Exploring Downtown Orlando - A Beautiful Walk Around Lake Eola
After our interesting visits to the Orange County Regional
History Center and the Well's Built Museum of African-American
Culture and History, we decided to continue our explorations of
downtown Orlando and its surrounding historic neighbourhoods.
After driving through beautiful residential areas, framed by
majestic oak trees adorned by Spanish Moss, we decided to take a
stroll around beautiful Lake Eola, which is just minutes from
downtown's Heritage Square, home of the Orange County Regional
History Center, and every second, third and fourth Saturday of
the month is also home to a lively farmer's market. By this
time, the sun was starting to set and Lake Eola and the
surrounding highrises were bathed in the golden hues of sunset.
Lake Eola is one of Orlando's more than 300 lakes and is
surrounded by established residential areas and highrises
ringing the downtown core. The park extends over 43 acres (17.2
hectares) and provides generous sidewalks around the lake on a
0.9 mile (1.4 km) loop around the water, which is
enthusiastically used by walkers and joggers. The lake itself
can be explored on paddle boats, and other facilities include a
playground, a small outdoor cafe, gondola rides, and the Walt
Disney Amphiteatre for special events.
Lake Eola is intricately connected with Orlando's history. Even
the origin of the name Orlando may be connected to Lake Eola:
the first European settlements in the Orlando area grew around
an old army post: Fort Gatlin. According to one story, a U.S.
soldier by the name of Orlando Reeves, was killed by an American
Indian's arrow while on sentinel duty in what is today Lake Eola
Park and may have given name to this town. Originally, Orlando
had been called Jernigan after a Georgia settler, Aaron
Jernigan, who settled in the area in 1843. The origin of the
town's name Orlando is not certain, however: another popular
story claims that a certain Judge Speer named the settlement
after the Shakespeare Character "Orlando" in the play "As you
Like it."
Be that as it may, the town was named "Orlando" in 1857 and was
centered around the cotton and cattle industry. Demand for beef
was fuelled by Cuba while cotton plantations thrived until the
Civil War, which stole away the area's workforce, compounded by
a devastating hurricane in 1873. "Orange fever" hit Central
Florida in the 1870s, aided by the completion of the South
Florida Railroad in 1880.
The Great Freeze of 1894 to 1895 destroyed Florida's citrus
industry and it took 15 years to recover. Florida's citrus
industry peaked in the 1950s with more then 80,000 acres (32,000
hectares) of plantations.
Walt Disney Amphitheatre
Orlando's first airport opened in 1922. Orlando also plays a
significant role in the defense and aerospace industry: during
World War II bomber pilots were trained here. A missile factory
was built by in 1956 by a forerunner of the Lockheed Martin
company, which still serves as the backbone of the area's
technology industry today.
Tourism became Central Florida's main draw. From an early
entertainment park in 1895, to the creation of the Cypress
Gardens Adventure Park in 1936, the opening of Walt Disney World
Magic Kingdom in 1971 really laid the foundations to Central
Florida's tourism boom. Other Disney attractions followed,
including Walt Disney World Resort, Epcot, Disney-MGM Studies,
and Animal Kingdom. Universal Studios Florida opened in 1990,
followed by Islands of Adventure in 1999 and Universal City
Walk, an entertainment complex.
Indeed tourism is Central Florida's main industry today, with
more than 50 million visitors annually and yearly revenues of
$28 bllion. Tourism combined with high-tech and the citrus
industry are the three dominating economic sectors in Central
Florida.
After our walk around historic Lake Eola we strolled back into
downtown and grabbed a table on the street patio of "Tijuana
Flats", a Mexican restaurant located right on Heritage Square,
and just one of many diverse kinds of eating establishments in
the downtown core.
While savouring some tasty and very filling Mexican food, we
watched the early evening street life in Orlando's downtown. We
reflected on how different the downtown area is in comparison to
the newer and very spread out tourist-oriented hotel and resort
areas, which often seem rather devoid of character. Here in the
downtown area you really get a feel for the history and the
community that started developing in the first half of the 19th
century. The downtown and Lake Eola areas, all of which are on
an easily walkable scale, have a much more authentic ambience to
them which we thoroughly enjoyed.
For more information about Orlando contact the Orlando
Convention and Visitor Bureau. The Orlando Regional History
Center can be found at www.thehistorycenter.org.