AUTHORS

Jason Byrne

Tom the Turkey of Pabor Lake

Every town needs a mascot. In the Pabor Lake, it was a friendly fowl who narrowly evaded becoming Thanksgiving dinner. Every town needs a mascot, and the Pabor Lake Colony had a right-friendly one named Tom. Arguably the fowl became...

War of 17–92: Casselberry v. Fern Park

Gordon Barnett’s Fern Park was riding high until Hibbard Casselberry incorporated a new town smack dab in the middle. Ask your average Seminole County resident: Where is Fern Park? If they have even heard of it, they’ll probably tell you: South of 436...

Orange and Seminole County’s First Railroad

The legacy of that first narrow-gauge railroad from Sanford to Orlando still lives on today through SunRail. The first railroad in Seminole County was a narrow-gauge line stretching 23 miles between Sanford and Orlando. It was initiated by E. W....

Fern Park, Florida and the Largest Industry Under One Roof

Fern cultivation gave rise to a new town with the Haines, Barnett, Casselberry and Vaughn families its royal court. Before Seminole County was created in 1913, the area that is today known as Casselberry was referred to as the Concord...

What happened at N*****town Knoll?

Until the 1990s, this offensively named settlement appeared on Florida maps, but its origins were lost. Until now. Warning: This article contains offensive racial slurs for historical and academic purposes. It will be kept to a minimum, but reader discretion is...

Ginger Ale Springs

Every day thousands of cars zoom past on nearby Markham Woods Road. Its bubbling brook gurgles only a few hundred feet from Interstate 4 and State Road 434. Hiding off in the woods is a tiny boiling spring. Although unknown even to most lifelong residents, for decades, it has been called “Ginger Ale Spring” by insiders.