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Historic City Memories: The big freeze

December 1, 2009
A Tree Remembered
Part I of a two-part series.
By Geoff Dobson



At one time, Davis Shores with its Australian pines, when viewed from Bay Street, had a tropical appearance much like a small island in the Bahamas or one of the keys in Florida.

The Australian pine is not, of course, really a pine tree but a tropical tree sometimes called a “casuarina.” The trees gave the island an appearance of elevation disguising the fact that Davis Shores was a pumped up mudflat.

The trees had been planted by J.D. Thompson. The trees were disliked by some, not the least of which was the St. Augustine City Commission which made the planting of Australian pines illegal in most of the city. The tree roots have a tendency to attack sewers.

Additionally, the variety of Australian pines planted in Davis Shores had a proclivity of suckering. The trees have been declared by environmentalists as “invasive.”

In coastal areas of Florida in the days before modern mosquito control, the shade of the Australian pines also provided harbor for great swarms of mosquitoes. During the day, it was possible to go out into the sun, but forget going into the shade. One would be devoured. Today with mosquito control, we tend to forget what real salt water mosquitoes were like in the summer. In the summer in Florida, it was unthinkable to go outside in shorts or with short sleeved shirts. One could literally wipe the mosquitoes off an arm or one’s forehead.

Nevertheless, the Australian pine has proven to be useful. It was commonly used for windbreaks to protect citrus groves and other agricultural crops against the occasional cold of winter. In addition to providing a tropical appearance the wind blowing through the tree makes a beautiful whispering sound.

Years ago most houses in Florida lacked air conditioning. Indeed, the writer’s present house is the first one he ever lived in that had air conditioning. Some time back, the writer lived in a concrete block house. The only cooling was from a giant fan in the central hallway which took the air in the house and blew it out through the attic. The temperature in the various rooms was controlled by opening windows and opening and closing doors. The bedroom was on the southwest side of the house. In the summer, the heat of the afternoon sun would be absorbed by the concrete block walls which would then radiate the heat out at night so the room would never cool.

The solution was to plant an Australian pine outside the bedroom which would shade the southwest corner of the house. Thus the walls would not heat up and radiate heat at night. The windows on that side could be opened and the large fan would then suck cool night time air into the bedroom. At the same time, the writer could be lulled to sleep by the soft tropical sound of the breeze whispering though the pine.

In newer houses, because of various governmental codes, one can no longer enjoy the sounds of whispering Australian pines or the sounds of distant surf. The government has decreed that modern houses have heat to meet requirements of habitability. Many old timers in Florida grew up in houses that were heated with a simple kerosene fueled Coleman stove located in a central hall. If it got cold, one simply put on an additional sweater and an extra blanket or comforter on the bed.

The government does not require air conditioning, but the government has decreed that the house must meet certain energy efficiency standards. This requires that the walls and the “fenestrations” of the house meet specified “R” values. Leave it to governmental bureaucrats to use words such as “fenestrations” rather than a simpler term that old cowboys can understand such as “windows.” The effect of the “R” values and the decrees relating to double pane windows is to eliminate old-fashioned cross ventilation and require that the house be air conditioned.

The writer had an office in a typical St. Augustine house that had been built in 1882. When the building was renovated, it was required to meet the current codes. To meet the “R” values all of the windows had to be sealed shut. The only way of getting outside air was through the doors. The effect was to require that the building be heated and air conditioned year round.

In January 1977, a devastating freeze hit Florida. In Pensacola, it got down to nine degrees, ice formed along the shore of Pensacola Bay, it snowed, and the writer’s water pipes froze and burst within the walls of the house. But the writer was able to build a snowman in the front yard. It snowed in West Palm Beach, the first time in recorded history.

On Davis Shores, the Australian pines froze. Australian pine is a hardwood, extremely dense. It is expensive to remove a dead Australian pine. For days the sound of chain saws filled the air.

Along salt run there was mangrove. The mangrove froze. In the center courtyard of the Lightner Building there were beautiful scarlet bougainvillea espaliered against some of the walls. They froze as did the ones in front of Flagler College.

