The Altamonte Hotel, Altamonte Springs, Florida
“Is there no way of obtaining distraction? To live as we are now living, like reptiles curled up for the winter, is not living at all.” These were the words of a man lucky to be alive. Captain John Altamont, an American sailor, had himself been curled up inside a “snow-house, lying helpless in a dying condition” when found by an expedition in search of food and firewood. Strapped to a sled, the near-death Captain Altamont was taken to nearby Fort Providence, where he was cared for.
Captain Altamont eventually teamed up with his rescuers in their quest to discover the North Pole. He became a valuable member of the expedition, and upon discovery of a safe harbor, they all agreed to give it the name Altamont Harbor.
We cannot say that Altamont dreamed of becoming a Florida snowbird, for the rescued captain of the shipwrecked SS Porpoise was in fact a figment of the artistic imagination of Jules Verne, a 19th century author often referred to as the “Father of Science Fiction.”
Sketch from Jules Verne’s Book, Desert of Ice (c1864)
Captain John Altamont was a Jules Verne character in a Novel first released in circa 1864. An American edition of The Desert of Ice, a Journey to the North Pole, was released in New York bookstores for the 1874 Christmas holiday season. Is it possible, therefore, that it is merely some mind-blowing stroke of coincidence, that, within days of the American release of the Jules Verne science fiction thriller, the Altamont Post Office, in what was then Orange County, Florida, was established days later, on December 30, 1874?
New Yorker John M. Katline was appointed the first postmaster of the remote Florida post office. His next-door neighbor in 1874 was Dr. Washington Kilmer, also of New York, a man credited as being the founder of Florida’s village of Altamont.
The Smithsonian Magazine establishes the year of the North Pole discovery as 1908, but the search for the elusive Pole had begun decades prior. As for the creative genius of visionary Jules Verne, his discovery of the North Pole, we know from his Desert of Ice book, occurred in his mind on July 11, 1861, when, as he penned in his book, “Queen Island was discovered at the North Pole by Captain Hatteras, commanding the brig Forward of Liverpool, who set his name hereto with his companions: Dr. Clawbonny; Altamont, Captain of the Porpoise; Johnson, Boatswain; and Bell, Carpenter.”
If indeed the adage “there is nothing new under the sun” is accurate, then it might also be said that Science Fiction is merely re-cycled history, stories of old retold with a dash of imagination and a touch of mystery.
The name Altamonte in Altamonte Springs, Florida evolved from nearby Altamont, Florida. The latter form, without an “e,” has a past, whereas the former is a variation created in 1885 by New Englanders who preferred spelling the name their nearby hotel, shown at the start of this blog, with an extra letter.
My latest book, Altamonte: A History of Altamonte Springs Florida, tells of the founding of Altamont and Altamonte Springs. An outtake from this book, pages 51-53, is below for your reading pleasure.
Altamonte: A History of Altamonte Springs, Florida by Richard Lee Cronin
Altamont, USA:
Samuel Longfellow Wadsworth, George W. Moyers, and members of Lorenzo & Rachel Wilson’s extended family, including Frederick Baldwin, were neighboring homesteaders who owned considerable acreage in what could be described as the south-half of Altamont. Established in 1874 by veterans of the Civil War, the settlement’s name started taking on a more popular spelling Altamonte during the 1870s - but did not disappear entirely until the 1890s. Altamont residents, it seems, could not agree on the proper spelling.
Spelling Altamont without the “e” was not unique to Central Florida. In fact, the additional letter was unusual for its time. Ten years prior to two veterans establishing an Altamont Post Office in Central Florida, the Washington, DC Evening Star reported on an incident in Maryland along the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad line. The Sunday, 26 April 1863 article reported that two hundred Confederate soldiers “suddenly appeared at Altamont, at the head of Piedmont grade.” The Confederates cut the telegraph wires which in turn cut communication to the west, and they then “took possession of an engine and small train of empty coal cars.”
Dr. Washington Kilmer
Altamont, Maryland, at the summit of the Alleghenies on the Eastern Continental Divide, is west of Washington, DC nearly 170 miles. At Altamont, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad reaches the summit of the Allegheny Mountains and is described as a rather scenic spot on the route between the east coast and Ohio. Dr. Washington Kilmer likely traveled this route with his bride and daughter in 1868 when leaving Washington, DC. Four years after relocating his family to Ironton, Ohio, Dr. Washington Kilmer walked to Florida, and then relocated his family again, this time to Florida. Maryland’s Altamont made headlines again on 28 July 1873 when a train derailment there killed three men. The Cincinnati Enquirer of that date suggested this was “probably the most terrible wreck ever for the Baltimore & Ohio.”
The town history of Altamont, Illinois, says it was founded in 1871 by a Mr. J. W. Conlogue, who “bestowed upon it the name Altamont because of the elevation or “mound” which lies to the northwest.” Conlogue, adds that town’s history, “was a romantic, thus naming his town from Latin.” Conlogue’s city of Altamont made the news often in 1873, including an article in the Effingham Democrat of 20 November, before the Altamont Post Office opened in Orange County, Florida. “Monday evening,” reported the Democrat, “we paid a visit to Altamont. From the business activity apparent everywhere, the monetary crisis appears to have affected our neighbor of this ‘Mountain City’ less seriously than most other towns of this region.”
In Altamont, California, fifty miles east of San Francisco, a Colonel C. F. Kennedy, as reported 7 November 1872 by the Baltimore Sun, “sued a Widow there for $50,000 claiming a breach of promise of marriage.” And a year later in Altamont, Tennessee, Gundy County seat since 1848, the city found itself challenged by nearby Tracy City for that county seat title. The Nashville Union of 13 December 1873 declared Tracy City as the winner of that race, but Altamont, Tennessee continues to be the county seat today.
The name Altamont, not Altamonte, was given to cities throughout the United States during the 19th century. Altamont, Florida was not the first, nor was it the last. In New York, the town of Knowersville existed along the Schoharie and Albany Plank Road since before the wood plank road was built in 1847. The road had been financed by a partnership, of which Jonas Kilmer, the father of Dr. Washington Kilmer, was an investor. In 1863, the railroad followed the old plank road into Knowersville, as did a young Washington Kilmer while traveling to and from his Schoharie family home to Albany, where he interned after graduating from Albany Medical College. Nothing seems to be known as to why the town of Knowersville changed its name to Altamont.
There is also the character Altamont of Desert of Ice by Jules Verne, the intriguing journey to the North Pole which began appearing in newspapers throughout the country during 1874.
Altamont was widely used in the 1870s, whereas Altamonte was not.
A snippet of the published Jules Verne adventure.
Like that of the Jules Verne book, my Altamonte: a History of Altamonte Springs, Florida, is also available at Amazon. Check out too my CroninBooks.com Homepage for a complete listing of In-person events where you can also purchase my Central Florida history books.
If in doubt, simply email me at Rick@CroninBooks.com
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