EVINSTON AREA INFORMATION...

The following transcript is taken from a cell phone tour that you can access and listen to while you are driving thru these areas. Visit www.scenicus441.com/index.htm for more information.

Evinston Area Information – Oct. 2009

The River Styx
The River Styx is a stream and swampland located north of Orange Lake. A bridge on Alachua County Road three twenty-five crosses the River Styx. The wetland on this Florida Scenic Highway is located just west of the Lochloosa Longleaf Flatwoods Reserve and is one of the keystone parcels in the Lochloosa Connector. This entire area is known as the Lochloosa Wildlife Conservation Area. It connects Lochloosa, Payne’s Prairie Preserve State Park, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historical State Park, and Newnan’s Lake Conservation Area. The River Styx has three hundred acres of high quality river, strand, and swamp communities and about one thousand acres of flatwoods and pine plantation. The water flows from Newnan’s Lake through Prairie Creek, Payne’s Prairie, and Camp’s Canal into the swampland of River Styx. This provides great wildlife habitat. It is an extremely important area for wildlife such as Florida black bear, bald eagles and numerous wading birds including wood storks. It is biologically connected to the Micanopy Wood Stork rookery, the largest and most stable rookery of these federally listed birds in north central Florida. The drainage is part of the headwaters of Orange Lake with some interchange with the Floridian aquifer and also some flow into Orange Creek and the Ocklawaha River basin. The River Styx is documented in William Bartram and Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings’ writings.

County Road 225 north terminus
Alachua Southeast County Road 225, a Florida Scenic Highway, runs south through the town of Evinston in southeast Alachua County. The north terminus, at the southeast county road three forty-six, is known as the River Styx Road. The road is listed as a Florida Scenic Highway and is designated the Henry Deaver Wood Memorial Highway, named for the Evinston businessman, postmaster, county commission chair, and four-term commissioner. This road, originally a dirt road, was developed in the 1880’s with the establishment of the Florida Southern Railroad line. The railroad line was located next to the roadway and remains very near the original historic location. In 1981, the railroad tracks were removed leaving the roadway without its original transportation partner. A number of historic structures can be viewed from the road through and near the town of Evinston. The area has been populated for thousands of years due to the fertile land, abundant game and vegitation, and access to water. Native American villages were discovered adjacent to the road. The few cleared fields along the roadway are primarily used for ranching, which provides both unobstructed views of the lake and feeding grounds for thousands of birds that visit each winter. Conservation easements and additional conservation efforts are continuing, which will retain the current ecology and scenic beauty of the area.

County Road 225 mid section
Alachua Southeast County Road 225, a Florida Scenic Highway, is located between two large bodies of water; Orange Lake and Fish Prairie. The road provides magnificent views of the lake, pastures, marshes, and woodlands. The southern section of the roadway attracts hundreds of visitors to view the annual spring blooming season of native coreopsis and phlox wildflowers. The northern mile of road is lined with native pine, oak, magnolia, hickory, maple, and other hardwoods trees. Beneath them are scrub palmetto, wild plum, wire grass, goldenrod, purple astor, beautyberry, and many other native plants and vines. The unspoiled character of the roadway, with little adverse land use and structures, provide an excellent wildlife habitat along both sides of the road. This area attracts many widlife enthusiasts and bird watchers. The fall and winter sandhill crane migration brings thousands of the birds to the pastures along the road. In addition to the sandhill cranes, eagles, hawks, osprey, and swallow-tail kites, as well as many songbirds are regularly viewed. Often deer, bears, otters, wildcats, foxes, racoons, opossums, and alligators are also seen. Many snakes, amphibians and other reptiles are also seen from this scenic roadway.

Evinston, Florida
The Evinston community is named for the family of William Drayton Evins. Originally, from South Carolina, Evins had purchased land here and in 1882 gave the right of way for the Florida Southern Railroad. In 1884, a depot, the present country store, and post office were built. This community once contained three stores, a schoolhouse, three churches, a blacksmith shop, two packinghouses, and a gristmill. Agricultural crops, cattle, and citrus were, and continue to be grown here. In 1956, the depot was moved and passenger service discontinued. Freight service continued until 1982 when the railroad was removed. Established in 1909, the community park continues to serve descendants of the original families. The Evinston community store, originally a warehouse, us built of heart pine. The store sits 100 feet south of its original location, moved in 1956 for road paving. Located across from the railroad depot, it was, and still is, a meeting place for everyone. Several owners managed the store. H.D. Wood and Robert Evins bought the store in 1909. A partnership of Wood & Swink in 1934 is still indicated on the storefront. One of the few remaining country store-post offices, it contains original post office boxes and equipment.

