I’m a Cracker and proud of it!

Having been born and raised in Florida and being married to a 5th generation Floridian I’ve always been fascinated with Cracker Culture.  I’m not talking about the pejorative term Cracker, but the nickname given to the pioneering families that settled Central Florida.  On Sunday the Sentinel published a story titled ”Central Florida’s Towns that Time Forgot” full of images and short narratives about Central Florida’s unique history.

The stories and images reminded me of the growing up years I spent on the Deseret Ranch hunting and fishing along the Econlockhatchee river in east Orange Country with my Father.  Walking through the pastures and wetlands of this area I often saw the remnants and traces of the bygone Cracker era.   Dilapidated turpentine stills and Cypress mills with their rusted artifacts proved an imagination stirring site for me.

With these haunting memories still a stir I had the good fortune of discovering the Florida Historical Society’s website and their weekly radio magazine Florida Frontiers. A visit to their show’s website offered an archive of truly fascinating Florida history.  The show airs on our local public radio station 90.7 WMFE on Thursday’s at 6:30 and you can subscribe to their podcast as well.

I’m seriously excited about exploring their archive and catching the show each week.  I hope it continues to stoke my desire to explore Central Florida’s unique history.  I’m sure you’ll be seeing other posts about Cracker Culture here in the future.  I never thought about A Local Folkus might also showcase the folks of Florida’s past but heck they’re pretty interesting too!

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