Lets Land at the Marsh Traditional Cache
Sticks & SkaryShari: Unable to get up to perform maintenance. This is a great place for a local cacher to place a new cache. We are archiving this
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Micro in Old Fellsmere. (Our 25th Hide!) BYOP.
The Fellsmere Estates Buildings was built in 1926 as the land sales office for the Fellsmere Estates Corporation founded by E. Nelson Fell. After the 16 inch floods in 1927 and the Depression in 1929, the Florida land boom crashed, as did the corporation. The building later became the headquarters for the Florida Crystal Sugar Company as sugar was the main commodity grown here through the early 1960’s.
A handful of Fellsmere residents remember getting their paychecks at the pay window that is still located at the southern outside door.
Subsequently the building was used as a municipal building. The City Council meetings were held in the large interior room that is now the main dining room and the police department occupied the north end of the building where the kitchen and office are now located. The concrete vault previously in that area was originally built to hold important documents for the corporation but while it was the police department, it reportedly held prisoners awaiting morning transportation to jail.
After a variety of other uses the building was sold and boarded up. After many code enforcement actions the City received the building back in the late 1980’s. In October 1995, Fran Adams bought the building at public auction for historic restoration purposes.
The building has elegance unmatched by modern buildings. The wood windows and door frames are the original cypress frames made from trees that were logged locally and cut in nearby lumber camps. The wainscot around the interior walls is the original tongue and groove ceiling. The wainscot was covered in years of old paint that was planed off then varnished to reveal the rich golden hues of the original wood. Most of the doors are original. Every effort was made to refurbish the building similar to the early days. The banquet room at the south end of the building was sectioned off the main room just as it is now and the two private dining rooms mimic the early executive offices of the sugar company.
We bring to you the early Florida boom and bust times when folks lived off the land and were still settling the wild yonder. We hope you enjoy your step back in time.
Congratulations to Wetoo on the First to Find.
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