Annie Oakley - Sharpshooter

Sharp shooter Annie Oakley and her husband spent winters in Leesburg from 1911 to 1923. She planned on moving there until her beloved dog Dave was killed by a car on February 25, 1923. She wanted Dave to be buried in Leesburg's Lone Oak cemetery. But the powers that be said "No" so she buried Dave at the home of friend in Montclair, left town and never returned. A sad state of affairs.

 

  

There is a beautiful bronze statue of Annie Oakley and her dog Dave in the garden behind the Leesburg library.

 

 Annie Oakley with Dave and her Husband Frank Butler. Dave, an English Setter was 10 years old when he died.

 

If you wish to see an English Setter then look around for Dawson the next time you stop at the Fenney Recreation Center. Dawson often walks his folks down there.

For route information click here.

When Lake Sumter was Cherry Lake

Before The Villages Lake Sumter was called Cherry Lake which at the time through wetlands joined up with Black Lake and Lake Miona. The small community of Cherry Lake still exists at the east end of the lake and is located on the west side of CR100 just south of CR466. On this USGS map you will see Spark Level Church and a track going south of it with a cross at the end which marks the location of Cherry Lake Community Cemetery.

 

 

County Road 100B - the path to the Cherry Lake Community Cemetery between the homes of the Village of Caroline. 

 

 

To get there I took the "official" route turning off CR100 onto CR100B which takes you all the way to the church and the cemetery.

 

 

 

"ELISA MCLoud BORN 1857 didE dEC 1925" [sic] was the oldest head stone I could find. The cemetery is still in use with the latest interment in January of this year.

  

To leave I took the "unofficial" route by hopping over the fence adjacent to the postal station into the Village of Caroline.

 

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Jay Eaton - World Champion

Back in April I stopped as I was going by Eaton's Beach. Because of the pandemic the restaurant was closed except for take out and all access to the beach had been closed off. Jay Eaton who founded Eaton's Beach was a champion cyclist in the 1890's a Master of the Boards.

 

 

 

It was a kinda dead day – no breeze.

 

The guy that started it all, World Champion Cyclist, Jay Eaton is on one of the walls in the restaurant. In the early 1920s, he purchased the tract on Lake Weir, and with his sons and cleared it of beach foliage. He wanted to create another Coney Island with boardwalks like his native New Jersey. It opened in 1924. In addition to the beach and dock, there was a two-story facility built into the bluff that contained a bowling alley, billiards and pinball machines. Little of this remains.

 

 

Jay Eaton broke the world mile record twice in one week unpaced from a standing start on an 8 laps to the mile board track.His time 2 minutes 7 seconds. The ad is from the San Francisco Call 12 February 1899 the admission for the 6 day race was 50 cents.

 

For route information click here.