CitrusLAND:
GHOST TOWNS &
PHANTOM TRAINS
Five Stars: "Excellent historical fiction involving a train trip from Sanford to Oakland, FL during the primitive development of Central Florida." Read the entire review at my author Page: Amazon.com/author/richardcronin
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JOURNEY ABOARD THE
ORANGE BELT RAILWAY
America's 19th century Paradise disintegrated over the winter of 1894-95. Florida's Freeze of that season destroyed not only the State's record-setting crop of citrus, it wiped out as well the ambitious dreams of many of the wealthiest individuals in the world. Learn of their stories while traveling aboard the Orange Belt Railway, journeying with two of America's most renowned railroaders.
Racing long at a top speed of 6 mph, meet the men and women, pioneers who risked it all during the 1880s, dreamers who tamed the wilderness of Orange County's western corridor.
Depot stops include: Sylvan Lake; Paola; Island Lake; Glen Ethel; Palm Springs aka Altamont; Forest City; Toronto; Lakeville; Clarcona; Crown Point; Winter Garden and Oakland.
Experience a history of a region never before told, a time when "Multitudes abandoned their groves and homes, in some cases leaving tables set and beds unmade, and went away."
At the 2014 Grand Opening of Winter Garden Heritage Foundation's expanded History Center, high school students performed three skits on how their city may have been named. One skit was adapted from the facts presented in 'Ghost Towns & Phantom Trains', telling of how Orange Belt Railway had to obtain a critical right-of-way agreement at the last minute in 1891, but found the property owners were vacationing at Berlin, Germany, home to the famous 19th Century Wintergarten theater.
Historical fiction with true-life individuals and events.
VISIT BOTH HISTORIC WINTER GARDEN MUSEUMS