Highlands County in Central Florida boasts a rich history. Originally inhabited by Seminole Indians, the area was officially established in 1923 when it broke away from DeSoto County. Known for its rolling hills, lakes, and wetlands, Highlands County has traditionally thrived on cattle ranching and citrus groves.
In 1957, W. L. and Ruth Bennett constructed a roadside hotel on US Highway 27 in Avon Park. They called it the Bennett Motel. In the days before interstates, Highway 27 was a primary artery for folks traveling to South...
Many people in Sebring today like to have rose-colored glasses about race relations in the town's history. Inescapably, Sebring was a typical segregated Southern town with plenty of racist ideals. In September of 1925, the finishing touches were being put...
This is a small-run book that was written by a typewriter. Copies were made and hand-stapled to be distributed to local pioneers at the First Annual Lorida Schoolhouse Reunion in 1976. A second book was printed for the 1977 reunion....
The St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series in 1926, so it was with much excitement in Avon Park when the tiny "scenic ridge" town was announced as their spring home. The Red Birds signed a three-year contract to play...
Mary Toney was born in 1933 and moved to Sebring as a toddler. She graduated from E. O. Douglas High School in Sebring, class of 1951. At 48, she worked as a school bus driver and decided to run for...
The good old boy system of Avon Park was shaken to its core in 1949. That September, five out of six incumbents were voted out of office. Among the newly-elected was young Wiley Sauls, who was just 21. The story...
Joshua Berrien Lastinger decided that his idea of a garden paradise was the wild lake country of southern Highlands County. One of the few surviving photos of Lake Placid’s first white settler, Joshua Berrien Lastinger, comes from a 1904 family reunion....
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...