I left Silver River this morning (near Ocala) and headed toward a small town named Ocklawaha, in search of Ma Barker's hideaway. In the 1920's, Ma Barker organized her sons into what became the notorious Barker Boys criminal gang, who were not only bank robbers, but also very successful kidnappers (Wm. Hamm, Jr. of Hamm Breweries netted them 100k, and banker Edward Bremmer 200k, not bad money for the 1930's!). Ma Barker came to Ocklawaha in 1934 to hide out, and the famed five-hour shootout with the FBI occurred just before dawn one January day in 1935, killing both her and her resident son.
After having my fill of chasing criminals, I moved on to Mt. Dora, an out-of-the-way picturesque lakeside village between Ocala and Orlando. Quite the opposite of Ocklawaha, it would fit just as well in New England as Florida (even better, perhaps).
The photo was taken on the shore of Lake Dora, a Great Egret nestled beside some cypress knobs and a (surprise) Ahhinga in the background. Didn't know it was there til I uploaded the pic!
1 comment:
this photo looks like the ones that I took at Silver River....did you camp at Silver River?
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