I hiked at Longleaf Pine Preserve in DeLand a few weeks ago (West Entrance, just east of I-4 on New York Avenue). It was deserted and flooded, but very scenic and I especially enjoyed walking along those wooden planks! I will be back to explore further during the coming months.
Hike #52: 52 Hike Challenge: Hontoon Island State Park, DeLand. Completed Hike #52 of 52 Hike Challenge at Hontoon Island State Park, followed by lunch at Bellini’s Deli (yes, I ordered roast beef and provolone!). The 52 Hike Challenge has been a great experience and I encourage anyone interested to just head out and get started! I always considered the completion of the 52 Hike Challenge as just the beginning – now I’m ready for more challenging hikes! See ya on the trails! Distance: 3 miles.
Here is a great shot of the Stetson University football team sometime between 1898 and 1910. Stetson University dropped football in 1956, but reinstated the sport in 2013. Today, the Stetson Hatters compete in the Pioneer Football League and play their home games at 6,000-seat Spec Martin Stadium in DeLand. In 2018, the Hatters finished their season 8-2, which was their first winning record since renewing the program.
As a student at Stetson University during the mid-1980s, I would often join a ritual mass exodus off campus each Friday afternoon after classes to a somewhat rundown but lively fish camp overlooking the St. John’s River just off State Road 44 that we called Otis’s and the locals referred to as Sloan’s (both names derived from then-owner Otis Sloan). There we would spend hours hanging out on the dock drinking cheap beer and watching the boats slowly drift by – great memories! According to a September 2, 1998, Orlando Sentinel article, Sloan and his wife Myrtle opened the Shady Oak Fish Camp in 1957. I passed through DeLand in 2015 and took the above photos of Otis’s and it looked pretty much the same as I had remembered it. The Shady Oak Restaurant, which is located at 2984 West New York Avenue just west of downtown DeLand, reportedly suffered a fire in 2017 but has fortunately reopened.
Wandering Florida 