Central Florida lakes have invited the world to live, work and play in a land of sunshine during the course of nearly two centuries. Its hundreds of glistening lakes have influenced where residents chose to live, vacationers where to lodge, and even the routes of meandering roadways needed to transport residents and visitors alike. As a matter of convenience, these waterways were named. At least three hundred central Florida lake names date to the 19th century, and of these, the origins of most had long been forgotten to history. The mission of Orlando Lakes: Homesteaders & Namesakes is to provide a different slant on Central Florida's origins by affixing history with named lakes - memorials of yesteryear. From Lakes George in the north to Tohopekaliga in the south, Poinsett in the east to Harris in the west, and many points between, each of the 300 historic lakes profiled in this book had Orlando in common when first settled. Eustis, Mt. Dora and Tavares began as Orange County communities. The same is true of Sanford, Altamonte and Kissimmee. Documents about each place were first recorded with an Orange County Clerk of Court at Orlando. Hence my title, Orlando Lakes America's Paradise became Central Florida's catchphrase of the 1880s, a time during which the wealthiest of Capitalists partnered with the bravest of Orange County pioneers, those remarkable homesteaders who took on the task of taming a wilderness. These early visionaries constructed railroads, planted tens of thousands of citrus trees, and then set out to subdivide homesteads into nearly 200 brand new towns. Many are today ghost towns, but most of the lakes these once-upon-a-time towns were built around survived the ages. The pioneers and planners of yesteryear have long since perished, yet many of the names they chose for central Florida lakes became permanent fixtures in this modern day metropolis. Each has an amazing eye-witness story to tell, both of family histories and of community histories. Orlando Lakes: Homesteaders & Namesakes includes an alphabetical index reuniting 450 family surnames with lakes their ancestors had played a role in establishing in decades past.
