An Extremely Brief History of Milk in Florida

Writing last month's article about the Pine Ridge Dairy made me realize that Florida is not known for milk production. Citrus, sugar and cattle yes, but not milk.

Back around 1900 Floridians didn't put milk in coffee or consume much milk at all. In Leesburg if you wanted milk you'd stop the "dairy on foot" which was a farmer walking his cow down the street and buy a quart of raw milk. It would be warm and creamy, neither pasteurized nor homogenized.

The Dairy on Foot

Milk consumption did go up in the early 1900s because northern snowbirds from big cities liked milk with their tea, coffee, cereal, rice pudding and creamy desserts. But that was a pain in the ass because a dairy cow kept producing 7 gallons of milk a day in the summer whether the farmer wanted it or not.

Cooling milk after Pasteurization

Real demand for milk started around 1920 when it was shown that children who drank milk regularly were better developed, healthier and stronger so the state got involved in the marketing and development of a Florida dairy industry and introduced milk into schools.

Next time you are cycling in Leesburg make sure you don't run into that farmer with his cow!

Pine Ridge Dairy Farm

If you've been on the club ride around Spring Lake to Fruitland Park then at the end of Cut Off Road you will have turned left on Pine Ridge Dairy Road. Twenty years ago if you had turned right instead of left it would have led you to the Pine Ridge Dairy Farm.

Pine Ridge Dairy Farm 2010

For over 50 years, Bernice Ellen Jeffcoat tended herds of Holsteins on her nearly 1,000 acre farm passing long days from early morning milking to evening roundups. It was a tough but noble life which got tougher with the consolidation of the dairy industry. But Bernice loved the land and her cattle and although losing money she hung on until the end. When she passed away in 2006 at the age of 81 the farm was still her home.

Pine Ridge Village 2024

Later on The Villages was able to purchase a tract of the farm which it has named Pine Ridge Village and I remember the construction of Moyer Loop in 2015. Of course the loop was strictly prohibited to non construction traffic at the time but one day Dave Rooney posted a ride around it on Strava, he may have been the first. Since then we've all cycled around the loop many times. The next time around the loop, just west of Webster Way, you will pass right through the site of the Pine Ridge Dairy barn and may sense the aura of the cattle that were milked there for 50 years.

Click here for Strava route information.

The Fruitland Park Casino

Casino, is an interesting word. It conjures up images of the lavish, pretentious and luxurious gambling emporiums in places like Monaco or Las Vegas but it can also mean a place for social activities.

The Fruitland Park Casino

The Fruitland Park Casino was of the latter variety and was built in 1914 by George Clark on the property of his Gardenia Hotel. The wood frame building had a metal roof, a long wide porch, low eaves, and a breezeway. Inside it had a large stage, and ladies' and men's dressing rooms, each with their own bathroom. The Casino also featured amenities such as running water, electric lights, and steam heat. Many dances, plays and other social events were held there and it also served as a meeting place for clubs and civic organizations like the Fruitland Park Chamber of Commerce. During the World Wars, women and school children met there to knit mufflers, sweaters, and socks for servicemen.

Original walls and windows in the lobby of the new library

Activities continued, and The Casino was declared a Florida Heritage site in 2015 but in 2017 the ancient structure was deemed unsound and it was razed to the ground. The City of Fruitland Park has now built a new library on the site where windows and parts of the exterior walls and flooring from The Casino were used in the construction of the entrance lobby.

The new Fruitland Park library

George Clark may have been ahead of his time if we consider The Fruitland Park Casino to be an omen for The Villages of the future. It had a recreation center - The Casino - and many social and cultural activities for 100 years prior to The Villages providing similar amenities in the adjacent Village of Pine Ridge in Fruitland Park.

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Floral City - Boom to Bust and Back Again

Around 1800, Seminole Indians were settled in the area we now know as Floral City. But following the Seminole Wars the 1842 Armed Occupation Act gave 160 acres to any man who lived on it, kept a gun and ammunition, and farmed 5 acres for 5 years. The legislation effectively encouraged settlers to move in and the Seminoles to move out.

Picking Oranges - Ferris Groves circa 1900

By the late 1800's, Floral City was exporting citrus, sugar cane and timber. Harvests were shipped to northern markets by steamboat via the 5 mile long Orange State Canal which was dug in 1884 and connected Lake Tsala Apopka to the Withlacoochee river.

Steamer on the Orange State Canal circa 1890

In 1893 the railroad arrived and with it phosphate deposits were found causing a boom which by 1900 had attracted around 10,000 miners. It made Floral City one of the largest towns in Florida with hotels and an infrastructure to support the community. But things slowed down with the great winter freezes of 1894/95.The citrus industry wouldn't recover for 20 years. Another setback followed when the phosphate mines went south - to Bartow.

Ferris Groves on Hwy 41 1955

Citrus recovered when "Doc" Ferris, who had bought Duval Island during the land boom planted orange trees instead of building the golf course he had originally planned. He covered 350 acres with 31,000 trees, built a packing house, and nearly everyone in Floral City worked for him through the great depression and the war years. All went well until the Christmas deep freeze of 1989 which wiped out the groves for the last time.

The Shamrock Inn 2024

Today, the railroad is gone and the old road bed is now the Withlacoochee State Trail which we ride on. East Orange Avenue, Floral City's main street, has many beautiful old homes and the Shamrock Inn is always good for lunch. Continue east on East Orange and you will cross the Orange State Canal when you ride over the bridge to Duval Island.

For route information and more pictures click here

Bugg Spring

Legend has it that around the year 1900 nine year old Billy Bugg, his mule and wagon fell into this spring one morning while he was getting water. Billy drowned but his name lives on.

Bugg Spring 1929 - photo: Florida Memory

Bugg Spring lies between Lake Denham and Hwy 470 about a mile east of Dabney Recreation Center. It's a second category spring producing about 5.5 million gallons of water per day and flows into Lake Denham near Helena Run. It has a large 400 feet wide steep sided pool and is very deep at 175 feet.

Bugg Spring

It would be a wonderful club ride destination if the the Naval Undersea Warfare Center hadn't purchased the property in 2011. The springs huge volume of deep, quiet and still water has an ambient noise level below sea state zero and the navy uses it for the calibration of submarine noise and surface ship tactical towed sonar arrays. Among other things. 

Among other things? Well some time ago I was enjoying a coffee and donut at the Brownwood Dunkin while chatting to one of our members who it turned out was a submarine chaser when he was in the Navy. I mentioned Bugg Spring and he seemed to think that in quiet water like that they'd also be locating and listening to ships and submarines in the Atlantic. 

Bugg Spring Road

So, believe it or not, you can't just stop by and visit but you can get an authorization to see the facility here. Tell them you'd like to see the manatee and alligators, good luck.

While Bugg Spring is not a top secret naval facility, if you do not see me out on my bike for a while after the publication of this article you probably shouldn't ask too many questions.

For route information and more pictures click here