If you enjoy visiting historical sites, you’ll relish this one. The Ponce Inlet Lighthouse & Museum was established in 1887 and is considered a National Historic Landmark. All the dwellings and support buildings remain intact. Located between St. Augustine and Cape Canaveral, Mosquito (now Ponce) Inlet was the recommended choice of the U.S. Lighthouse Board. … Read more
We enjoyed our self-guided tour through the Stetson Mansion in Deland, FL. The place is known for its massive Christmas decoration display that is amazing and unique. Built in 1886 for hat manufacturer John B. Stetson, the house deployed Edison electricity, steam heat, a call bell system, and running water for all three floors. It … Read more
When you watch a Hallmark Christmas movie, the setting is often a big cosmopolitan city or small-town USA. I love living in the suburbs, because the city amenities are a short drive away while you live in an area with greenery and where people get to know you. Our small city has its own library … Read more
Built in 1884 for carpenter William H. Waterhouse, the Waterhouse Residence Museum at 820 Lake Lily Drive in Maitland, FL is available to the public for a peek into the late Victorian era. William and his wife, Sarah, had two children. Charles and Stella lived in the house after them, and soon Stella was left. … Read more
Research Insights – Shipwrecks and Suspense I like adding bits of history into my mysteries. In Facials Can Be Fatal, I mined our Florida past concerning shipwrecks. Did you know the waters off Florida teem with sunken vessels? Spanish galleon ships alone may account for up to forty wrecks off our coast. Millions of dollars … Read more
Located on Marathon in the Florida Keys, this 63-acre hidden oasis has nature trails, a tram ride, historical houses, and a nature museum hidden away near the highway at mile marker 50. We bypassed the orientation film to stroll down the tree-lined paths in a mile-and-a-half loop. If you’re not a walker, you can take … Read more
Research Notes: Pirates – Fact or Fiction? Pirates have always fascinated readers. Witness the myriad romance novels wherein the hero, or even the heroine, is a pirate. How about the swashbuckling movies featuring pirate heroes? Yet for all their romantic image, these scourges of the high seas reaped death and destruction in their wake. We … Read more
My brother has exhibited model trains ever since I can remember. So when he came to visit and we noticed a Transportation Exhibit at the Plantation Historical Museum, it became imperative for us to make a trip there. The exhibit included displays by the Florida Citrus Model Train Society. Below is a replica of an … Read more
We have seafaring pirates, and we have book pirates. Let’s talk about the former type first. Last weekend, my husband and I went to an exhibit at Plantation Historical Museum about Florida pirates. The seas off the coast of Florida have seen many shipwrecks along with pirates who’ve taken advantage of our broad coastline. I’ve … Read more
New Release: Florida Escape In 1935, my father and two fellow adventurers headed to South Florida hoping to discover an idyllic paradise. Instead, they found boggy wastelands, rats and mosquitoes, sticks of dynamite, black panthers, rushing rivers, and skunks. An explorer at heart, Harry I. Heller had already spent one summer hitchhiking 12,000 miles across … Read more