Title: Groveland gets a book of its own
Author: Laura Kubitz
Publisher: Daily Commercial
Date: 6/21/09
It was the request of a dying friend.
Marilyn Gammon Smith wanted to start a historical museum for the city of Groveland.
In March 2006 she went to Groveland City Hall with the idea and generated some interest in the project. But soon after that she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer, which claimed her life just a year later.
Smith's wish was for someone to take over the founding of the museum. She wanted a place where the history of her beloved city could be recorded before it was lost forever.
The Historical Society in Groveland founded the museum, but local Pulitzer-finalist Doris Bloodsworth, who is also a member of the society, wanted to do something more.
When Bloodsworth went to the local library in Groveland, she realized there was no book dedicated to the history of the city.
She contacted Arcadia Publishing and inquired about the possibility of putting together a pictorial book on the history of Groveland. They quickly accepted.
Bloodsworth decided to write "Groveland" as part of a fundraising campaign for the Groveland Historical Museum.
"Groveland" contains 128 pages and more than 200 vintage photos depicting the history of the quaint Central Florida city.
To get the photos and information for the book, Bloodsworth searched through records at the State Archives in Tallahassee, Lake County Historical Society in Tavares and the Tampa Public Library. Residents of Groveland who had deep roots in the city also donated photos. A lot of the families who gave materials had never opened up their photos to people outside of their families.
"I don't know how you exactly describe it, but when people come together for a cause, there is something that lifts us up as human beings," Bloodsworth said. "The hand of God was on this project."
There are eight chapters in "Groveland" about varying topics that cumulatively tell the city's history.
When asked which section she liked the best, Bloodsworth said, "It's like picking a favorite child; they are all my favorite."
The Groveland Historical Museum now contains the photos and information featured in the book.
"It's like taking the museum with you," Bloodsworth said about her book.
It was important for Bloodsworth to get the book published before the Fourth of July. The holiday has always been one of Groveland's biggest celebrations, but the date also has historical significance for the town. This Fourth of July will be the two-year anniversary of the opening of the Groveland Historical Museum.
The city council in Groveland is also participating in "One Book, One Community" in July. Next month, everyone in Groveland will be encouraged to read "Groveland," the official book of the event. The idea behind "One Book, One Community" is to promote literacy as well as a sense of collectiveness throughout the city.
Bloodsworth hopes that when people read the book, they will think about their own families and record their own history.
In the words of Bloodsworth's old friend, Smith: "You can't forget where you started."
Title: Groveland's tenacity chronicled in new book
Author: Amy C. Rippel
Publisher: Orlando Sentinel
Date: 7/23/09
From turpentine to tree farms with many stops in between, this tiny town has seen its share of booms and busts. For Groveland, it's all about the trees and the people that live around them.
Early on, townsfolk reaped the benefits of turpentine-rich pine trees only to see it taken away by a drought. Later came a successful sawmill that brought the heydays of happiness and wealth and a devastating fire that eventually snuffed it all out. Later still was the boon that citrus brought to the area and the freezes that snatched it away.
Through it all, the stalwart residents of Groveland pushed forward. Their tenacity, will and dedication are captured on the pages of a pictorial history book about the city called Images of America: Groveland.
In the book, author Doris Bloodsworth shows many of the aspects of the city from its fledgling stages forward. She said ultimately many things in Groveland came back to the rich forests and the driven residents.
"Trees were the city's black gold," said Bloodsworth, a former Orlando Sentinel reporter.
The 128-page book is chock-full of images of an era that could have been long forgotten — happy families gathered on front porches, workers toiling at the town's sawmill and schoolchildren smiling for the camera.
Bloodsworth, 58, said she crisscrossed the state in search of information and photos for the book and interviewed dozens of people. But it was a labor of love. She was raised in Groveland, is one of the founding members of the city's historical museum and holds the city and its people dear to her heart.
"I have very affectionate ties to Groveland," she said.
The book also captures rich moments in the city's history, such as the inception of a telephone network that later became Florida Telephone Co. and the growth of the unbeaten high-school football team. But left off the pages is a darker event in the city's history: the Groveland Four.
The 1949 incident captured the nation's attention when four young black men were accused of raping a white woman and racial unrest followed. Bloodsworth said she decided to omit information about the event because it's not what local residents think and talk about today.
"Groveland residents in the white and black communities have told me they resent the label and stigma 60 years after the event occurred. It was an intentional choice for both of those reasons and more not to include it," she said.
The book was recently chosen to be part of a citywide reading initiative called "Our Book-Our Community." Katherine Spurgeon, branch manager at the Marion Baysinger Memorial Library in Groveland, said the book is a terrific way to show both old and new residents that there is a lot to Groveland.
"It's a good way to let people know what went on here," she said.
The library this month has hosted brown-bag book discussions on Wednesday at the library. Bloodsworth shares information that didn't make it into the book, among other things. The last discussion is set for noon to 1 p.m. next Wednesday.
She said she hopes this book will serve as an inspiration to others to dig into their own family histories.
For more information about the summer reading program, contact the library at 352-429-5840.
Title: Groveland unites for 'Our Book Our Community' month
Author: Staff Writer
Publisher: Orlando Sentinel
Date: 7/6/09
The Groveland City Council, Marion Baysinger Memorial Library and the Groveland Historical Society has proclaimed July as "Our Book Our Community" and are encouraging residents to read Images of America: Groveland, a pictorial history of the city.
The 128-page book, written by Doris Bloodsworth, was released in June and chosen as the reading selection for "Our Book Our Community" program, which promotes literacy and a connected community. The idea of city-wide reading originated with Seattle librarian Nancy Pearl in 1998 when she challenged residents to read Russell Banks' novel The Sweet Hereafter. The concept has since spread to other parts of the country.
