Lucy Tobias recently visited Dudley Farm Historic State Park in Newberry, a true old-Florida gem. Enjoy her post for Florida's Special Places!
Squint a bit, let go of the present. A dusty road passes by a weathered two-story house and farm buildings. Hens cluck earnestly. Peach trees are starting to blossom.
In the front year a camellia bush, tall as a tree, is loaded with red flowers. The Dudley women like their flowers. It is the late 1800s. The old Gainesville Road passes by the Dudley Farmstead in Newberry.
Young children play in the front yard while older children work the fields of corn and sweet potatoes. P.B.H. (Ben) Dudley Jr. had a family of 14 - 8 girls and 4 boys.
Myrtle Dudley holds a rose bush in her hands. She is going to plant it in honor of Dolly, her first grand child.
Fast forward to 2011. Linda Rengarts, a board member of Dudley Farm CSO and Sarah McDonell, a volunteer, are pruning rose bushes along the parking lot fence.
Linda has made it a personal project to try and identify the roses planted by three generations of Dudley women. That is how she knows about the Dolly bush.
In 1983 Myrtle Dudley donated the farm to the Florida Park Service.
Children love this living history farm. "Horses, I like horses," says Sarah Vincent, granddaughter of Jean Vincent of Hawthorne. She races with other grandchildren to pet what turns out to be a mule.
"This is our first time here," says Jean. "It is really important to keep history intact to educate the young, that is why I brought my grandkids."
John Hintermister, a charter member of Alachua Audubon and a lifelong Gainesville resident had never been to Dudley Farm. He picked a good birding day - cedar waxwings crowd the branches of American holly trees, eating the berries.
Dudley is one of 53 parks proposed for closure by DEP but now Gov. Scott says all parks should stay open. The Legislature has yet to decide.
If you think living history, and this park, are important, let your legislators know soon. Then bring visitors to Dudley. Just so you know - the mule likes to be petted. The Cracker cows do not.
