Older Florida Houses - Photos

Cross Creek, the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings house

Rochelle

Jacksonville, Riverside area

Gainesville, the Hotel Thomas  (my riding instructor and friend grew up here)

Shiloh

Cedar Key

Suwanee Springs rental cabins

Sinkholes - The Devil's Millhopper

I grew up in north central Florida, during the school year, and all of us kids in the suburbs and country areas knew about sink holes.  My father used to take my sister and me to visit the Devil's Millhopper every couple of months, and, for a while, every other weekend.  When we would arrive, Dad would hand a large brown empty grocery bag to each of us, and once we had filled the bags with trash that others left behind, we could play and explore the area.  At that time, the Millhopper was privately owned, but no efforts were made to restrict visitors.  The state of Florida purchased the property in 1974, and, in the course of two-plus years, built a winding staircase and boardwalk down into the 'Hopper itself.
   The Devil's Millhopper Geological State Park has it's own website:  http://www.floridastateparks.org/devilsmillhopper/  It's a sink hole that has been known in Alachua County since the 1880s.  The sink drops 120 feet to the bottom, with lushly covered limestone walls that hold ferns, waterfalls, and small trees.  The bottom of the sink has several wandering creeks, where we used to gather arrowheads, flaked spear blades, shark teeth, turtle skeletons, and fossilized bones.  Generally, we would follow wildlife trails down to the bottom of the sink, but, occasionally, we would just sit down and slide down the sloping sides.  Dad always brought his ancient Boy Scouts knapsack with him, packed with empty bags for trash collection.  After Kathy and I had filled up our required single bag, Dad would continue on, gathering junk and detritus from the entire area.  He usually made 10 or more trips up to the top, carrying trash out of the area - then we'd take it home and place it in our trash cans.
  In any event - the Devils Millhopper is a fascinating place - and it is the outcome of a sinkhole.  With all of the recent news coverage about them, I don't think it's necessary to describe them in depth.  It doesn't matter where one lives; there is always some type of danger inherent in living.  On the east and Gulf coasts, one worries about hurricanes.  In the mid-west, one worries about tornadoes.  Near the Great Lakes, it's a "Lake snow event" that one worries over.  In the west, one worries about fire, flood, and blizzards. Along the west coast, one worries about earthquakes.  And, anywhere near any running, or standing water, one worries about floods.
   Sinkholes have been around for centuries, and, as long as people build on limestone with an in-use aquifer  under it, there is the possibility of a ground collapse.  It's just logical, and, normal...  I can understand that this latest occurrence happened at rental condominiums near Disney World - but they happen all the time.  What's the big deal?

Florida Scenes

Alachua County, Florida

 

Stuart, Florida

 

Live oak trees in Micanopy

 

Gator eyes reflecting light at Lake Alice, University of Florida

Florida Photos

One of the magnolia trees that Mom, Dad, Kathy and I planted in the front yard of our house in 1963.

Palm tree reflections and lily pads in a pond at McKee Botanical Gardens (please note the concrete alligator head)

And, what do you call this sport?  I call it para-waterboarding...  You're standing on what looks like a large snowboard; and you have the para-glider overhead.  Some people had the para-glider hitched at their waist, others at their shoulders.  They were doing flips and short flights, thanks to the windy conditions....

Florida Sights

A gator in Graham Pond on the University of Florida campus

A pair of barred owls on Cedar Key - photo by Michelle Pearson

(If you like her photo, she has others posted on Flickr as MickiP65)

The Fort Pierce River empties into the Intra-Coastal Waterway