 feet high, containing five store rooms on the ground floor and ten apartments, modernly equipped with bath and shower, all conveniences on the second floor. It was well braced, weatherboarded and stucco, plastered inside and ready for finishing. There was an 18-feet wide Arcade (porch) on two sides. The size was 60x110 feet. It was elaborately constructed. Today most of the roof is off, window frames out, floor rotting, steps falling down, stucco very nearly all off, partitions torn out, no plaster inside, floor beams hanging down and half the building torn away altogether. Another building just like this one was under roof when we left in 1926. Today only the foundation is left. We suppose after the storm the materials of these deserted buildings were confiscated by who-so-ever needed building material.
In the boom year I know of a certain lot of ground priced at $20,000. Today there is a lady living on the same plot in a trailer tent. She told me she bought the ground for $50.
The properties that were finished were not injured and are fine buildings today and are now owned by a religious sect, "The Household of Faith", and is now called Inter Section City. The town is actually known as Intersession City and still exists in the year 2000. The religious sect was run by a Mrs. Cox. I don't know if the family pictured in an earlier letter by the name of Cox is related to her or not.
Campbell Station was destroyed. The five acre farm with its sixteen cabins and the 200-foot well together with all its equipments all went into oblivion. The Chandler sawmill that employed several hundred men and its cottages all gone. We could not even find the location any more. The railroad tracks that formed a network into the woods and every trace of activity is gone. Things up home do not disappear so completely in a few years. Why, ''Buzzzards Glory" on our Ephrata hill is still in evidence after many years, and the old Boarding House as well as the Bunk Houses are still there in good repair.
In the boom year, there were several thousand men with their families profitably employed here. Today there is only a sprinkling of natives to be seen.
While walking from place to place in my solitude, in mute silence, dumbfounded, and speechless, I could not comprehend how all this cou1d all come to nothing all so soon and so absolutely fall into decay in so short a time.
We called upon Mr. and Mrs. Adams (deacons) who live close to their new church house, (the former church was destroyed by the storm). Mr. Adams did not remember me at first, but when he saw Mrs. Weaver, he well remembered us and at once inquired about "the old man", Mrs. Weaver's father, Elam Landis. We spent a delightful half hour with them. Our stay here was somewhat shortened by reason of a grass fire that was rapidly moving towards our parked car and trailer. They gave us a large box full of oranges and grapefruit as we left.
At this writing we are still at the Sarasota City Trailer Camp. When we came here on the 27th, we were informed that there were 300 trailer cars in camp. This evening we were told there are nearly 600 now and they expect from four to five hundred by New Year's Day.
We can be addressed: Sarasota Trailer Camp. We may possibly not stay longer in the park.
Sincerely Yours,
JOHN H. WEAVER
Introduction, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5,
Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Biography of Editor