Winter Garden and Lake Apopka Keep up with the Times

Clock tower on one side of the West Orange Rec. Trail with a budding bird of paradise in the foreground.


A splendid fountain on the rec. trail, notice the citrus labels on the base of the fountain.

Hibiscus flowers along part of the West Orange Recreational Trail

On the south shore of Lake Apopka, sits the charming little city of Winter Garden. And at the rate it's growing, little will soon not be an appropriate adjective. Historically this was a major center for the citrus industry in central Florida. Its position on the western edge of Orange County put it right amongst some of the richest citrus producing lands in the whole peninsula. The sandy hills which surround Lake Apopka were perfect for giving the right drainage to citrus trees in Florida's fifty plus inch rainfall. The conditions produced optimal growth and helped turn its largest grove owners into magnates. Among those were my great uncle Chester, whose Sky Top grove, just over the Lake County line a few miles west of downtown Winter Garden, allowed him to become the first grower to ship over a million crates of oranges way back in the nineteen thirties. The agricultural legacy of Winter Garden made the town wealthy, but it also boxed it in. As long as the groves around town were gold (orange) mines, there was no incentive to develop the land into anything else. A good grove could easily produce over a thousand dollars a year per acre in profits, in 1950's dollars! Wealthy folks were attracted here to the genteel lifestyle an elegant home surrounded by fragrant groves scented with orange blossoms might afford. The town of Oakland, immediately bordering Winter Garden on the west was particularly favored by the moneyed crowd. One eccentric and beautiful New York socialite who maintained a columned mansion there passed into legend back in the nineteen twenties when she was stopped in Winter Garden for speeding on her way in to Orlando for a party at the Country Club. Informed by the officer that the fine was ten dollars, she reportedly handed him a twenty and said," Honey, you might as well keep all of that 'cause I'm planning on speeding back through later on my way home!"

Winter Garden Train Station and water tower.
The West Orange Historical Museum

The famous Chessie caboose A view from one of the downtown cafes of West Orange Rec. trail that runs through the downtown district

Clock tower with the EdgeWater Hotel in the background
Check-in desk at the Edgewater Hotel
Lobby of the Edgewater Hotel

In the seventies things really began to change. Cheap imports from Latin America, particularly Brazil, began to undermine prices. And then came the devastating freezes of 1984 and 1988/89. The freeze in mid-decade killed most of the trees in the northern Ridge Area, as this section was known. A few growers attempted to replant a portion of their land in new trees. When back to back freezes in the winter of 1988/89 wiped out the rest of the plantings, the economics of the situation doomed the industry to essentially abandon the Orange and central Lake County areas altogether. The land simply was too valuable as real estate to bother to try citrus growing any more. My cousins sold the Sky Top and the land was immediately gobbled up by developers. The National Triathlon Center, along with Florida Hospital, Lake/Sumter Community College, numerous shopping centers and thousands of homes now occupy the rolling hills that once hosted millions of dark green Valencia Orange trees.
Hydroponic greenhouse on the roof of the garden supply store.

Window ad for the hydroponic growing method

The stagnation of the citrus business was reflected in the moribund shape of downtown Winter Garden. Fortunately this meant that the charming buildings erected in the town's heydays of the teens through the nineteen forties were left to molder. In the 1990's, when development took off on the nearby deserted citrus hills, the sensibilities of the country had turned to a preservationist mindset that allowed the central business district to flourish. It is one of the best examples of urban revitalization in the entire southeastern United States.

Wheelworks bike shop, a perfect location with the recreational trail in its vicinity.

Winter Garden has awakened to find itself as the boutique shopping and dining mecca for the tiny suburbs of west Windermere and its own upper middle class developments south of town. It's population has more than doubled to over thirty thousand and at present rates could reach fifty in a few years. The channeling of the West Orange recreational Trail right through downtown has been augmented by charming landscape features such as fountains, arbors, brick gazebos and more. The Opening of two museums, The West Orange Historical and The Central Florida Railroad, along with the revitalizing of the historic Edgewater Hotel, the Garden Theater and a beautiful new art deco style city hall have all created the impetus for the burgeoning of art galleries, restaurants, boutiques and other businesses that make the downtown experience here approach the charm of more established destinations like Winter Park and Mount Dora. One restaurant in particular, The Chef's Table, has been rated as one of the top restaurants in the entire metro area The meals are all three course prix fixe for fifty a person, twenty dollars more adds a wine pairing with each course. And the offerings, best described as nouvelle American are simply wonderful. The location in the historic Edgewater Hotel creates a perfect ambiance. The Edgewater played elegant host to wealthy sportsman who frequented Winter Garden starting in the 1920's for the unparalleled bass fishing on Lake Apopka.

Moon Cricket Grill, a great restaurant to eat at in the downtown area.

The new city hall completed in 2008

The revitalized Garden TheatreShot of the long dock stretching out into Lake Apopka

That Lake was once the second largest lake in Florida, but in 1941, to help provide food for the war effort, 20,000 acres along the lake's north shore were drained for vegetable production. The fertile muck proved a bonanza and the area's Zellwood sweet corn was celebrated as some of the country's best. Unfortunately the fertilizers used to push production ended up causing massive degradation of the lake's water quality due to rampant algae bloom. By the late eighties, the lake was on its last legs. What had been home to 22 fish camps and multi-million dollar commercial fishery was a green soup that was impossible to see through. In the thirties, and even into the forties, the spring fed lake was so clear you could see the sandy bottom even in areas ten or more feet deep.

Sky and water meeting. Far off in the distance on the other side of the lake is the city of Apopka

The park that borders Lake Apopka in Winter Garden

Map and wildlife of Lake Apopka

Fortunately it was around this time that the state and federal governments launched a program to spend hundreds of millions of dollars buying up the farms along the north shore. These were converted to wetlands that have resumed there natural function as vital habitat for a wide array of magnificent and exotic bird species. Algae growth is down 75 percent and in five to seven more years the lake will be well on its way to resuming the health it had prior to 1950. Another decade or more after that might see it in its original pristine condition. As the headwaters of the Harris chain of lakes, into which it empties through the Beauclair Canal, it ultimately feeds the Ocklawaha River and after that, the St. John's River. The health of Lake Apopka is essential to the well-being of all the vital waterways which it supplies. It looks like for now, both the city of Winter Garden and it's neighboring lake are headed for bright futures. The restoration of both natural and historical assets is a happy marriage that should serve as a beacon to the whole region.