Florida Living

Downtown Palm Harbor

What started as the Bay St. Joseph Post Office in 1878, became Sutherland in 1888 and was then renamed Palm Harbor in 1925. During the land boom of the 1920s, investors sought to develop the area using the original Sutherland plan. However, the end of the land boom, the depression and World War II ended that effort.

Today this 30-square-mile unincorporated area is one of Pinellas County’s fastest growing residential communities. Palm Harbor incorporates small-town friendliness in a thriving community, offering the charm of a suburban setting with all the amenities and conveniences of a nearby metropolis. Unlike most of coastal Florida, the terrain here is not flat. Palm Harbor rises gently from the Gulf of Mexico to an average elevation of 25 feet, with some land as high as 80 feet, above sea level.

Florida's Black
Heritage Trail

When traveling through the state of Florida, most visitors have heard about Cape Canaveral, Sea World, Key West and other prominent travel spots. How many are aware, though, of Fort Mose? Butler Beach? or Eatonville? These are a few of the more than 100 Black Heritage Trail sites. From Pensacola to Key West, these sites tell the story of the rich history and contributions of Florida’s African-American communities.

Red Barber Looks Back

In my years of big league broadcasting, I got to know hundreds of ball players, including Satchel Paige. Old Satch, supposed to be 43 when he joined Cleveland in 1948, was both a pitcher and a philosopher. (I don't think anybody ever really knew his age.)

Had Branch Rickey broken the color line 25 years sooner, Satchel would have put records in the book that would be unbelievable. As a grass roots philosopher he would say such things as, "Don't never look back, 'cause something might be gaining on you."

Myth or Monster? Tales of the Florida Skunk Ape

It was like a scene out of those old movies teenagers used to watch at drive-ins 50 years ago. It was Jan. 9, 1974, at dawn, and Hialeah Gardens police, with support from two helicopters, fanned out and searched the swamp near the intersection of US 27 and Hollywood Boulevard. They were trying to find the monster...the Skunk Ape.

They didn’t find the monster, but the episode made the Miami Herald and other news media. Reporters’ accounts of the incident reveal that shortly before 1 a.m., motorist Richard Lee Smith, 35, of Hollywood reported to Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Charles Marrs that he had struck a seven- or eight-foot hairy creature on the roadway. He said the creature growled at him, charged at his Cadillac and then limped away. It sounded pretty far-fetched until other drivers reported to police that they, too, saw the beast limping along U.S. 27.

Florida Ranch Tours

The Sandhill Crane’s scolding wale seems to say “move on trespassers” as the Florida Ranch Tours open-air bus eases to a stop, allowing visitors a bird’s-eye view of the boisterous red-crowned cranes.

Around the next bend, a young boy points excitedly toward the roadside ditch and cries, “Look Mommy, alligator!” Everyone rushes quickly to that side of the bus for an up-close inspection of a wild Florida dinosaur in its natural environment. To prove that there’s a bit of fisherman in all of us, the little four-foot alligator is described by one enthusiastic observer to be at least 6 or 7 feet long—a claim unanimously affirmed by the others. Such is the way of the wild outdoors,­ where things often seem larger and more dangerous than they really are.

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