Old Family Photography Tells Of Frostproof-Lake Wales Trip

THIS IS the Cody family group on their way to Lake Wales where they found no homes and only an abandoned boat in 1908. In addition to being an all day trip,  Aunt Elma  carried  an  air  

rifle (see photo) for young son Louis to chase off packs of wild hogs. This letter and story is only a single report in a new history of Frostproof that is now in preparation.

    When present day resi- dents zip from Lake Wales to Frostproof, Dundee or Bartow they probably think they are traveling slow if the trip takes more than 15-20 minutes.
    There was a time in Flor- ida history, and still in this century, when those trips were far more time con- suming. Preparations took more than a random thought and quick takeoff. And you might not ride in comfort all the way.
    Such was not the case in March of 1908 when the grandmother of Sarah Cody, currently of Cody Villa on Crooked Lake, de- cided to take a trip from the family home in Frostproof to Lake Wales. The grand- mother, Sarah Amelia Cody later wrote to her daughter, Ethel Higginbottom in ln- dia telling of that day.
    Miss Cody recently brought the NEWS a photo-

graph of the family group making the trip and also a letter the grandmother sent to her daughter describing the day. Both the letter and the photograph will be part of a history of Frostproof that will be coming out later. The history is full of similar memories and pic- tures and is being prepared by June Felt.
   It is being reprinted here as  a  reminder that the "good old days" weren’t al- ways so easy but those pio- neers still had a lot of fun.
   Here is Mrs. Cody’s March 8, 1908 letter:
Frostproof House
My dearest Ethel,
    I feel pretty tired tonight, we have been going so much this week. Monday I baked  bread  and made a call with father
    Tuesday we went up to

Crooked Lake.

    Wednesday we got up early, all of us. Packed a lunch, put two horses be- fore the wagon and started out to Lake Wales, about 11 miles away.
    Mr. and Mrs. Jaques and two ladies were going to Haines City and were going that way, so we thought to go as far as Wales with them. Well, we came up to them east of Crooked Lake.
    We journeyed with them till we came to a lake called Easy, not so large as some lakes are.
    By that time it was noon, so they stopped there for lunch. Took off their horses and fed them. They built their fire and we built our fire a little ways off from them where we boiled eggs and made coffee for father. Harry, Lillie, Vilma and I had tea made. Well, it all tasted so good.

    After a rest, they hitched up and we went on with them to Lake Wales three miles farther on.
    It is a beautiful sheet of water. High banks covered with pines, but not a person near for miles. It does seem strange such beautiful spots in this country with no one living in them to enjoy the beauty. Oh yes, we saw a boat half full of water so sometime somebody had been there.
    After resting and water- ing the horses we returned home (Crooked Lake house) about 6, tired but pleased with our picnic. This forenoon Harry and Louis brought us to Frost- proof as we had been in- vited to Mr. Carson’s to eat turkey with some other people we knew here. Sat. we intend to go on another picnic to Avon Park.

Very Lovingly, Mother