No boat travel.
I discovered while traveling on our Great Loop trip that I love learning the history of the places we visit. Sanford, Florida is full to overflowing with history. Today we took a bike trip along the Riverwalk to learn more about this interesting city.
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| Sanford Riverwalk |
During our ride, by reading the various historical markers positioned along the river walk, we learned about the St Johns River as well as the history of the City of Sanford.
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| St. Johns River factoids
- 310 miles long
- one of few Northern Hemisphere rivers that flow north
- Sanford is the farthest navigable upstream port on the river
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| Henry Sanford
- born in Danbury, Connecticut
- inherited his fortune at age 18
- came to Florida on vacation in 1869
- found cheap land and recognized Florida potential
- purchased 12,500+ acres
- moved to Florida and established City of Sanford c. 1877
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| Gate City of Florida
- 1877 Riverboats traveled from Sanford to Jacksonville
- 1880 South Florida Railroad made connection from Sanford to Orlando
- city grew through 1900s
- 1942 Sanford Naval Air Station established and active during
WW II, Korean War, Cold War, and Vietnam War
later became the Orlando-Sanford International Airport
- 1950s and 1960s NY Giants held spring training here
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| Citrus to Celery
- until late 1800s Sanford one of world's largest citrus fruit shipping centers
- Winter of 1894 - 1895 destroyed citrus groves
- by early 1900s Sanford became known as the "Celery City"
- last major crop of celery harvested in 1970
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We enjoyed our ride, first east then west, along the RiverWalk where we found lots of interesting sights.
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| Decorative Flower Displays |
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| Swinging Chairs to relax and enjoy the views |
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| Picturesque views of the lake (Ev biking the trail) |
Across the street from the bike path / trail, we saw the Fort Mellon Splash Pad and Playground. What an impressive sight this made. Since we admired it on a Sunday, we saw many children enjoying the equipment.
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| Splashpad (opens for use in May) |
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| Amazing Playground Setup |
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| Planter with engraved alligator (at playground) |
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| Planter at playground with engraved "celery stalk" |
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| Solar-powered lighting at playground (Clark liked this!) |
We got to the "end of the road" heading east and then backtracked to head past the marina in a westerly direction.
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| Monroe Harbour Marina up ahead |
On the far side of the marina, we found the Veteran's Memorial Park. Diamonds in the walkway displayed the names of the multitude of wars where U.S. veterans had fought over the years. Historical markers along the side of the walkway gave a brief description of the reason for each war and the role the U.S. played in the war. I thought the layout quite moving and the historical marker details to be succinct and informative.
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| "We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain." Abraham Lincoln "Give me liberty or give me death" Patrick Henry |
After exploring the veteran's memorial, we continued westward along the trail. Clark thought it would go all the way to the bridge off in the distance, but it ended abruptly across from the hospital.
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| Trail westward from marina |
We crossed the street to see if the trail continued on the other side of the road. It did not. We only found a pond on the hospital grounds to be of any interest, so we retraced our route back to the marina.
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| Clark said, "Why did the bikers cross the road ...?" to see the pond of course! |
After our RiverWalk ride, we decided to poke our heads into town for a quick look around. We found the post office and a dollar store as well as an historic building.
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| PICO Historic Hotel
- Built in 1877 for the president of the Plant Investment Co.
- Terminal hotel for railroad and two river steamers owned by the plant
- Designed to look like a Turkish Palace
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On our travels we passed Magnolia Square where the market had been setup yesterday.
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| Clock outside Magnolia Square |
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| Fountain at Magnolia Square (sans tents of farmer's market) |
Nearby, I made Clark stop so I could read the sign describing "Florida's oldest institution of higher education".
As we roamed the streets, I pointed out to Clark that it was well past lunch time. He generously offered that we could find a restaurant. I reminded him that we had dinner plans out tonight, so we decided to head back to the boat for sandwiches.
Our friends, Denis and Mark, from Island Office live only 30 minutes drive away from Sanford, so they came to visit us. They arrived around 4:30. We gave them a tour of the boat and then we walked into town to find a place to eat dinner. Being a Sunday, some of the restaurants were closed. We decided on a place called "The Breezeway". The menu looked good, but when it came time to order, I struck out three times.
I ordered the Grouper platter and was told that with a moratorium on grouper, they did not have any available. After much reviewing of the menu, I then selected eggplant rollatini. The waiter left and returned quickly to say that the kitchen had no more eggplant. The menu selections I wished to eat were rapidly diminishing.
As I studied the menu once more, the waiter told me he could discount something for my inconvenience if I had another selection. With that I chose the haddock platter. The waiter gave me a 30% discount off the price. When he set the plate down in front of me, he said, "You are not going to believe this, but they ran out of scallops too. We gave you extra shrimp instead." Basically, Sunday night is not a good night for dining out in Sanford. For $20, though, I did thoroughly enjoy my fish dinner.
Last time we saw Denise and Mark was in the fall when they stayed at our dock on their way home to Florida from Maine. Having been on the Great Loop together, we always have lots to talk about.
The Breezeway restaurant, where we ate, is aptly named. We did not plan on it, but we ended up dining outdoors in their covered breezeway. Initially it felt like a pleasant breeze. By the time the checks came, we were all freezing as the sun had long ago disappeared and the temperatures dropped considerably. After paying, Clark appeared ready to run back to the boat in hopes of getting warm once more. The rest of us felt chilly, but he seemed to feel it worse of all.
We chatted on board Sunset Delight while we all warmed up. Eventually, though, we had to part ways and say au revoir until we see each other again. It is always fun to reconnect with our looper friends.
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