Hiking Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller
Date: November 12, 2024
We hiked a one-mile-thick hammock trail of scrub palm, palm trees, oak and Spanish moss, thick hammock, and mango trees. I picked up some unusual yellow cherry sized seeds from one tree. It was very humid and 82 degrees. The trail ended at the Mosquito Lagoon where every morning many manatees are seen.
Native Americans and a few woodsmen lived off the land in this area prior to the settlement of Eldora in 1876. By 1900, the population reached 200 people. Settlers tried citrus farming & had a few successful years. But since the land sat at the edge of two temperature zones here, in the 1890’s two years of killing frost wiped out most of the citrus causing residents to leave and find work elsewhere. We visited the Eldora House built in 1912, which seemed to be the only structure left of the once small settlement. Inside the house were historical photos and displays from the past.
