Wild Cows and Florida Crackers

While on our air boat tour we saw a lot of wild cows grazing in the marsh. And I mean IN.

Note the bird on the cow's back

In some spots the cows were up to their stomach in marsh grass

There was lots of good fodder there

Apparently these cows are descendants of cows brought to Florida by Spanish and then British settlers and were let free to wander and graze during the various wars that occurred during the early years of settling Florida.

Today they are owned by the large ranches that dot the prairies in this part of Florida but are still permitted to graze freely in the marsh. Once a year they are rounded up, the males are separated out for market and the females are returned to the marsh for another year.

The story about the cows really intrigued us and when we learned that Lake Kissimmie State Park brings Florida's cowboy heritage alive with living history demonstrations of the early Florida "cow hunters" in an 1876-era cow camp we had to go and have a look.

The cow camp is in its own area of the park:

It was quite a hike in to the main area through a beautiful oak hammock. Cow camps were built in oak hammocks because the marsh often caught on fire - mother's nature' way of house cleaning - but the hammocks were always protected by an area of water the fire could not jump.

On the way in signs introduced us to what we were about to experience.

The cow camp consisted of a shelter for the cow catchers, a corral for the cows and a separate one for the cow catchers horses.

The shelter is called a chickee and was most commonly used by the natives in Florida. It is built to face the wind with the fire in front so the wind blows the smoke into the chickee chasing out the mosquitos.

The chickee was equipped with everything a cow catcher would need to survive. Arch was most taken with the shot gun

The Florida Cracker cow catcher stayed in character the whole time we were there telling the same story over and over to different groups of people as they arrived:

Note the whip to his right. This is used to round up the cattle. They whirl it around and "crack" it. Makes a very loud popping noise - like a gunshot - the real origin of the term Cracker. Never is an animal touched with the whip. It would do too much damage.

As a point of interest. two weeks ago we ordered new lamps for beside our bed from Camping World. They came in yesterday so we went to pick them up. While there we noticed two RVers in the parking lot hooking their car to their motorhome using a Blue Ox tow bar, Arch was interested in how it works and went to chat with them.

Meet Jim and Bettye Hatch. Very delightful people and Jim is a Florida Cracker - ie the descendant of the original Florida cow catchers and ranchers.

Jim and Bettye have a home on a lake in Babson, Florida they would like to rent, which is not far from us here in Avon Park. A great, central area to explore Florida and visit Disney World, etc. $900 a month on a yearly basis, $1200 per month if seasonal. If you are interested let me know and I will put you in touch with them.

And the new light look great don't you think?

A Visit to "Cracker Country"

We had no idea what a Florida Cracker was before we started out to visit Myakka River State Park on New Years Day. Sounded pretty insulting don't you think. It turned out to be just the opposite.

Florida cracker refers to original colonial-era English and American pioneer settlers of the remote back country of southern Florida, and their descendants. The first of these arrived in 1763 when Spain traded Florida to Great Britain. They cleared the land, created cattle and horse ranches and thrived under incredibly difficult conditions - before the era of air conditioning, bug repellent and other modern conveniences that make life in southern Florida bearable. The problem is, that by doing so, they cleared this "dry prairie" of all its natural vegetation and wildlife.

Myakka River State Park, one of Florida's oldest and largest parks, was established to preserve some of the original wild prairie as defined on the park's website:

"Dry Prairies are large native grass and shrublands occurring on very flat terrain interspersed with scattered cypress domes and strands, bayheads, isolated freshwater marshes, and hardwood hammocks. This community is characterized by many species of grasses, sedges, herbs, and shrubs, including saw palmetto, fetterbush, staggerbush, tar flower, gallberry, blueberry, wiregrass, carpet grasses, and various bluestems. The largest areas of these treeless plains historically occurred just north of Lake Okeechobee. In central and south Florida, palmetto prairies, which consist of former pine flatwoods where the overstory trees have been thinned or removed, are also included in this category. These sites contain highly scattered pines that cover less than 10 to 15 percent of an area."

On the way over to the park from Avon Park we quickly drove through a land populated by vast tracts of citrus trees and into an area of very large cattle and horse ranches. And wide open spaces. Cracker country. Quite unexpected in over crowded Florida.

Then as we followed the signs to the entrance to the park we entered a hammock (click on photo to enlarge):

A beautiful, cool forest of oak and palm trees. 

The park offers many opportunities to explore and discover a Florida from days gone by. There are miles of hiking trails, a guided tram ride, a 1 hour trip on an air boat, bikes, canoes and kayaks for rent. As Tara can no longer walk very far we really appreciated the fact that we could drive through the entire park making stops for short hikes to see its main features.

First stop was at a bridge crossing the Myakka River where alligators were basking in the sun. This big guy was right beside the bridge - walk in and pet him if you dare.

The river was full of them - very well disguised:

And its banks were lined with them:

Locals tell us that alligators can run at 35 miles per hour for 50 feet. However, they can only run in a straight line so zig zag to avoid them. I think I will stay 50 feet away.

After spending some time with the alligators (so to speak), we hiked in to the Canopy Walkway. This walkway is built 100 feet through the treetops and allow visitors to view the hammock forest from above.

At the end of the walkway is a 75 foot tower:

Which we climbed for a spectacular view of the forest and prairie beyond.:

Next was the birdwalk, a boardwalk that allows you to walk out into the marsh to view the birds of the area:

There are a lot of native birds unfamiliar to us;:

Here is a closeup of the list:

The air boat ride looked like fun but out of the question for us as Tara was with us:

Tomorrow, Jan 4 we are leaving Tara with a dog sitting service and going on an air boat nature tour. Really looking forward to that.