Robellini Palms which have a cold tolerance to 20 degrees F. froze. Reclinata palms which have a cold tolerance to 22 degrees F. froze.

On Davis Shores some of the Australian pines began to come back from the roots as did the bougainvillea.

In 1989 another freeze hit St. Augustine. Ice closed all the bridges across the St. Johns River north of Palatka. The Bridge of Lions was closed due to ice until sand was spread on the bridge. Interstate highways I-10 and I-75 became scenes of many accidents caused by cars skidding on “black ice.”

At the Elks Lodge, a Christmas Party was given for the children. Santa had to walk across the Bridge of Lions and hitchhike to the lodge. It took the writer eight hours to drive to Tallahassee from St. Augustine.

The Australian pines of Davis Shores are now gone. The freezes, however, were not the worst to hit St. Augustine.

Next week: The death of the citrus industry in Northeast Florida.

http://www.historiccity.com/2009/staugustine/news/florida/historic-city-memories-the-big-freeze-ii-2223

Historic City Memories: The big freeze II

December 10, 2009
The Death of the citrus industry in Northeast Florida
Part II of a two-part series.
By Geoff Dobson



At one time, St. Johns County had a large and thriving citrus industry. The days of that citrus industry are recalled in names found in Northeast Florida: Orange Park, Mandarin, Satsuma, Orange Mills, Orange Springs, Orange Lake, Island Grove, Citra, and Fruit Cove.

Shortly after the founding of St. Augustine, Don Pedro Menendez reported to the King the planting of oranges in St. Augustine. During the British Period, Governor Grant commented on extensive citrus groves throughout Florida. Indeed, in the late 1700’s, Jessie Fish established on the Anastasia Island the first commercial citrus grove in Florida. From St. Augustine, Fish shipped his oranges to Savannah and from there to England. By the time of the Civil War, Col. Francis Dancey, an early mayor of St. Augustine, had established a citrus plantation near Hastings. It was on that plantation that the Dancey tangerine was discovered.

Prior to 1835, oranges were grown not only in Florida but in South Georgia and southeastern coastal South Carolina. Oranges were planted by the Spanish in the original capital of Florida, Santa Elena, in what is now South Carolina. In 1835, a freeze ended citrus in South Carolina and Georgia. On February 9, the freeze came to St. Augustine. According to D. J. Browne, prior to 1835, St. Augustine was producing between 2 to 2 1/2 million oranges a year. Colonel Dancey reported that trees a hundred years old were killed to the ground. Max Bloomfield described the scene:

“In January, 1766, the thermometer sank to 26° above zero. The only snow-storm remembered was during the winter of 1774; the inhabitants spoke and thought of it as the “white rain.” But the coldest weather ever known in Florida or St. Augustine was in February, 1835, when the thermometer sank to 7° above zero, and the St. John’s River froze several rods from the shore. This freeze proved a great injury to St. Augustine, for it killed every fruit tree in the city, and deprived the majority of the people of their only income. The older inhabitants still remark, that the freeze of 1835 cost most of them their all.”

But the groves were replanted. For the next fifty-one years, St. Augustine experienced a period of warm winters. St. Johns County and northeast Florida became the center of Florida’s citrus industry. By 1894, Florida was shipping over 5,000,000 crates of citrus northward. Before a frost warning service was established in Florida, warnings of coming frosts was giving by placing placards on south-bound trains and blowing the train whistles.

Christmas, 1894, was warm. In Orlando, it was in the 80’s. Four days later the train whistles blew. The orange crops had not yet been harvested and throughout Florida the crops were lost. In some places, the oranges which fell from the trees were two feet deep on the ground. Although the freeze had killed the crop, citrus growers looked forward to the following year. Following the freeze, there was a six-week warm spell, the sap began to rise in the trees, and new sprouts came forth giving promise of a good crop the next year. After all, in 1886 there had been a freeze, but the trees recovered and Northeast Florida was again producing record crops. On February 8, 1895, trains heading south in Florida again blew their whistles warning of a coming freeze.
In Jacksonville, the temperature fell to 16 degrees. In Orlando, it remained below freezing for thirty hours. The sap in the trees froze. The trunks of the trees were split. It froze as far south as Fort Myers. Throughout Florida, trees were killed down to the ground. Peach groves in north Florida were also killed. The next year, Florida shipped only slightly over 100,000 crates of oranges. Citrus growing areas such as Orlando lost population. Another freeze occurred in February 1899.

