The town, founded in 1840 on the banks of the Santa Fe River, was originally called Keno after a popular gambling game at that time. In 1876 Colonel Whetstone applied for a post office for the town of Keno and was denied due to the name and its relationship with gambling. The Colonel then had the name changed to Leno and was granted the post office, which he ran until 1890 when he moved to Mikesville, three miles north of Leno. Leno was an industrious town with two grist mills, a saw mill and six cotton gins. The town also had a general store, hotel, livery stable and doctor’s office. The demise of the town took place in 1894 when the S, F & W Railroad was diverted to pass through Fort White instead of Leno. By 1896 everyone had moved away, leaving Leno a ghost town.
…The site of O’Leno State Park was initially chosen as the location of a Florida Forest Service camp to provide forestry training and education. Development of the camp started as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project using unemployed labor from the High Springs area. In July 1935, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) installed workers from Company 418, Camp P-67, to assist WPA workers at O’Leno. Development of the site progressed rapidly and between 1935 and 1936 the CCC cleared land, built roads and trails and constructed the dining hall, pavilion, museum/tower building and suspension bridge. In late 1936, the CCC enrollees were withdrawn as the project neared completion and WPA labor became unavailable.
Charming old stoneworks and the suspension bridge are still in use. On our visit, in mid March on the same trip with Alligator Lake Park, there were several groups playing ominous banjo music on the porches and pavilions.
The Santa Fe River disappears underground within the park, surfacing again three miles to the south. Between the sink and rise, several long sinkhole lakes dot the forest. The water in these lakes has a slight current and the water level rises and falls with the river.
The flowering dogwoods made the forest look like a park.
The wild azaleas were also in bloom.
Gemmed satyr
Eastern Towhee
I believe this moth is in the genus Catocala, commonly known as Underwings, but I haven’t found any photos that were an exact match. Wiki on the family Noctuidae:
Some of the family are preyed upon by bats. However, many Noctuidae species have tiny organs in their ears which responds to bat echolocation calls, sending their wing muscles into spasm and causing the moths to dart erratically. This aids the moths in evading the bats.[citation needed]
Several species have larvae (caterpillars) that live in the soil and are agricultural or horticultural pests. These are the “cutworms” that eat the bases of young brassicas and lettuces. They form hard, shiny pupae. Most noctuid larvae feed at night, resting in the soil or in a crevice in its food plant during the day.
Ominous banjo music? Was it signaling the march to war? Or the onset of serial killer? How could it be ominous?
I bet Mike liked Mikesville.
I think Mikesville was not spared by time as O’Leno was. There are a lot of “towns” in that area though, which warrant a sign as you drive down the highway (google correctly doesn’t show these), but there’s only a house or two, no more densely populated than the places that don’t get a sign. Railroad or no, who would want to live here without AC is beyond me.
Mike voted ominous like a serial killer, Deliverance style, which I’ve never seen, and don’t intend to.
Oh crumb, I guess I missed getting to work before the next storm moved in.
I have never heard of a serial killer that uses a banjo. I think you are making this up. Stop making things up.
No, it’s not that the banjo players were serial killers (I hope), but they may have been practicing to be minstrels for serial killers. Everyone needs appropriate music to accompany their work.
Ooooooooh, that makes perfect sense. Still, I would question the serial killer that asked for banjo accompaniment. I mean, you would think the cat organ or
the intestinal flute.