The Historical Society of Orange Park Newsletter Monthly Meeting Monday, April 13, 2015, 6:30 PM Clarke House 1039 Kingsley Avenue Orange Park, Florida 32073 April Meeting Mr. Hank Racer, a longtime resident and one of a group of residents who were instrumental in convincing the Town Council to purchase the Clarke property and preserve it in history forever, will be our speaker at this month s meeting. This group s efforts prevented the property from being commercially developed. Mr. Racer will speak on the initiative from concept to final acquisition, the town's resident and council involvement, the long process they went through, the hurdles, and, satisfaction in accomplishing this important historic property preservation. Membership We are currently still recruiting new members so if you know of anyone seriously considering joining us, please invite them to the March meeting. Current Membership Our sincere thanks to the following people that have renewed their membership for this year. We are grateful for your support and look forward to a productive 2015. Patrick Arnwine Larry Beaton Sarah Bedsole Lee Bentley Billy Brantley Donald Brammer Sheila Brammer Cindy Cheatwood Barney Clark Carolyn Clark Carolyn Day Mike Day Janice Delp Joe Demarco Mary Ellen Demarco Wanda Dillaberry Darleen Ehrenberg Jacqulin Golay Marilyn Haddock Evelyn Hall Barbara Hammond Juanita Hargrove Randy Harris Virginia Hash Neal Hawkinson Norma Hawkinson Carol Hogan Suzanne Hogan Van Hogan Diane Howard Steve Howard Marge Hutton Allyson Jarczyk Marie Marfia Carol McConnell Mary Jo McTammany Gary Meeks Patricia Meeks Pat Mueller John Nelson Dot Patterson Patricia Renau James Renninger Melanie Tharpe
Page 2 We Need You. TO Be HSOP President Our Historic Society is in need of a president. Cindy Cheatwood has graciously served as our president and needs to pass the torch to someone new. We are asking all members to consider filling this position. Dot Patterson Quilt Raffle Our sincere thanks to member Dot Patterson for her kind donation of a handmade quilt "Tulips in the field." The quilt (77" X 84" double/queen) will be raffled off and all donations will support the many community programs of the Society. Tickets are $1 each or 6 for $5. Tickets will be available at our general meetings. Recent Events March Meeting Winners from the Clay County history fair presented their projects at out March meeting. Congratulations to all the history fair participants and we wish the selected delegates the very best in the upcoming state competition. History Fair Judges Many thanks to HSOP members for volunteering to judge this year s history fair.
Page 3 Carrie Clarke Day Carrie Clarke Day was a huge success. Thank you to all who volunteered to make everything run smoothly and enable us to share the Clarke House with so many that came to the park. The shed display was finished and is a wonderful addition to the Clarke House. Thank you to HSOP member Randy Harris for all your hard work on the tool display. Thank you to Larry and Gloria Reiche for their generous donation of antique tools. Tool Shed display Pictured (left to right): A. Whitening, Carolyn Clarke, & Town Manager Jim Hanson Art Guild of Orange Park Booth with Garden Art President Leslie Kruzickiand and Daisy Stanilonis Carolyn Clark and Frankie Anderson (Betsey Ross) Juantia Hargrove as Mrs. Clarke conducting a Sunday school class
Page 4 Zinia Basil and Emma Kiely Zinia Basil and Allie Beaudrot Volunteers from Orange Park Junior High, Mrs. Cheatwood s class, dressed as brides and shared the history of Carrie Clarke s generosity to the community by allowing couples to hold wedding receptions at her home. Earl Harrington Community Service Award Congratulations to Carolyn Day, recipient of this year s Earl Harrington Community Service Award. Carolyn richly deserves this award for her dedication to the community, her contributions and volunteer work, especially with the Orange Park Art Guild and the HSOP. Carolyn devotes countless hours on behalf of the Veteran s Memorial in Magnolia Cemetery and organizes the beautiful ceremony honoring those who serve each Veteran s Day. We appreciate and are grateful for all the Carolyn has done for the Historic Society and Orange Park!
