Legend has it that around the year 1900 nine year old Billy Bugg, his mule and wagon fell into this spring one morning while he was getting water. Billy drowned but his name lives on.
Bugg Spring 1929 - photo: Florida Memory |
Bugg Spring |
Legend has it that around the year 1900 nine year old Billy Bugg, his mule and wagon fell into this spring one morning while he was getting water. Billy drowned but his name lives on.
Bugg Spring 1929 - photo: Florida Memory |
Bugg Spring |
Being the unofficial SLBC resident historian I am often asked "why is Carney Island called Carney Island when there is no Island?" Well, it's proper name is Carney Island Recreation and Conservation Area. So think of it as an island recreation and conservation area named after John Carney. And, by the way, there are two islands.
Around 1870 Captain John L. Carney had seen that wild sour Seville oranges planted by Spanish explorers were still growing after a couple of centuries which led him to believe it would be a good location for citrus groves. In '74 he bought 400 acres of property on Lake Weir which consisted of most of Hammock Peninsula and two islands to the south, Orange Island and Lemon Island.1883 map by T.M Shackleford showing peninsula and islands |
Peninsula and Islands - 1973 water levels |
The last time I rode up to Micanopy was before Covid with Hugh Caggiano. We started at the Fellowship Community Church on Hwy 27 where the church secretary said cyclists often start out and that she'd keep an eye on the car for us. Then we took an interesting 34 mile scenic route through horse farm country to Micanopy where we had lunch at Coffee & Cream.
The Old Florida Cafe |
The Old Hotel and Saloon - banned on Saturday nights. |
The Flemington Country Store |
In 1968 I was 22 and lived and raced bikes in Toronto. We had a decent core of 30-40 riders mostly made up of European expats who'd turn out for races every couple of weeks.Late that summer on a Saturday I drove to New York City for a race the following day put on by the German Bicycle Club of New York. It was about 105 miles around Central Park with a field of over 100.
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My 1968 Racing License |
After a life of crime Ma Barker and her son Fred decided to lay low and rented a vacation house on Lake Weir in Ocklawaha where they probably thought they'd never be found. Wrong, the FBI eventually found them and on January 16, 1935 after the longest gun battle in Bureau history, which put a couple of thousand rounds of ammunition into the house, the Barkers were dead. A lot has been written about the Barkers and a movie was made starring Shelley Winters which I am told may have stretched the truth a bit..
The Ma Barker house on Carney Island |
The house stood on about seven acres on Lake Weir and the original owners sold the land and donated the house to Marion County who in 2016 floated it across Lake Weir to Carney Island. I'm not going to say much more because at mabarkerhouse.org you can get a detailed history of the house and the Ma Barker family. You can also sign up for the house tour which I enjoyed and includes a really interesting lecture on events of the period. Following the battle the exterior of the house was repaired but you'll still see plenty of patched bullet holes in the interior drywall!
In the house were 3 tommy guns - one with a 100 shell magazine, handguns, rifles, magazines, ammunition and bulletproof vests. |
Before it was moved I remember riding out to Ocklawaha to see the house but as it was private property only got a glimpse of it through the bushes. Later, Fred Hemsley who owns the old gas station on Hwy 25 just north of Weirsdale told me there had been a 50th anniversary celebration of the gun battle in 1985. Unexpectedly, over forty thousand people turned up shutting down the highway for miles which at the time was part of Route 441 - chaos!
Kudos to Marilu Burden for reminding me to write about Ma Barker and inspiring me to do the tour.