The Orange County History Museum is a fascinating repository of Florida history that focuses on the central Florida area from the ancient past to modern times. There are some real gems in this museum, from quirky stuff like recipes of foods people ate in the early days to the struggles of the Seminoles, the evolution of the citrus industry, the dark days of segregation and discrimination against gays. There’s also a moving tribute to the Pulse tragedy.
This next image was particularly moving. We had just seen the superb movie Hidden Figures, about the contributions made by a group of African-American women in the early days of the space program, when separate bathrooms and other facilities existed for blacks and whites.
I remember these logos and images from my childhood, when Anita Bryant was the face of the industry – until her homophobic and beliefs became well-known.
The popularity of Cypress Garden was during this same period:
The museum even addresses Florida’s infamous sinkholes:
And here’s the actual sinkhole:
Here’s the courtroom where Ted Bundy was tried and convicted:
And his name cut into the defense table, totally creepy!
And then the tragedy of Pulse:
This is out of time sequence, but I wanted to end on something positive- the early space program days. This is a replica of the capsule that the women in Hidden Figures helped to launch into orbit.
And our gorgeous daughter in the courtroom
My hubby has always told me that when he was a kid in the N. Georgia mountains… up there in them thar hills, (picture the old movie DELIVERANCE!!), his mother cooked squirrels and served them on a platter surrounded with carrots and potatoes like a small roast. I never believed him! Now….not so sure! Even in this current age there are folks who live in the deepest hidden back country of the woods and who aren’t civilized. When hubby’s brother took our three sons for hikes, he always carried a loaded shotgun. Not for wild animals, he said, but for the dangerous “HILL PEOPLE”! Fascinating museum and lovely photo of Megan!
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Fascinating museum! I loved Hidden Figures and hope it gets Best Picture. John Glenn really wouldn’t launch until Katherine verified the figures! 🙂
About that squirrel soup…
And that Bundy autograph on the edge of the courtroom table!