A long time ago, I came across a website that featured a number of historic hikes through central Florida neighborhoods.  I was shocked to find Geneva, Florida on the list – Tiny’s hometown!  I vowed to one day take that hike through Geneva on horseback and explore all the secrets this little village has to offer.  Unfortunately, I can no longer find the website for the hike plan and the print out I’d made is at the barn waiting for me to complete the other half of the ride.  Therefore, the historical information I can provide will be somewhat limited, but the photos are pretty cool!  Come ride with us….

Just for a little bit of background on Geneva, it’s a small rural village northeast of Orlando Florida.  It’s about 12 square miles in size and as of the last census, there were about 2500 residents.  Geneva is horse country.  Much of the land is used for pasture for horses and cows, and even the occasional el paca!  You can’t go far in this town without seeing a horse or a pickup truck.  It’s a nice little town, there are lots of trails for hiking and biking and as I found out, there is a lot of history here!

One of the first things I noted is that people in Geneva like churches.  A lot.  For a place that calls two main streets “downtown” there is quite a variety of churches to be found.  They all have some amazing history and several of them have been around for the better part of the 19th century. 

Clockwise from top left: Missionary Baptist church, Methodist Church, Church of Christ, Baptist Church

The Methodist church is the oldest church still standing in Geneva, having been constructed at its present location in 1912.  The church was originally established on the shore of Lake Geneva in 1880.   The Baptist Church has been at the present location since 1927, after relocating several times during the previous 52 years.  The Church of Christ shown hasn’t been around for all that long (since 1951), but has a colorful history nonetheless!  Apparently in 1998, it was shown in the television show “E.R” which was filmed partially in Geneva!  In addition to these 4 churches, there are five others in the town.

As we continued our ride throughout the more rural sections of Geneva, we came across the old cemetary established in 1880.  It stands at the end of a long dirt road and houses the remains of many of Geneva’s military heroes and the founding families of the town.  Acording to the Geneva History webpage, there are 17 Civil War soldiers buried here.

Tiny and I continued on towards town along 1st Street in Geneva and passed by the old Geneva schoolhouse.  Volunteers in Geneva have been working hard for several years to restore this old schoolhouse and begin using it as a community center.  Actually, today is the grand opening!

We continued on past the schoolhouse and headed into downtown Geneva.  There aren’t many places in Florida where you can ride a horse down the sidewalk and not get stares!

The old Flynt & Rehbinder Store, which is now the Geneva Grocery and Feed Store, was built in 1915.  I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that it was featured in a Coke commercial in the 90’s.

We took our self portrait in the window of the Ole General Store!

As we headed back toward home, I reflected on all that I’d learned in our afternoon ride.  Geneva was a town that I’d lived in for several years, and yet I knew nothing of its history or the people who lived there and where they came from.  It was fascinating for me to catch this little glimpse of history and helped me understand why this tiny community has so much hometown pride.  One of these days I’ll complete the other leg of the ride – the one that encompasses the old Indian artifacts and the more rural locations.  Thanks for riding with me!  Much of the historical information I’ve shared has come from the Geneva Historical Society.  They have a great website with lots of information.  Until next time….

The shore of Lake Geneva; A falcon on a fencepost

A couple of weeks ago, Emma and I enjoyed a long trail ride on a lazy Sunday.  I know I’ve done a few virtual trail rides now, but this ride was one for the books.  We looped through the woods and rode down to the lake to let the girls (well, Abby, anyway) enjoy the water a bit.  Much to our surprise, as we approached the lake we noticed many vultures lurking around the water’s edge.  What, we wondered, could be going on?

Well, we never did discover “what was going on”  but there were hundreds of dead fish littering the beach.  I guess Tiny had the right idea wanting to stay as far as possible away from this water body!  For a brief moment, I forgot we were at the sandy shore of a lake in central Florida.  It looked like some rocky Atlantic beach from somewhere up north.  Well, at least until the smell brought me back to the present day and place…..

After we’d had our fill of eau de deadfish, we began meandering back home via the country road.  We were chatting amiably and our lazy girls were focused on putting one foot in front of the other and aiming straight toward home when we had another surprise.  This handsome fellow beckoned us over to say hi!

He and a couple of his buddies live just down the street from the barn and I’m sure we’ve passed him many, many times on our rides.  Never before has he initiated contact with us.  We wandered over to let the girls say hi and things got even more weird!

This little guy had no fear of us or the horses!  His buddies weren’t so sure and kept their distance, but this brave soul came straight over to visit.  Apparently he thought Tiny was pretty cute, and it didn’t take long for him to make his move!

Tiny received her very first bovine sMOOch!  Actually this was one of many, as the boy took quite a shine to my girl.  Not to be outdone, Abby moved in for her turn.  And the little man did not disappoint….

I bet his name is Romeo or Casanova – he has obviously done this before!

What? You want one too?

After we visited with Romeo for a bit we headed home – the girls refreshed from our break and Emma and I having a giggle over the interspecies love story!  

I had so much fun doing a virtual trail ride last month that I set out to get some more great trail shots again!  This time, Tiny and I (accompanied by a friend that served as assistant photographer) ventured through the woods down to visit Lake Harney and do some gator spotting.  Unfortunately no gators this time, but we did see a gopher tortoise hanging out next to the trail.  She was kind enough to pose for a few photos before we set out on our way.   Gopher tortoises are fairly common in wooded areas of Central Florida, but I haven’t seen many of them right along the trail like this.  It was a great start to our adventure!  

We continued on through a series of woodland trails and sand roads, heading toward our ultimate destination of Lake Harney.  Along the way we spotted many birds and lots of pretty foliage.  We had great fun snapping shots of our tracks in the sand!  

Photo courtesy of Hazem Behiry

Hoofprints in the sand

Lake Harney is a huge lake – about 6,000 acres –  that is very near Tiny’s barn.  I used to take Grady and Bella to the beach there to romp and play and we would walk the trails that pepper the woods along the shoreline.  Once, we saw an owl swoop down and grab a snake right in front of us!  The lake is always a good place for wildlife sightings and the water is teeming with alligators and fish.  It’s hard to believe that in the heavy rains we had last year, this whole area was flooded under several feet of water for almost a month.  

Tiny isn’t a fan of the water, but she does like to look around and see what is going on out here.  There is always something fun – airboats, birds, fisherman.  Not too much going on this day, just a man and his metal detector, scouring the beach. 

Although we didn’t see much wildlife on our trail ride this time, it was the perfect day to spend some time with my girl.  I hope you enjoyed the ride as much as we did! 

Photo courtesy of Hazem Behiry

For a long time now, I’ve been wanting to do a virtual trail ride post.  Until now, it’s never happened….mostly because I could never get it together enough to remember my camera, remember to charge my camera, or remember to actually take the photos.  Well, the planets aligned for me today and here are some photos of my Sunday fun and trail ride….sans Emma, but still amazing!  Enjoy…

Tiny and her girls

Keeping an eye on the cows

Me and my shadow

Ciao, Tiny! Until next time....