Clermont, FL - Crackers

Nope, this is not a discussion of whether the Nabisco or Town House brand is the best to serve at a party or whether peanut butter or cheese is the best to serve with them. It’s about the early settlers in Florida and their descendants. Sometimes, we go to a museum to learn one thing and in the process are exposed to lots of other types of knowledge that we had no idea existed. Today was one of those times. We visited a ‘living history’ type of farm museum in Kissimmee, FL and expected to learn about early history in Kissimmee, Florida. Who were the early settlers? What were their lives like? How did they influence the present?

The Osceola County Historical Society Pioneer Museum we visited has several different homes from several different eras and life styles. All have been donated and the museum accepts nothing that did not come from Osceola County. Of course, once it has been donated, they need to move it here. Luckily, most of the buildings they have are small enough to take apart and move separately. They’ve got quite a few buildings but 3 of them are houses that we were able to tour.

Here’s a picture from a citrus packing house from the 1890’s - in fact it is from the oldest surviving packing house in the state. Citrus was a big crop in this area, in fact the county we’re in is called Orange County. (Interestingly, there are many fewer orange orchards than there used to be as the housing and developments spread outward from Orlando.) This photo is of a citrus sorting chute - all the oranges picked are rolled into the top and, depending upon the size, they then fall through the holes at the top into same-sized sections. Of course, the more oranges sized and packaged - the more the pickers got paid.

The homes here range from very small to large. The smallest is the Tyson home, built in 1892, where James Tyson and his wife, Victoria, lived - with their 11 children.

Average, hard working farmers but with little expendable income. Here they are with 10 of their kids. 

Imagine - 13 people living in this one-room home. The boys slept out on the front porch which, in the summer, must have been much cooler than inside the house. Here you can see 1/2 of the front room and part of the back room added later. Here the cooking was done - trying to keep the heat from the main living area.

and here is the other half. 13 people - and sometimes, Gary and I think our RV is small.

The largest house is the Cadman house, built by an Englishman and his wife who had 4 kids, some of whom lived here from 1888 to 1980 when the house was donated. They were obviously well-off since their house if fairly large. They were investors who came from England, though the wife was none too happy to come. This was a frontier area and their house was far from others and stores.

In the middle, between larger Cadman home and the smaller Tyson home was the Lanier ‘Cracker’ House built in 1889 by the Lanier family, prominent ranchers in Osceola County. The ‘Cracker’ House, is defined as such because it has a center breezeway which creates a natural air conditioner for the home. They have windows in every room to help keep the warm humid Florida climate at bay and are sited E to W to take advantage of the prevalent winds. Anything to decrease the sun’s heat. Included with the house are a wash house, smokehouse, and gardens – all essential to homesteader life in the 1800’s.

Now, I have always thought that the word ‘cracker’ was derogatory in nature. And, yes, in most cases it is, however, it also can be used to describe a poor Scotch-Irish farmer who lived in the south in the 80’s and 90’s and who had what were called ‘cracker’ cattle. These cattle, descended from all the cows that the Spanish left in this area. has adapted to live in a hot, humid parasite-filled climate eating the low quality forage found in the grasslands and swamps down here. I read on a sign by this house that the cows, after they had been herded to market, were none too healthy nor did they taste well, but they got there. These cattle were smaller than western breeds and averaged about 600 lbs.

Sometimes, the words ‘cowboy’ and ‘cracker’ were used interchangeable but often a ‘cowboy’ worked in the West and a ‘cracker’ worked in Florida. The cowboy twirled a lasso while the cracker snapped (cracked) a whip. Some used the whip with such great skill that they could kill a rattlesnake. Is that the origin of the term ‘cracker’? Some think so but actually Shakespeare used the word ‘cracker’ in one of his plays in the 1600’s.

Here are two pictures by Frederic Remington in an 1895 article in Harper's New Monthly Magazine.

So - is ‘cracker’ a term of pride or a term of derision? I’m not going to decide - it’s way above my pay grade. Actually, come to think of it, since I’m retired, everything is way above my pay grade. However, we did enjoy the Museum and getting a bit of Florida history. By the way, the two people in blue in one of the pictures above were down here to run in the Disney marathon, half-marathon, 10K and 6K. 4 races in 4 days and they end with the marathon, the longest and most grueling. 47+ miles in 4 days.

Also on the Museum grounds were some Seminole homes built recently by some local Seminoles. These were open, again, to deal with the Florida heat but there was also a platform above ground for them to live on.

There were some other buildings, a blacksmith shop, a hay barn, and an old garage.

There were also some trails to walk on and we took advantage of these, along with lots of locals who were also walking.