First Road to Orlando: A history of Mellonville, Fort Reid, Rutledge, Maitland and Orlando

NOW UPDATED AND AVAILABLE IN A SECOND EDITION. FIRST ROAD TO ORLANDO was rendered obsolete the day South Florida Railroad (SFRR) departed Lake Monroe, leaving out of SANFORD, bound for ORLANDO. In November, 1880, after 40 years as the principal north-south artery for Central Florida's earliest settlers, Mellonville to Orlando Road, as the old fort trail was then known, vanished in a blink of an eye. Losers in a hectic race to construct the first inland railroad were forgotten, and cities these challengers established likewise faded from history's memory. Mellonville and Fort Reid, for decade's major contributors in a developing Orange County, became as mysterious as the origin of a remote Village of Orlando, a tiny city capturing center stage, located 22 miles down the lonely sand rutted trail. The fascinating mystery of Central Florida only intensified when an employee of SFRR, in 1882, proclaimed MAITLAND as the "most important stop on the railway's line." FIRST ROAD TO ORLANDO, a true-life story, takes YOU there, back to the day of courageous pioneers, to a golden-age in the days leading up to Orange County's first railroad. Visit MELLONVILLE, FORT REID, RUTLEDGE, and MAITLAND like never before, and by the time you arrive at ORLANDO, you'll know the long buried secrets of how this town was REALLY named. NO fantasy, this is Central Florida's real story - home to America's proud history. 40 Exhibits assist in telling our story, and hundreds of individual line item references allow you to instantly verify any facts you may consider doubtful. FIRST ROAD TO ORLANDO - more than history - this is the captivating story of how Central Florida truly came to be!