Page 5 Clay County Fair Things went very well at the fair Sat. (April 4) during the historical society's substitute teaching gig. There was a constant flow of people into the old schoolhouse. Virginia had small craft things for them to make and either leave for the school or take home. That made lots of little ones happy. Thank you to everyone who helped! Cindy Upcoming Events Archaeologist to Present New Perspective on Northeast Florida Indians The Archaeological Institute of America--Jacksonville Society will meet at noon on April 25, 2015, in Room 1209, Building 51 at the University of North Florida to hear a lecture by John C. Whitehurst, National Park Service archaeologist for the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve. His lecture is titled "Mill Cove Complex of Northeast Florida: A Possible Gateway Trade Center Between the Caribbean and Mississippi Culture Area." Using artifacts from Grant Mound (8Du14), Whitehurst will examine the possibility that the Mill Cove Complex here in Jacksonville was linked to the Taino culture of Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico. The lecture is free and open to the public, and refreshments will be served afterwards in the Archaeology Lab. On Saturdays, parking is free and the staff/faculty/vendor spaces are available to everyone. For more information, contact Melva Price at (904)241-9411 or aiajaxsoc@gmail.com.
Page 6 Clay County Public Library Genealogy For more information please visit the Genealogy page of the Clay County Library website, http://www.ccpl.lib.fl.us/blog/genealogy/. There you will find information on upcoming meetings as well as previous meetings you might have missed. Ancestry.com Ancestry Library Edition provides access to a number of genealogical and historical resources, including images of the decennial U.S. census from 1790-1930. (Available only in the library.) Other News Veterans Memorial The Veterans Memorial Committee continues to receive orders for inscribed brick pavers that are installed at the site. Order forms are available at the memorial site, in the Orange Park Library or may be downloaded from the HSOP website If you are interested in purchasing an inscribed paver to honor a veteran you may download a form from our website or pick up a form in the box at the memorial site. We will be installing pavers in time for Veterans Day. For more information call Carolyn Day 215-9177. Pavers are $50 each. Help Save Our Sound The Town of Orange Park has offered the Historical Society the opportunity to save the audio recordings of the town's council meetings going back to the 1960 s. They have written minutes of these meetings but are running out of storage space for the tapes. Contained within those tapes, which would otherwise be thrown away, are the exchanges from past council meetings during the 9-11 alarms, the creation of the OP Mall, the opening of the Buckman Bridge, and more close to our own hearts, all the banter regarding the preservation of the Clarke House. As the Historical Society of Orange Park we are the logical choice to keep the tapes that matter to the history of the town. We need your help! If several people can adopt a year (or perhaps two?) to scrutinize we can decided which tapes to save and which we can part with. Those worth saving can be digitized for the future. Please contact Cindy Cheatwood (ckcheatwood@hotmail.com or 707-0822) if you can help. There are two ways to determine which tapes contain must-save material, by using the actual tapes and listen for which to save, or by reading written minutes and noting the tapes that contain significant topics. While there is not a definite end date as to when this must be done, the Town is ready to have the tapes moved out. Sooner is much better than later. If you have a few minutes to listen to a tape or scan through printed meeting minutes to summarize the points of discussion, please contact Cindy.
Page 7 Sunshine Please keep these members in your thoughts and prayers: Dot Patterson Trudy Sigman Carolyn Day Look For Us on Facebook Look for the Historical Society of Orange Park the next time you visit Facebook. Check our page for updates on society activities and updates on the Veterans Memorial. Don t forget to click Like on our page. Membership in the Historical Society of Orange Park We encourage you to support our mission to preserve the history of Orange Park and share that history with the community by becoming a member of the Historical Society of Orange Park. We also ask your support and participation for the many community activities we undertake during the course of the year. You can visit our website,, to download a membership form.