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Social Offers Residents A Glimpse Of Area's Past

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By GEOFF FOX, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 27, 2007

LAND O' LAKES - As more land is developed in central Pasco County, some people fear that memories of the area's history of railroads, citrus groves and ranches will be buried under asphalt, concrete and big-box retailers.

Kurt Conover, a member of the Heritage Park Foundation, is one of those people. The foundation's goal is to preserve as much of the area's history as possible.

At 6:30 tonight, the nonprofit organization is hosting an 'old-fashioned community social' at the Land O' Lakes Community Center, 5401 Land O' Lakes Blvd. There is no cost for admission.

The duration of the event 'depends on how many come out and how much they want to talk,' Conover said.

'We're losing so much of the historical stuff so rapidly. We hope we can preserve some of it so our children and grandchildren can see what things were like. We'll have a video about early settlers. We also have some old newsletters from the area, some old photos and scrapbooks.

'We're confident we'll have a good number of items out there.'

People don't have to be members of the foundation to show historical items, he said.

Eventually, the foundation would like to establish an open-air museum of historic buildings and reproductions in the area.

'We celebrated the 50th anniversary of Land O' Lakes a few years back,' Conover said. 'This is an opportunity to make sure people out there know that we're still pursuing our dreams. It's just meant to get people together and socialize about the good old days in the community.'

Reporter Geoff Fox can be reached at (813) 948-4217 or gfox@tampatrib.com.

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