First Road to Orlando: The Mellonville to Orlando Road

FIRST ROAD TO ORLANDO: Second Edition. A 28 mile dirt trail was rendered obsolete the day South Florida Railroad (SFRR) departed Sanford, Florida, heading south to Orange County’s Seat at ORLANDO. One trail had served American Indians, the US Military, government surveyors, and the earliest settlers for nearly 40 years before the first trains began running. FIRST ROAD TO ORLANDO, a true story of how the earliest Central Florida towns came to be: Mellonville, Fort Reid, Rutledge, Maitland, Orlando, Fort Gatlin, and of how each town, including mysterious Orlando, got its name.