The Railroad in Evinston
In 1882, W.D. Evins gave the right of way to the Florida Southern Railroad to bring the narrow gauge railroad and depot to the town. Completed in 1884, the Florida Southern connected to a Gainesville-Palatka railway at the Rochelle junction, providing a southern corridor from this railroad line to Ocala and beyond. Florida roads were sandy, swampy and nearly impassible, so early rail access dramatically increased the prosperity of any town or region allowing town residents easy access to the Gainesville merchants and businesses. In 1902, the Florida Southern merged with other railroads to become the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, which provided service from St. Petersburg to New York. From the Evinston depot, passengers, mailbags, and freight boarded trains pulled by steam engines for destinations in Florida and along the U.S. Eastcoast. For more than four decades, at least eight trains a day, four passenger and four or more freight trains, ran through Evinston. By 1950, the large steam engines were replaced by the modern diesel engines. In 1956, when the depot was moved, passenger boarding was discontinued. The last passenger train passed through Evinston in 1971 and the last freight train in 1982. Older residents still remember the depot’s agent and ticket offices, large covered porch, warehouse rooms, and signal tower, located directly across the street from the post office. For years, bags of mail were grabbed by the fast-moving trains from a mail crane near the depot. Hearing the distant whistle of trains from miles away brings back the memories of the railroad and its important part of the town’s history.

Evinston Agriculture
The warm climate, abundant rainfall, fertile woodlands, and muck soils near Orange Lake provide Evinston with an excellent environment for agricultural production. Archeological evidence shows that early man built villages and camps in this area where both edible plants and game were abundant. In the mid-to-late 1800s, woodlands were cleared for farming. The first farms belonged to Judge Means, who cultivated a large varitey of vegetables and orange groves on the banks of Orange Lake. With a railroad and depot, area farmers were able to ship their vegetables and fruit to market. These early farmers grew oranges, grapefruit, tangerines, and kumquats. The freezes of the 1890s killed most of the trees, but many groves were back in production in a few years. Freezes in the 1950s and 1980s also caused severe damage to the citrus crops. A few other fruits such as peaches, pears, and apples have been planted with little success. Citrus and vegetable crops are still grown in Evinston today. Row crops such as beets, cabbage, collards, lettuce, mustard, turnips, and other leafy vegetables are planted in winter. The spring crops are beans, squash, peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, watermelons, eggplant, corn, and peanuts. Most farms in the past had milk cows, hogs, and chickens. In the early 1900s, the Richardson Family began commercial beef production in Evinston. The Richardson Brothers Farms are still in the business of beef cattle production.

The Lake
Evinston, Florida is located on the northwest shore of Orange Lake. Throughout the 1880s and early 1900s, the town’s people relied on the lake for livelihood and recreation. Several fish camps including the North End Fish Camp were located on the Evinston shoreline. The lake provided harvests of alligators, frogs, turtles, largemouth bass, bluegill, black crappie, catfish, ducks, and other waterfowl. Orange Lake’s headwaters come from both River Styx and Cross Creek. This thirteen thousand acre mud-bottom lake of darkly stained, vegetation-infested water, begins at River Styx in the north, runs about eight miles south, bends toward the east for nearly four miles, and ends at Orange Creek, just north of the town of Citra where it flows into the Ocklawaha River. The lake is entirely in Alachua County with most of the west and south shoreline as the boundary between Alachua and Marion County. Cross Creek, which is usually navigable, connects Orange Lake and Lake Lochloosa. The lake, with an average depth of six feet and a maximum of thirteen feet has many grass beds, submersed aquatic vegetation, and floating islands of muck and vegetation.

Evinston United Methodist Church
The Evinston United Methodist Church began in the 1890s with the congregation holding services in members homes and in the Evinston schoolhouse. The current church building was erected in 1909 on land donated by the Wolfendon family. Built of heart pine, the church is a prime example of early rural church architecture. Situated in a hickory and oak grove, the church surely is “The Church in the Wildwood” from the old hymn. In 1947, a Sunday school room was added to the back of the church and in 2006, a large meeting room was constructed behind the church building. For a number of years the church was part of a church circuit sharing a minister with Micanopy, Wacahoota, and Shiloh. The church has grown over the past decade and now has its own minister, services and Sunday school every week. The highlight is the annual Christmas Eve service when children and community members perform to create a beautiful celebration with a finale of Santa’s arrival.

Mt. Olive A.M.E. Church
The Mt. Olive A.M.E. Church and cemetary are located on the Alachua-Marion County Line Road. The Mt. Olive Church began when a small congregation purchased the land from the Evins family in 1886. At that time a small house and open well were located here. The founders called it the “African Methodist Camp Meeting Ground.” Services were held in the small house. The first church building, which was a wooded building, was constructed in the 1890s. The first church was called, “A.M.E. Church in the Woods.” In 1929, a new church building was built to accommodate a growing congregation. This building was a larger wooden structure resembling many older churches of that time period. In the 1940s the church building was used as a school for the African-American children in the community. In 1964, an annex was added and in 1973, the older wooden structure was rebuilt as a larger block church building, which is the current church. The church cemetary, located to the north, is the resting place of many of the early African-American citizens of the Evinston and surrounding areas. Well kept by church members, listings and photographs of all graves in the cemetary are at the Alachua County Genealogical Society's Virtual Cemetery Project Web site.

County Line Road
Designated as both Alachua County Southeast one-hundred–eighty-fifth avenue and Marion County northwest two-hundred-thirthieth street, local citizens simply refer to this Florida Scenic Highway as the “County Line Road.” The road runs approximately three miles east-west, beginning in Evinston, crossing U.S. four -forty-one, and terminating inside a fenced area at Interstate seventy-five. It is located entirety on the Alachua-Marion County line. The road from U.S. four-fourty-one east is an entry road for Evinston citizens. This section of the road was paved in the 1930’s and is maintained by Marion County. Prior to the sale of land in the 1960’s that comprised a large cattle ranch, the west portion of the road was a small farm road that linked other roads with Micanopy. After the ranchland was developed as homesites and small ranches, greater usage of this section occurred. The road became an Alachua County-maintained limerock road. In addition to six historic homes in Evinston, the eastern section has several pastoral woodlands, and scenic views. The historic Mt. Olive A.M.E. Church is located on the east section. The west section of the county line road is a scenic hardwood canopy road that crosses hills, pastures, and streams.

Evinston Historic Buildings, Part 1
In the center of Evinston is a State of Florida Historical Marker. The two-sided marker discusses the History of Evinston, Florida and the Evinston Community Store and Post Office. The marker is located on the site of the Evinston Depot and is directly east of the historic store building, erected in 1882 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. To the south of the store and marker, located on County Road 225 and the County Line Road is the Shettleworth-Smith House. William P. Shettleworth built this house in 1882. It is believed to be the oldest existing house in Evinston. A typical vernacular house with front porch, it has been owned by the Smith family since 1918. Directly north of the old store is the Wood’s Packinghouse. Built around 1900, it has been used for citrus and vegetable processing and packing for many years. In 1958, to accommodate the paving of the roadway, it was cut in half and reassembled in the current “T” form. Prior to that time it was a long building that fronted a siding of the railroad where boxcars were loaded with produce out of a large sliding packinghouse door. North of the packinghouse is the Evinston Town Park, established by the town citizens in 1909. The pavillion follwed in a few years and the tenniscourt by 1940. The park is completely support by the town and its citizens.

Evinston Historic Buildings, Part 2
Directly east of the historic marker and across from the old store and packinghouse are two structures that were built in the 1880s by then Postmaster John F. Barron. The one-story structure, for many years, was a general store owned by Barron. In later years, the store was sold and became a house for the depot agent and in the 1950s a private residence. For several years prior to 1913, this early Barron general store held the Evinston Post Office. To the north of this house is the Barron-Johnson House built by Barron as his family residence and next door to the store that he operated. The two-story house, with tin roof and wooden siding, has an attached kitchen and unique star-shaped attic vent. In 1916, W.A. Johnson purchased both structures and continued the store operation for some years. Further north on the “s” curve remain two chimneys where once stood the two-story Hester-Vidal house that was destroyed by fire in 1977.

Evinston Historic Structures, Part 3
Four additional historic houses are located in Evinston on the County Line Road about 200 yards west from its intesection with Southeast County Road 225. The first structure, located on the north side and closest to the intersection is the Shuttleworth-Cromartie House. This house was built in 1884 by William P. Shettleworth as a home and later occupied by his daughter and son-in-law, the Cromarties. Later sold by the family to the Mudra family, it was renovated and an addition added in the 1980s. The house on the same side of the road and further to the west is the Wolfenden-Richardson house. Built in the 1892 by J.L. Wolfendon, after his first house located to the southeast of this structure was torn down. His grandson Leroy Richardson and family resided in this house for many years, which is still owned and occupied by family. A house addition increased its size and in the 1920s the rock façade and front porch were added. Directly across from this house on the south side of the county line road is the original Richardson Family house. P.K. Richardson, Wolfendon’s son-in-law, built the house in 1909. This large white house with wrap-around screened veranda has been occupied by his son Walter Richardson and family since, and is currently occupied by fourth generation family members. The Bradley-Glisson House, west of this structure was built in the 1890s. This one-story house with front porch and enclosed back porch has been owned and occupied by the Glisson family since the 1960s.

Evinston Old Country Store Introduction
Welcome to the Evinston Store and Post Office, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. I am Freddie Wood, owner of this historic building. My father and grandfather were both owners and post masters in Evinston. My wife Sue Wood, soon to retire, is our current post master. I am priveledged to have lived here for more than seven decades and have many wonderful recollections of the way life was in past years in our small town. Life in Evinston then, as it is today, centers around the remaining store and our community’s post office. This historic building has appeared in dozens of newspaper and magazine articles, including the New York Times and National Geographic. It has been the subject of countless photographs, paintings, drawings, and video productions. It has also appeared in several movies. As new photographers, writers, and artists visit the town, the old store will most likely be the subject once again in all media. Stories of the store and community have been told to countless visitors, reporters, and writers. Questions about this structure have been answered so many times about what it was like in the early days. The next four tour stops will tell you about my recollections of a country general store and post office and how my father and grandfather operated it to serve the community.

A Recollection of the Old Evinston Store, Part 1 – From Outside
The Evinston store and post office has shown little change to the exterior and remains much like it was in the 1930s and 40s when it was the general store for the conmmunity and area. The exterior unpainted pine board-and-batten siding, tin roof, front porch with benches, side storage room, windows and shutters, double front door, “Wood and Swink” sign, and steps are much as they were for the past century. The interior still has the original counters, shelves, cases, and many of the original post office boxes. However, imagine how the store looked to the customer more than 50 years ago. Out front was a single Standard Oil gas pump where regular leaded gas cost 15 cents a gallon. The front porch had a bread box where fresh bread was delivered usually before the store opened. Out back was a burn pile where refuse and trash was burned. The paved road from the county-line road to the south ended at the store and depot with sandy dirt roads to the north and throughout the rest of the community. Automobiles of the era were parked by customers in the front but many still came by horse, horse and wagon, or on foot. Children’s bicycles were always propped against the front porch by the kids who played in the streets, parks, depot, and around the old packinghouse. Many residents and visitors occupied the front porch benches where gossip, stories, and news were exchanged and enjoyed. Much like today, all of the news of the town and community was brought and shared and passed on by the customers and residents collecting mail from the Post Office. In the colder days hours were passed sitting around the wood burning stove with the same tales and stories.

A Recollection of the Old Evinston Store, Part 2 - Interior
As you step into the interior of the historic Evinston store and post office try to imagine what the customers of the 1930s and 40s were there to see and to buy. The Post Office was a bit smaller with fewer mail boxes. The same customer window and bottom shelf as well as the older boxes were there. The side left store customer counters, glass cases, and stock shelves were as they are now but they displayed much different merchendise and products. Beginning near the post office, the hand-cranked cash register was on the counter, allowing the owner/post master the ability to tend both areas. The counter displayed cigars, snuff, and chewing gum in the first small glass case. Further along the counter, the next two large glass cases held penny candies, candy bars, bubble gum, and every other sweet treat available at the time. The front glass usually held the nose print of every town child who looked in and imagined the sweet treats within the case. Continuing down the counter, an open area with meat scale, butcher paper, and twine from overhead was available to wrap what was in the meat case, which was next and held all types of meats, sausages, butter, margarine, and a wheel of red-rind cheese. Jars of johnny crackers at four for a nickel were on the front. Under the counter from front to back were shotgun and rifle shells, rice, meal, and grits, lard and other excess stored items. On the shelves behind the counter beginning from front to back were bottles and boxes of many patent medicines that were advertised to heal most any ailment. Tobacco products to smoke, dip, and chew were displayed. And from about midshelf section to end were canned vegetables, canned meats, canned milk, boxed dry edible goods, coffee, tea, bleach, detergents, bar soaps, and kitchen products. At the end of the shelves in the back far corner the door to the supply room is still located. Inside the supply room were animal feeds and other surplus store items.

