This little town is bigger than we thought! Could have been nice to stay longer but we took off with the breakfast sandwich still in our hands, like to move it, move it!
The Baker House was built by Senator David H. Baker around 1886, in the community of Orange Home. The home consists of a two-story main house with porches on both floors and a separate two-story kitchen house. Much of the main house is still original, from its beautiful wood floors to the stained glass window on the second-floor landing, it is a beautiful landmark in Sumter County. The house was donated to the City of Wildwood in September 2012 and the Wildwood Area Historical Association is working on the restoration of the house.From the Baker House landmark we were searching our way west to the Hogeye Walking Trail which turned out to be a highly frequented path within a golf club.Hanging off trees and landscape plants, Spanish moss is a familiar part of Florida’s environment.Despite its name, Spanish moss is not a moss but a bromeliad—a perennial herb in the pineapple family. Most bromeliads, including Spanish moss, are epiphytes.Florida Sandhill Cranes are a large bird with a body length just over 3 feet and a wingspan of 6 feet, adult color is predominately grey but is often stained rusty brown from preening with a bill muddy from feeding in iron rich soils, red forecrown, white cheeks, relatively short black, straight bill and long, black legs.The great egret, also known as the common egret, large egret, or great white egret or great white heron is a large, widely distributed egret, with four subspecies found in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and southern Europe.The tricolored heron, formerly known as the Louisiana heron, is a small species of heron native to coastal parts of the Americas; in the Atlantic region, it ranges from the northeastern United States, south along the coast, through the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, to northern South America as far south as Brazil.Originally from South America, the Island Apple Snail Pomacea maculata was most likely introduced to Florida waterways as released individuals from the aquarium trade (where apple snail species are marketed as ‘mystery snails’, and are bred to produce various color morphs).Bathing sandhill cranes.Really nice, stroller friendly walk, albeit next to the highway and always in danger of being overrrun by a golf cart. But yay, you gotta take some risk to see the wild life!