The library will host a brown-bag lunch discussion led by Bloodsworth from noon to 1 p.m. Wednesdays during July at the library, 756 W. Broad St. Bring your own bag lunch. Beverages will be provided.
The museum will show recorded sessions of the discussions during its regular Saturday hours from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The museum also will sponsor an online discussion forum at grovelandhistory.org/discuss.html.
Bloodsworth, spokeswoman and past president of the Groveland Historical Museum, will have several book signings throughout the month.
For a schedule of brown-bag lunches, book signing or to purchase the book visit grovelandhistory.org.
Title: A 1954 photo captures glory of Groveland's citrus heritage
Author: Amy C. Rippel
Publisher: Orlando Sentinel
Date: 5/19/09
One glance at an aging photograph of female citrus workers clad in starched white uniforms brings back a flood of memories for Margaret Moulton.
For 45½ years, Moulton, 81, worked as the bookkeeper at B&W Canning Co. in Groveland. A 1954 photo of dozens of women wearing white dresses with matching nurse-type hats and bobby socks brings back memories of the old plant and the people she worked with. They were friends, neighbors and relatives — all of whom peeled, sectioned and canned the fruit for the expansive processing plant.
Those women, and hundreds like them, played an important role in small towns across Florida — and Groveland in particular. That's why the Groveland Historical Museum will honor local women who worked in the citrus industry, said Doris Bloodsworth, the museum's spokeswoman and past president.
"It was a big part of growing up in Groveland," Bloodsworth said. "The name of the town is Groveland, and that kind of says it all."
B&W Canning Co. opened in 1946. By 1948, the company was shipping almost 1 million cases of canned fruit and 250,000 boxes of fresh fruit, according to Bloodsworth's book, Images of America: Groveland, due out at the end of June.
"By the following year, B&W had become the largest employer of any canning plant in Florida with peak payrolls at $23,000 a week," the book says.
Freezes in the 1980s destroyed the citrus industry, but the company carried on under the name Busbee, Wilkins & Sealy, Inc., according to the book.
Today, the company is a shell of its 1950s grandeur with just two 70-acre groves in Groveland. Kathryn Brown, who runs the company with her husband and father, said the museum's celebration is welcome.
"I think it's great," she said.
Bloodsworth said the black-and-white photo of the women was donated to the museum many years ago. The photo, which is about 3 feet wide and 10 inches tall, shows more than 100 women. Bloodsworth said the museum is now working to identify the women or their family members.
At 11 a.m. June 13, the museum will host a reception for them. At the gathering, the women or their family members will get a small lapel pin in the shape of an orange with a heart. Volunteers also will be recording the women's stories about working in citrus.
Moulton, who retired from the plant in 1991, said she's thrilled about the event. She said she and her mother, Edilee Turner, worked at the plant for decades.
Turner, who died in 1979, worked as a citrus inspector. Other women in the picture sectioned the fruit or packed it. Moulton, a lifelong resident of Groveland, said many in the picture have since died.
Still, the memory of B&W lives strong in Moulton's memory because it meant so much to her and her mother.
"She enjoyed it," Moulton said of her mom. "It was the best job she ever had, really."
To view the photo, visit the historical society's Web site at grovelandhistory.org. To participate in the reception or identify someone in the photo, call 407-797-9393.
Title: 'Groveland' Teaches, Helps Unite Community
Author: Linda Charlton
Publisher: The Reporter
Date: 9/20/09
Groveland was once the economic powerhouse of Lake County. While that's no longer the case, author Doris Bloodsworth has brought some of that past to life in an Arcadia Publishing Images of America book called, simply, Groveland.
The book, released June 22, was the subject of a just-completed One Book One Community project in Groveland, complete with brown-bag lunch discussions held each Wednesday in July at the Groveland library.
To support the program, the Groveland city council declared July "One Book One Community" Month. In a statement released the same day as the book, Mayor Richard Smith said, "The City Council believes when people learn about the city's past, it will inspire community pride and optimism about our future."
On Aug. 1, Bloodsworth was at the Presidents Hall of Fame for a book-signing.
"This has been very rewarding, very exciting," Bloodsworth said. "I got so much out of it. Not just learning ... I wish I'd known some of this when I was in school."
Bloodsworth grew up in Groveland, and says the best thing about the book, for her, has been the feedback she's gotten from readers.
For Groveland, as for much of the area, the first settlers after the Native Americans were Civil War veterans. Groveland, as a distinctive community, began in the 1890s when two brothers named Taylor started a turpentine still on the north side of what is now known as Lake David.
Groveland was "Taylorville" until 1922, when residents voted to change it to Groveland.
Bloodsworth says "trees" is one of the themes that run throughout the town's past. The turpentine industry tanked when drought damaged or killed many of the pine trees. The lumber industry started as an effort to harvest the now "sapless" pine trees. The massive fire in 1925 at the equally massive Arnold Lumber Mill struck a major blow to that industry. Even though the mill was rebuilt, a declining supply of lumber and the coming of the Great Depression meant that the glory days when the mill was the single largest employer in the county were gone forever.
Citrus was king after that.
The One Book One Community movement, which started in Seattle in 1998, is a way of promoting reading by getting a whole community to read the same book at the same time. The Groveland book can be ordered online through the Groveland Historical Society at www.grovelandhistory.org. It can be purchased in person at the Groveland museum on Saturdays, and is available at some locations in Groveland, as well as the Presidents Hall of Fame in Clermont.
