May 27, 2011

Mount Dora, Florida, Howey Estate & Rain

On the way to Mount Dora, we stopped to take a picture of the Howey Estate, the former home of the founder of the town of Howey-In-The-Hills, William J. Howey.

The estate fell on hard times in 2010 as the property went into foreclosure after being refinanced for $1.2 million.

On the Register of National Historic Places since 1983, the property was deemed too costly for Lake County or the state of Florida to purchase as a possible museum site.

Further up the road, we found our destination for today, Mount Dora, Florida and down Royellou Lane, a narrow alley, we found the Mount Dora History Museum.

As expected, the museum contains artifacts from the history of the city founded in 1880.

One of the town's claims to fame was its use in the 1980 movie Honky Tonk Freeway starring Teri Garr, Howard Hesseman, Beau Bridges, Jessica Tandy and William Devane among many other well-known names.

The entire downtown area was painted pink for the movie.

Mount Dora is known for antiques, the arts and the many festivals held in the city each year.

On the way back to camp, we stopped at Trimble Park on the shore of Lake Beauclair and saw several of these little guys peeking their heads out of the water.

When we returned to the campground, a storm was brewing.

After about two hours of rain, we were glad we weren't checking out until tomorrow morning.

Watch the storm.

For more pictures, click here .

To be continued...

1 comment:

psajben said...

Seeing your photos and the writing of your blog makes me be able to see the United States as I would want to. You are doing what I would have loved to do. Your appreciation of the land and history shines through. You guys keep it up. Love, Phyllis

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