Although further to the south groves in Marion, Citrus, Lake and Orange Counties were replanted, the groves in North Florida were abandoned and agricultural areas were given over to crops such as potatoes and melons. In 1901 the Savannah News reported that production was only slightly over 1,000,000 crates as compared to the pre-freeze production of over 5,000,000 crates. It was not expected that production would exceed pre-freeze levels until 1906.

In February 1917, another freeze came and yet again in 1934. As a result of the latter freeze, the Federal Frost Warning Service was established. The groves were once again replanted. Southern Alachua County and northern Marion County once again became a center for citrus. In Cross Creek, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings owned an orange grove. Rawlings later moved to Crescent Beach. Because of freezes, the groves at Cross Creek and Island Grove are now gone. To give a flavor of the appearance of Rawlings’ home during her period of residency, the state has replanted citrus trees in the door yard. In 1940, another freeze hit, the coldest since 1899. St. Augustinian Wade Noda recalled a bedside glass of water freezing.

The groves around Citra were again replanted. In 1957, yet another freeze hit. Freezing weather hit even Longboat Key, Lido Key, and Anna Maria Island off Sarasota. More freezes came in 1977, 1983, 1985 and 1989. As a result, the Citrus Tower which formerly overlooked thousands of acres of citrus now overlooks a Publix shopping center. The bulk of commercial orange groves have moved even further south.

In front of Flagler College were beautiful bougainvilleas. They are gone now as are the casuarinas on Davis Shores, the orange groves along State Road 460 to the west of Umatilla, at Citrus Springs, and at Windsor. Windsor east of Gainesville, prior to 1895 was a major producer of oranges. Today it is a ghost town. The Citrus Tower near Clearmont at one time overlooked hills covered with thousands of acres of citrus groves. It now overlooks a Publix shopping center.

In the shortness of time, persons sometimes want to believe that periods of warmness, coolness, wetness or dryness are harbingers of a permanent condition. In the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, noted scientists such as Dr. V. T. Cooke and Dr. Ferndinand Hayden and Harvard’s Professor Jean Louis Rudolphe Agassiz predicted that man’s activities were producing a permanent change of climate which would eliminate the need for irrigation in large parts of the American West, Numerous settlers homesteaded in reliance on the predictions only to be visited by a devastating drought beginning in 1912 which led into the 1920’s and 30’s Dust Bowl.

But man has forgotten the earlier freezes. In St. Augustine, the queen palms are reappearing. The writer has two, along with two fishtail palms, a key lime tree, two bougainvilleas and a tangerine. In town, the writer has even spotted three coconut trees. But like the citrus groves in Orange Mills, Fruit Cove, Mandarin, and Orange Park, all sometime will undoubtedly freeze.

Geoff Dobson, a St Augustine resident for the past 32 years, is a western and Florida history writer. He is a former president of the St. Augustine Historical Society and a regular contributor of nostalgic memories to Historic City News. Before his parents moved to Florida, his father was a Black Angus cattleman. Geoff has written extensively on Wyoming history (“Wyoming Tales and Trails”). When Geoff was in high school, his family lived in the cattle country of eastern Sarasota County. The family spread, which his parents called “Wild Cat Slough,” was reachable only by a pair of ruts over the sand hills and through a snake and gator infested slough. Now, it is an area of four-lane roads, expensive subdivisions, shopping centers, and office parks. . His undergraduate degree is in history. Geoff received his post-graduate degree from the University of Florida. He may be reached at horse.creek.cowboy@gmail.com