That Lady of Orlando’s Lake Highland “Strange Unexplained Sightings” During a Lake Eola festival in 2019, two schoolteachers from nearby Lake Highland Preparatory School stopped at my booth to ask if I knew anything about strange paranormal type activities in that area. My answer, I think, surprised them, as I told them about a social media post I first made in 2015 and reposted in 2018. That earlier Ghost of Lake Highland article was made early in my new “retirement” caree

Part 1: October 2026, Dr. Hartwell C. Howard There existed in 1880 Florida a stumbling block that would have prevented Henry Flagler and Henry Plant from achieving their celebrated railroad empire in the Sunshine State without one of them first resolving the problem. Either of the men of course could have resolved the stumbling block preventing railroad expansion in the 27th State, but they didn’t need to, because the problem had been resolved before either ventured into Fl

The Altamonte Hotel, Orange County, Fla. (circa 1883) The time was 1920, June 18th to be exact, just as America’s notorious Roaring 20s and another state-wide land boom were just beginning. It was on that date that a number of well-respected residents of Altamonte Springs met “to take action”. The Orlando Sentinel of June 19th told of the event, “a Protest Against Neglect,” the newspaper said. Altamonte Springs citizens wanted a “Separation from Seminole County.” A new Semi

Oakland, Orange County, Florida By Richard Lee Cronin A quarter-century of history about the earliest days of the quaint little residential community of Oakland, West Orange County, Florida, has been largely forgotten. Typically thought of as a railroad town established by James G. Speer in 1886-87, a city that thereafter grew to become Orange County’s largest city of 400 residents in the 1890s, one could wrongly conclude that Oakland’s founding traces to that arrival in the

The Great Sphinx, Cairo, Egypt Mysteries of an Age of Discovery Explorers traveled the globe long before the 20th century, but throughout much of the 1900s, a new and very different breed of curious adventurers began exploring the world. Young men and women cast caution aside to visit long-ignored mysterious corners of the world, doing so not to conquer new territories as earlier explorers did, but to simply view that which few others had ever laid eyes on or would ever see f

Ocklawaha Hotel #2, Eustis, Florida, circa 1914 A caravan of horseless carriages, on the morning of 1 September 1914, departed the headquarters of The Tampa Times in downtown Tampa and embarked on a historic Florida road trip. The Times newspaper headlined their report on the parade of vehicles as “The Run to Eustis.” Now, 120 plus years later, this seemingly trivial event appears to have been forgotten to history, but it was a very special day for Florida’s Enchanting Go

In Search of Florida’s Historic Citrusland – Part 3 Orange Lake, Florida, 1833 Survey by Henry Washington “ Aside from its importance as an orange-growing district, Mandarin (now a Jacksonville suburb), has become a celebrity through being a winter residence of the famous authoress, Mrs. Harriett Beecher Stowe .” Mandarin, Florida, Duval County, Webb’s Historical (1885) Historic Florida Towns & Places , Richard Lee Cronin (2026) The Dawn of Citrusland There was a tim

Moses Lyman (Left); Benjamin F. Whitner II (right) I n Search of Florida’s Historic Citrusland Part 2: Florida’s Sweet Orange Peace Pact “ In 1869, when your correspondent arrived in Orange County, the orange crop was estimated at 60,000. I see by the figures of the Florida Journal that the shipments of the present year (1877) at Mellonville, Sanford, and Lake Jesup, are put down (estimated) at 2,000,000 .” Will Wallace Harney, Cincinnati Commercial Newspaper April 15, 1877

Earnest Chapel, Fort Reid, Florida, circa 1874 On Fort Mellon to Fort Gatlin Road (1838-1857) AKA, Mellonville to Orlando Road (1857-c1888) “One must take a buggy and follow the picturesque old Fort Mellon Road among the groves and gardens of a prior generation.” The Gate City Route, South Florida Railroad (1887) The Way it Was: F lorida’s population in 1870 was 187,748 , for the entire State, making it the 33 rd most populous of all 37 States at that time. Considering

A Merry Christmas Florida Blog by Richard Cronin Historic Mount Dora, Lake County, Florida Miami, Florida, Christmas Eve 1925: Jasper Winslow Crawford married Florida native Dora E. Aman in Miami on Christmas Eve one hundred years ago. The ceremony was a small one, and the marriage lasted only five years due to Jasper’s accidental death, but because their wedding was published in a newspaper, this 24 th of December 1925 event became the start of my quest to resolve a

Rockbridge Alum Springs Pavilion 1991 (Insert: Irma St. Clair-Abrams Smith) Photo Courtesy Calder Loth (DHR 1991) A Central Florida 2025 Holiday Series – Part 2 First, For Those Who Missed Part 1: Irma & William married 134 years ago, in December 1891, choosing to wed in Orlando’s newly completed Catholic Church rather than in her hometown of Tavares, which did not yet have a Catholic Church. Said South Florida Sentinel of the bride, “Irma was one of Florida’s fairest daug

Welcome to Historic Florida : I was a young father of three adorable little girls when I first arrived in the Sunshine State. The year was 1971, and the State of Florida had only recently completed its 1970 census, counting a total of 6.8 million residents. I wrote this blog as a promo for my latest book in the fall of 2025, with the state’s population estimated to be approaching 24 million. Three people live in Florida today for every one person living here 55 years ago wh

Part 1: Lake Valdez aka Lake Monroe: Enterprise, Florida on Lake Monroe One might logically conclude, considering the nearly 825 miles...

A Central Florida Ghost Town Imagine being onboard a train today traveling to a magical Central Florida place, a distinctive location,...

A Richard Lee Cronin Blog E dward Emery Higley arrived in Central Florida in 1883 and played a leading role in creating two of the...

Thomas Jefferson’s Florida A Women’s History Month Blog Part 2: Martha Virginia (Eppes) Shine Orlando’s magnificent St. Luke's...

A Women’s History Month Blog Part 1: Maria Jefferson (Eppes) Shine: Maria died 8 September 1896 while visiting her son, Dr. Francis...

Happy Valentines Day ! Rather than mailing a card I thought I would instead write about a Sweetheart Lake considering this is, after...

Ja ck's Lake, 1914 Plat of Clermont Heights Meant as a memorial to a unique resident of a hundred plus years ago, Jack’s Lake in...

A Snippet of Mystery; A Whole Lot of History By Richard Lee Cronin Jack’s Lake sits in the shadow of Clermont’s famous Citrus Tower....