The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1884-04-15


FLORIDA TRAVEL.
Tnllahassee. ahe City Of ~.
TALLAHASSEE, March 90
waa Intensely hot at Sanford before IN. MIL, Il
March, and hotter still in Jacksonviiis m,odle Of
rea4hcd there from Fernandina on ths oS"neo We
proposed to look little At Middle Flor;da We
rietced friends warned me OF the discomfo. hxpe
railway ride from Jacksonville to Ta)aha.sa" OLA
disregardsd the warnings to my sorrow
dere follows an account of the 49,,
discomforts Of the trip from Jacksops;I.
to, Tallahassee, together with some A..
greeable experiences which we mu., !.
lieve to be unusual, but which havinc
CURED in one instance are suficien, 70 =
ter other travellers from incurrinp IL.
risk, even to be rewarded as the -.
respondent was by what he found a. ~.
end Of his route. The road property !.
all departments was suffered to run dov.
for long time, and those now in coD,,.,
cannot repair in few weeks the dec.
deDce of many years but we fully \.
. lieve that before travel opens for auoth..
season this road will equal others in Fla,
ida in excellence of track and equipmen,
Tallahassee has long been praised as the 49,
city Of the State of Flowers, and it deserve "a
pratse. 1t Is situated in rolling couptr, v see
a6uhdance OF bills and hard wood forests Con'isss
hitber from the everlasting iatness OF Eastern Pig
Ida one is charmed with the contrast doubt my.
If Northern people came here and saw the MI.
and surrounding country in March, whether e.
would consent to 20 elsewhere for winter quarts!
Il nka 90 10 l., E,I
all the roads In all directions are white with ~
Astounding blossoms. The city is an old and 49,. ~
tered city, almost every house surrounded bv :.
hower garden, with great variety or rosa. -,
other blossoms. The city ia literally one sst - 80
hill. IL is not very high hill but high enouvN, =
make 1t very breezy. The land falls away sudSeni,
and steeply fifty or a hundred feet all around X
Hard wood forests diversity the surrounding m,
country. There IL no palmetto scrub herea6on' NJ.
The farms are fenced. Fruit trees especially 49,.
and peach trees, are loaded with bossoms W.
20 longer In new country. This is land of ola
civilization and settled social existence Il atr,kss
me too that this is part of Florida which has ~.
yet fallen into the bands of Northern speculato,.
One doesn't hear any more about that eyerastln,
bore OF Eastern Florida orange groves, aud for
tunes to be made by buying acres OF sand TN ~.
broad verandah of he Leon Hotel fine large hot,
With large rooms, good table and ample attend
ance, the conversation is not, in Eastern Forid
wearisome sameness OF the price Of lands, the
growth of oranges and pineapples, the increase NJ
values and the splendid future insured to the man
or woman who will just give up all the worIs I sIsa
and bay lots and plant the yellow fruit trees The
people here seem to live for some of the oys of l6
besides speculation There is an old settled ouaitv
OF comfort in the look of Tallahassee saw ! ro.s
tnsh-~it should be called vine-this afternoon
which must have been more than fifty years grow.
ibp in the garden which it adorns. The vast stem
rising from the ground for fifteen feet was "A large
as my wrist, no small one, and the luxurant
branches wandered thirty forty feet in various
directions loaded with hundreds of grand white
and rfnh coleo
were host of brilliant roses of every hue ancient
bsshes which had shed their perfume and gaddened
the air Tor ancestors of those who now enjoy them
In the garden Of DR.. -, whose house Is near
the hotel, and who with characteristic Tallahassee
hospitality invited in and loaded us with flowers
we found snow drops and amarylls OF several var-
cites, daphne loaded the air with sweetness, the
banana shrub whose Odor is solid richness, innu
merabla roses the rare cedar Torreyd (whose odof
is not delicious but strange combination OF resin
GUS aroma and disagreeable smells), the sage palm
verbena surprising all our Northern growths, Japan
pinm tees, and host of other flower and fruit
trees.
The Capitol grounds in the southern end of the
city are laid out as garden with luxuriant plants
10 all directions as you walk around the CITY You
zee a wcalth of floral beauty There is nothing
elsewhere in Florida like this One might well be
content 40 live in such place.
Driving about the country we find hard roads
running. up and down hill, now with distant views
ever rolling land, now In hOllows where the trees
and vines brush and drag along the carriage top
Just now the Cherokee rose covers the low brush
aud sometimes the high trees, while the dogwood
the possum haw and the crab apples and wild plum
trees fill the forest with brightness and the air with
perfumes. Lake jackson, whose southern end is
about two miles from the city, is some twelve or
fourteen miles long. 1t abounds in bass. took
half dozsn with fly, casting from the shore under
a high hfutf, whereOn some one proposes TO build
large hotel. Lake Bradford Is smaller but more
beautiful lying three miles away on the other side
of the city. 1t is round pond, in setting of old
cypress trees which spring from the water along it's
shores, leaving here and there stretches of white
sGnd beach. | saw large alligator summing himself
there, and a white crane little way off solemnly
inspecting him.
Ii weary you with the praise of Tallahassee just
spetd month in Eastern Florida, on the st. Johns
or elsewhere and then come here and enjoy the
contrast.
There will soon be railroad leading here from
Thomasville, and thus Northern travellers may come
to this part of Florida by way of Augusta and Ma
con, avoiding the long fiat ride, OF unyarying ted
ousuess, by way of Wilmington, Savannah and
Jacksonville.
When IT Is possible to reach the Gulf coast by
this western or middle route, my prophecy is that
the currctit of pleasure travel will set steadily in
II Is direction. The high land section of Middle
Florida has vast superiority the eastern portion
ot the Suite for plessure-seekng travellers This
high land extends, with little interruption, down
The peninsula to the country described in former
letter, lying between Sanford and Tampa. 1t is
Aealthy country, With dry atmosphere, said to be
tree from swamp malaria, and vastly more beautiful
20 the eye w.