Stealth Journeys with the Steam Mapper

Chapter 64: Protector of the Everglades

"One of Mom's treasured books is an autographed 1947 first edition of Marjory Stoneman Douglas' book 'The Everglades River of Grass'.   Everyone refers to her book as being all about Florida's Everglades.   Actually, it is a very detailed account of Florida from prehistoric times right up to the 1940's.   It has information about the native peoples, the exploration by different countries, the early white settlers, the Civil War right up to World War Two.   It tells about Mr. Watson in the Ten Thousand Islands, and the Ashley Gang stopped at the Sebastian Bridge, and the whole development of South Florida.   I can tell you have no idea about these stories, but I tell you they are fascinating."

"Mom bought it at a library book sale back in the '90s and paid eight dollars.  She discovered as she read it, that the author had made corrections in it, at the same time she signed each copy. Early in the book she changed 'an incline of half a mile' by adding the word 'less' and much deeper in the book, she changed the word 'thousand' to 'hundred' following the word 'eighteen' in describing the loss of life from the 1928 hurricane that came ashore at West Palm Beach. Eighteen hundred lives were devastating enough.  Eighteen thousand lives would have wiped out the population!  Ms. Douglas was a stickler for accuracy.   Comes from being a reporter.  She also wrote an autobiography Voice of the River , back in 1987 and among the photographs in the book is one of her seated with Marjorie Carr, taken in the early seventies when they were campaigning for Friends of the Everglades.  Remember when I told you about my grandparents visiting Archie and Marjorie Carr?  They visited their Alachua farm and woods with the pond named We-wa, which means water in Seminole.  The pond had a big old mama gator, who had a suitor visit each May from who knows where.  The Carrs had five children and my grandparents' favorite was the one daughter named Mimi."

Half listening, MYKA  was still thinking of Stoneman Douglas.   "It is a shame that the whole world now is reminded of the high school mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, whenever the name Marjory Stoneman Douglas is uttered.  It is a downside of having a famous name, sighed MYKA.

"True.  That high school was dedicated on her one hundredth birthday and she attended the ceremony.  There are other schools in Florida named in her honor.   That must be hard on those institutions, too.  Hopefully, in time, more people will first think of the tremendous work of the early Florida environmental activist.  Tragedy can undo so many good associations."

"I try to focus on all of the positive experiences that have inspired me to do my part for the state that I enjoyed while growing up.   North of Anna Maria Island and Bradenton on the mainland side, my family made trips from Manatee County to Pinellas County where they could go to the north side of Tampa Bay and visit Fort De Soto Park extending from the bay out into the Gulf of Mexico.   A whole day could be spent, watching freighters heading for Port Tampa, visiting the old fort, and of course shelling and picnicking.  Many visitors chose to camp at the park, but Mom's family was happy to go home to shower and sleep in their own beds.  On one day trip, they traveled up to Dunedin and took the ferry to Caladesi Park, another park offering seclusion and shelling."

"The entire Florida Gulf Coast offered scenic communities with a laid back lifestyle and simple release from the big city life that many travelers chose to escape.  The real Florida was really special, and the local folk did try to keep the developers at bay.  But air conditioning and causeways, and advertising and plane travel ebbed at the culture.  It seemed that every visit to these wonderful locations was accompanied by laments of how it used to be."

Stef was happy to still have shelling excursions and visits to the most famous locations, but could only wonder at what had changed so much in Grandma's and Mom's eyes.   Photographs were shown but many were small and in black and white with scalloped edges.  Mom and Dad had saved the old Kodachrome slides and carousel projector and although the clothing choices were silly to view, the beaches did appear to have less buildings crowding the background where family members and friends posed.

Mom's ancestors with the name "Land" were on the family tree leading straight up to Ned Land, born in Canada in 1836, and speaking both French and English, when he met up with Professor Aronnax as they set sail on the USS Lincoln in 1866, recruited because of his whaling expertise. He had learned of the voyage to find the sea monster that was attacking whaling ships, and was attracted by both the guaranteed wages and promise of adventure that appeared on flyers distributed from Nantucket to Hallifax.