Jan. 21, 2008 - Florida Crackers
If you've read this book... you know what they are
During the Christmas season, I like to lighten our homeschool load. It makes our lives a whole lot easier. There are just so many great things to do - I don't want to miss them, and I don't want to stress out during my most favorite time of the year. So... this year between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Alexis worked on a Florida unit study.
I lived in South Florida for almost 20 years before we moved to the middle of the state. Until we did, I had never heard of the "Florida Crackers." Little did I know that just a couple of hundred miles to the north west of where we used to live, there once lived a group of colorful mostly Scot-Irish pioneers who came from the deep south to try their hand at making something out of the seemingly un-farmable sandy soil. Historically speaking, it was not that long ago either. The last of what are called "Cracker Houses" were built somewhere in the 1930's. Now that we live in the middle of the state, I am continuing to learn about the Crackers. Alexis is too!
Part of Alexis' Florida unit study included reading Strawberry Girl, by Lois Lenski. It is a great historical fiction book that is slightly hard to read at times because of the Cracker's slang, but quiet amusing and enjoyable. As we were wrapping up the final chapters, I noticed in the newspaper that Ft. Christmas was having their annual Cracker Christmas celebration. I love when things like that happen. How could we resist this field trip? Well we couldn't. As it was a spur of the moment thing, we went by ourselves.
Below are photos from the field trip. Alexis took most of them. As she was taking them, she was trying to capture things in the book. Very cool! I thought she did a great job.
So... if you've read the book, (and you have a good memory) you'll understand what some of these pictures are all about.
When Birdie went to church, we somehow didn't picture it being one this small.
Do you suppose the wood burning stove that Ma got looked like this?
Remember when Mr. Slater branded Birdie's brothers heifer?
This whip is at least 20 feet long. When the gentleman "cracked" it, the sound it
made was as loud as a gunshot. It is believed that the cracking sound of the
whip is what gave the Florida Cracker's their name. Many were ranchers who
horse drove their cattle to Tampa for sale cracking their whips all along their route.
This is a Cracker house that was just recently brought to Ft. Christmas. They will
restore it and add period furniture. Obviously we could not tour this house.
A tour guide in this Cracker home mentioned that a descendant of the original
owner had been there the day before as a tourist. She was actually born in this
house. This was her Grandmother's bedroom. Most or all of the furniture in
this room was original to the home.
Both Alexis and I have toured parts of Ft. Christmas before, but this time we
went with new eyes looking for the many details that Lois Lenski described in
Strawberry Girl. In addition to the tours of historical homes and Pioneer
demonstrations, the event included a craft show. Normally the craft show
would be the highlight of a visit to anywhere for both Alexis and me - anytime
hands down. We both love crafts and we both love to shop. This trip was
different. History was the highlight. Yes!!! I encourage anyone who reads
this to buy or borrow a historical fiction book and go take a field trip!
