Florida circa 1902. “Silver Springs on the Oklawaha.”

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I shoot along the Silver and Ocklawaha River at least once a week. With the exception of the springs itself not much has changed. Instead of river boats you see, glass bottom boats.

Florida circa 1902. “At Silver Springs on the Silver River.” Steamer Metamora of Palatka. 8×10 inch dry plate glass negative by William Henry Jackson, Detroit Publishing Company.

Florida circa 1902. “On the Ocklawaha.” Steamboat Metamora of Palatka. Photo by William Henry Jackson. Detroit Publishing glass negative.

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My day days.

Rain rain and more rain.

In 1929, a fish lodge owner was fed up with mosquito problems in the Lower Keys in Florida. So he decided to fight the bugs by bringing in their predator: bats.

But his cleverly hatched plan had a flaw:

In 1929 frustrated local businessman Richter Clyde Perky decided the time had come to rid his holiday resort of mosquitoes and the threat of both malaria and commercial failure.

His idea was to invest in a structure called a Bat Tower, the invention of a Texan ‘Bat Researcher’ by the name of Dr. Campbell who believed that the towers would provide an attractive home for bats, well-known gobblers of mosquitoes.

The plans in place, Mr Perky installed the huge wooden Bat Tower at great cost, shipped in hundreds of bats from Texas and Cuba and put the Champagne on ice. As soon as the bats were released they flew away, never to return.

The charming Bat Tower, minus the resort it was meant to save, can still be seen and photographed at mile marker 17 of Lower Sugarloaf Key. Watch out for the mosquitoes.

Read about this and other equally fascinating unfinished or abandoned structures in Florida here: Link

Orlando police get missile launcher during gun-shoe exchange

Police were hoping for a good turnout at their “Kicks for Guns” sneaker exchange Friday, but they weren’t expecting to get a surface-to-air missile launcher.

An Ocoee man showed up and exchanged the 4-foot-long launcher for size-3 Reebok sneakers for his daughter.

Taking advantage of the exchange’s no-questions-asked policy, the man was not identified. He told the Orlando Sentinel that he found the weapon in a shed he tore down last week.

“I didn’t know what to do with it, so I brought it here”, he said. I took it to three dumps to try to get rid of it and they told me to get lost.”
More here.

Postcard Collection–a collection of over 6,300 picture postcards of Florida attractions, cities, and people, circa 1900s-1970s

Dinner Key Auditorium in Coconut Grove : Miami, Florida

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I love this place. If you ever get a chance, and you’re in the area of St. Augustine check the place out. Link: