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Mount Dora, Florida

Hilton Kean Jones — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 11:13:43 +0000

OVERLOOKING LAKE DORA FROM LAKESIDE INN
Mount Dora is a small town in central Florida on the edge of Lake Dora. As you can see in the map below, Lake Dora is just one of dozens of lakes, large and small, scattered throughout this area adjoining the Ocala National Forest.

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This past weekend was my first visit to Mount Dora and it definitely won’t be my last. To the question, “What is there to do here?” the answer, quite simply, is “LOTS!” There is so much to do, I’m not going to even try and list the attractions. Just check out the links below. I’ve listed them in the order I found the most useful.

Mount Dora is a small historical Florida village on the shore of Lake Dora that has successfully made itself into an arts and convention center with plenty of opportunities for outdoor recreation.

LAKESIDE INN PIER
The central theme in Mount Dora is Antiques: specialty antiques, such as the clock store pictured below, or little malls of high-end shops, or lower end, multi-storied antique shops filled chock-a-block with collectibles, as well as contemporary crafts that fit with the antique mystique.

JUST A FEW OF MANY MOUNT DORA SHOPS

This makes sense, of course, since Mount Dora is, itself, an antique, a little slice of preserved history as exemplified by its railroad station and historic homes.

HISTORIC MOUNT DORA TRAIN STATION

Newer buildings are designed to fit in with the old village look. Even the night spots preserve the theme of weathered quaintness.

ONE OF MANY LOUNGE/RESTAURANTS
Nature cooperates in this effort when birds such as those pictured below make their home in a chimney in downtown Mount Dora. Subliminally, one is reminded of storks roosting on chimneys in old European cities.

NESTING BIRDS DOWNTOWN MOUNT DORA
There’s a fond spot in my heart for any busker because I know, as a musician, that someday I may be playing for tips on a street corner or subway landing myself. New Orleans has jazz saxophonists as street musicians; Mount Dora has harpists. On the sidewalk in Mount Dora was a busker playing electric harp. His name is Rupert Parker and he has a lovely act and style. After hoofing it around the hills, to which I’m unaccustomed, it was such a pleasure to sit and listen to his music.

STREETSIDE HARPIST
This link to Sometimes When We Touch on Youtube gives you a feel for his performances. I plan on buying one of his several CDs from his website at www.rupertparker.com/; I hope you consider doing so, too.

TAKING IT EASY
My mom would have loved Mount Dora, after all, she herself lived for a while in Solvang, California, another quaint, historic town that fashioned itself into a successful tourist destination.

I was a bit disquieted by how thoroughly Mount Dora markets its quaintness. I wondered if perhaps I’d stumbled onto the set of the late 60s British television series The Prisoner, starring and co-created by Patrick McGoohan. But…no giant inflatable balls chased me down the street. It was just my overactive imagination sparked by my discomfort with a theme, too consistently packaged for my taste. Mount Dora’s charm makes it an effective tourist destination but, even in my retirement, I prefer living in a funkier, urban environment such as St. Petersburg…

WORLD’S SECOND LARGEST LAWN BOWLING COURT
…or the raw, authenticity of old Florida as embodied in this, now abandoned, roadside orange juice stand on Highway 441 on the outskirts of Mount Dora.

VINTAGE FLORIDIANA
I think, ultimately, even for all the planned activities and shops and man-made attractions in Mount Dora the real draw, the thing that sustains over the long haul is the lake itself. As you play the video below, you can’t help but instantly relax with the bird sounds and, even, the distant sound of the motor boat. This is really what Florida is about.

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LAKE DORA PANORAMA

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The Craftsman House

Hilton Kean Jones — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 10:00:33 +0000

Sharing with New Friends

When you make new friends—an event that in itself is a wondrous and valued occasion—an important part of the ritual of those developing friendships is a mutual sharing of things and places that are special to each of you…sort of what I’m doing with this blog, sharing my personal delight in St. Pete and elsewhere. I was introduced to many of these places and things as newly made friends in St. Pete shared with me their own St. Pete favorite haunts.

Such a sharing happened just a couple weeks ago when one of my new friends agreed to meet me for lunch at a place he’d told me about some time ago but which I simply hadn’t gotten around to going to yet. It is so much easier, sometimes, to go places with a friend; certainly, it is much more fun! This place, new for me, was the Craftsman House Gallery, Cafe, and Studios (2955 Central Ave., St. Petersburg, FL 33713; 727-323-2787).

Arts & Crafts

Like most folks, my familiarity with the term, “Arts and Crafts,” ends with memories of hearing it spoken on almost every episode of Antiques Roadshow! So, when I decided to write about the Craftsman House I followed my academician instincts and researched the words, “craftsman house.” I learned that Craftsman Style, although it has its origins in the Arts and Crafts Movement, as applied to architecture, actually refers to a style of architecture best exemplified by the bungalow.

This Wiki American Craftsman article gives the following summary of the features typifying the style.

Common Architectural Design Features

Low-pitched roof lines, gabled or hipped roof
Deeply overhanging eaves
Exposed rafters or decorative brackets under eaves
Front porch beneath extension of main roof
Tapered, square columns supporting roof
4-over-1 or 6-over-1 double-hung windows
Frank Lloyd Wright design motifs
Hand-crafted stone or woodwork
Mixed materials throughout structure

I printed out that list for my first visit to the Craftsman House for lunch and looked for all those features. They were there in abundance. I looked back through my memories of other bungalows and, sure ‘nuf, all those features were there, plus another I’ve seen mentioned in other sources: a very stylized Asian influence with a pleasing geometry of many parallel, horizontal lines.

Craftsman Style Homes

One architect who popularized some of those ideals was the famous designer, Frank Lloyd Wright. An example of his design motifs referred to above are his use of stylized flower images in architectural features. In California, the Greene brothers (Charles and Henry) and their “ultimate bungalows” and the architect Bernard Maybeck created bungalows on a larger-than-life scale. I was able to visit the Maybeck Recital Hall in Berkeley, California, when a friend, Robert Helps, was preparing for a concert there. This was back when Dick Whittington still owned it and was producing jazz albums there. (It’s no longer open to the public and ownership has changed.)

Bungalows are definitely an important item in Florida residential architecture and have become much sought after. In Tampa, there is an entire section comprised of elegantly restored bungalows, Seminole Heights. St. Petersburg has its own similar section, Historic Kenwood with its annual Bungalowfest!

The Building and Its Owners

Craftsman House Gallery, Cafe, and Studios is owned and operated by Stephanie and Jeff Schorr who are longtime residents of the St. Petersburg area (20+ years). The building was originally the model home for the historic Kenwood district mentioned above. It’s on the historic register of homes.

The Galleries

As the full name of the Craftsman House says, it’s part gallery. There are numerous rooms displaying the works of 250 local and national artists, including Stephanie Schorr herself, who is an artist potter. Her pottery studio is on the grounds of the Craftsman House.

Calendar, Past Events, and the Current Show

The Craftsman House has a fascinating events calendar. There is a Teapot Show running May 10-June 29 which was timed to begin with a Mothers Day Tea…a nice touch, I think. Some recent events: storytellers, singers, songwriters, comedians, balladeers, acoustic blues artists and even an electric harpist. They also have an annual Elton John-A-Thon Aids benefit and an Earth Day celebration.

The Cafe

The Cafe and dining areas dovetail nicely with the gallery to create an overall peaceful setting. It provides daily light lunches of the salad and wrap variety. Consistent with the environmentally aware ethos of the establishment and the clientele is that the cafe carries only Fair Trade Certified Tea! Last time, I ate in a quiet little indoor eating nook, but next time, I think I’ll eat in one of their outside dining areas: either on the porch or in the garden patio. And…there will definitely be a next time. It’s the perfect place to share lunch—and newly found delights—with a good friend, new or old.

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