A Recollection of the Old Evinston Store, Part 3 – Interior Cont.
The center aisle of the old store in Evinston was the only area of the store where customers were allowed to visit and congregate. Unlike today’s modern shoppers who use shopping carts to gather all of their purchases and bring them to the front checkout area with automated belts and scanners, an old general store was where customers brought grocery lists and asked for goods that were found and provided to the customer by the clerk or owner. The clerks gathered goods from shelves, display cases, under counters, and from back stockrooms to fill the customers lists, even pumping gasoline from the outside pump. The goods were assembled on a counter. The prices were listed on hand-written sheets and added without calculators or cash registers. When finished groceries were bagged or boxed by the clerks and carried out with the clerk’s assistance. All of this took far more time than modern shopping marts. A few goods and items were placed in the center aisle of the old store, a cold-drink box, racks of packaged crackers and cookies, a kerosene-burning refrigerator for some products that required cold storage, kegs of nails and staples, and a few bages of dog food. In the center of the aisle and store is the wood-burning stove, which gave relief from the chill of the winter days for visitors, but also a place to congregate, sit, talk, and socialize. The store’s large safe which held all receipts overnight is still in the center where it has been for years. At the back center of the store there occassionally hung a half or quarter of a freshly killed hog ready for additional butchering. Once a week a barrel was filled with ice and fresh gulf mullet brought from Cedar Key. Directly at the back door a large square tank with hand-craked pump was filled with kerosene where customers’ cans and gallon bottles were filled by hand. The large single door at the back was the exit and last door locked at night and first door unlocked at the beginning of each working day.

A Recollection of the Old Evinston Store, Part 4 – Interior Cont.
Step into the interior of the historic Evinston store and post office and try to imagine what the early customers shopped for on the shelves and cases to the right side of the front door. Behind the large door to the right is a wall telephone. Installed when the first telephnoe lines arrived, it provided communications with suppliers and customers. Turn the crank two times and the operator was there to ask what number was nneded. The owner’s desk was a place for to write orders, keep files, and balance books. The counters with glass cases stocked clothing from overalls, workshirts, and cotton dresses. Further down was a thread cabinet. Even further were cotton bandanas, handkerchiefs, and cloth. And at the end of the counter were bags of flour and meal, and chicken feed and scratch. On the shelves behind the counter from the front to back were books, fishing baits and line, books, needles, pins, and thimbles. Toiletry products, toothpaste, hair grease and tonic, shampoo, cologne, and purfumes. Closer toward the middle and back were other clothing items and shoes. At nthe very back the shelves stocked some hardware items like stove pipe and a few hand tools. Overhead hung long bamboo fishing poles and ax and hoe handles. The stock in all parts of the store would change with the seasons, sometimes firecrackers for the Fourth, extra poultry and pie items for Thanksgiving, and a few toys, gifts, and candies for Christmas. This is how we remember the old store and how important it was to the community and area. We hope you have enjoyed the historic recollections and other information about our community and town.

Evinston Today and Tomorrow
As the months run into years and the years into decades, we, the citizens of Evinston give thanks for our town, our history, and our way of life. Our hope is that our town will continue with little change, so that our way of life can be experienced by our children and grandchildren. Our community will work to preserve the historic Evinston old store and post office with the assistance of the postal service, historic preservation, and conservation groups. It’s uses may be altered as it has in past years. However, it will continue as the focal point of our community. We are proud that some of our lands have been designated as Florida Pioneer Farm Family lands and that with conservation easements and other conservation programs, the lands will remain as rural farm lands in perpetuity. Our roadways are Florida Scenic Highways and have been nominated as Alachua County Scenic Roads and U.S. National Scenic Roads. The town’s identity will depend on the continuation of our post office and the families and citizens who support the efforts to keep our historical and cultural integrity. We are always appreciative of our friends, visitors, conservation and historical groups who have helped us in our efforts to preserve our town and community. Please come back and visit us in the future.