Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1876-10-06
The Pcrrysburg Boys in Florida.
soRnENro, Fla, Aug. 20, 1878,

DEAR - This is Sunday morning, Ed
Is away and am left alone. Ithas Just stop
ped raining. 1t has been raining hard for
about au hour and half. with shower before |
that, OF about an hour duration. The sun is |
shining brightly now. Sundays we generally |
spend reading aud writing, sometimes we take |
walk over u one of our neiehbors. The ne
groes hold church every In once a while nj their
school house, bni not regular. | believe that
they are holding school there new. There is |
quite large settlement Of them on what is
called Benton Prairie" which is not more
than a mile from here. They were all slaves
before the war, and we're owned by "A Mr.. Delt
who had plantation about miles from the
Prairie, where there is quite spring, which is
cdlled Rock Spring, the water springs from be-
meath large rack. hence the name. There
are several smaller springs around on the plan
tation. 1t is a lovely spot, large live oaks
near the springs, draped with the weeping
moss, large hickory trees, and vines running
over smaller trees, give tile place lovely ap-
praranee. There is an abundance of white
haws, what we call up noith thorn apples,
growing around the spot with lots Of plums
persimmons, grapes, &c. Speaking about
grapes reminds me Of the large Wild grRpe ar
bnr that passed through the other day, when
] was going after some sweet potatocs,the vines
run all over the trees, on both sides ui the
road for halfa mile in what is called hammock
land. They grow only on such places as the
bank ofstreams or springs such as Rock spring
Clay spring, &c. ! had heard Considerable Of
Clay spring, and one NOR ming jumped on the
pony and rode over to lbc spring, II is about
ten miles from here and Rock spring is between
here aud Clay spring ,sn ,nuS them both on he
trip. Tie latter isa very large ouP, throwing
water enough to float steamer. Imagine the
Maumee river starting n, M Nj. BeGcli's hill,
large spring at lie head Of the river, only
the bank is not so steep, but has a gradual
slope, and way back on the hill is the mansion
OF the old planter WHO first settled there, with
row Of Mulberry trees, and bitter sweet or
anges running from the Mansion down to the
spring. About half mile betw cen the spring
and the huuse there is n grove Of large live
oaks with grape vines running over them, seats
are scattered among the trees and a great ma ny
ladies and gentlemen come from a distance
and bring q lunch which they pattake Of under
the cool shade afforded by the live oaks, and go
IN bathing in the spring. The water is little
sulphury but not nea so much ms il used to be.
negro woman who has lived around in the
n,ighborhood nearly all her life told me that
the spring used to throw up large chunks Of
sulphur foot long. 1t is a splendid place to
go in bathing as the water comes up with such
force that it is impossible to sink. 1t bois up
and makes a noise resembling hugo tea ket-
tie. The plantation is desolation itself now, no
one lives in the huge mansion and the ground
is all covered with weeds, aud persimmtn trees
are springing up all over the place. Several
parties have wanted to buy the place and put up
large hotel but there is difficulty in getting
clear title TO the property. A neat little
steamer was lying on the bank with her boiler
taken out and placed under a shed. Some fu-
ture day will see fash ionable watering place
established there with a nice little steamer rnn-
ming down the Wekiva to the ST. Johns river
and down to Pilatka and Jacksonville.
| lam anxious to get my log cabin up so that
| | can get over on the homestead and get tn inss
| fixed up. have got seven or eight olea nders
started, both white md red some OF the s lips
| | secured while At Clay spring at the old Man
sion, and some got OF DR.. Mason, at the pop
ka. brought two Grape myrtle roots from
Rock spring, planted them at the door or where
intend the door shall be, but guess that the
hot sun was too much for them, they look as
thong h they were about dead. | shall get some
more and try again. ! dug spring near the
bank Of the lake, and placed n old fur bar
rel there, and to-day was over there and
see that the shower we had yesterday filled
that barrel full of needed water. ! shall be
| obliged to enlarge the hole and put the steps
back and cover IL all over with sumo sort Of
roof to prevent the water from running in.
sent some prckly pears he me that picked
OFF of plant which had a great many on |
don't know as they will reach you in fit condi-
ton to taste them but you must try and see
| whether they will grow. You know prickly
pear plant looks like cactus plant. and you
will discOve 7 VIII y they are called prickly pears
like the flavor Of them. but they have great
many seeds 10 them. They grow all over the
! woods.
Thinking you might like to know how / oc-
cupy my time down here in FOrids, | will tell
you what have been doing to-day Monday
while my supper is cooking. Ed has not got
back from Hawkensville yet, so l am alone.
have got on the stove pot of sweet potatoes,
and some sweet potatoes in the oven ba king, To-
gether with batch Of biscuits, have got so
that can cook as good biscuits as any one :
they are light AMI equal to the best. Mr..
Reeves was over here and saw some ot The OILS
cults on the shelf and wanted tn knew who
baked them; when he was told. he had t. beg
one 10 take to his wife and show her. Mrs.
| r. wanted to know some days before how we
lived without btead /; we etUld her We had bread
every day. Besides the potatoes and biscuits
have on some vents cooking. This morning
| went over to work about sunrise and worked
until about 10 A. NJ. when Mr.. Miner came aud
wanted me to 60 deer hunting, so left of work
and took a rife and started We went by the
way OF several settlers and called on them we
didn't see deer and did not expect to when
we started as we went by too many settlers for
deer. The other day saw four start from a
piece Of "serub" and run right by me one afIer z
the other. was on horse back and had no
gun so Of course lid not get any. | am back
to the cabin again and as the potatoes need
looking after, will close with love.
Yours, G. G. 4.