Learning about Florida

Whenever I have moved someplace I have to learn about that particular place. Maybe it's because I'm a writer or maybe because I'm just nosy. Then again, I didn't start writing until I moved to Florida. Being raised in Virginia, I was immersed in history at a very early age by my history loving father.

Now back to Florida. I heard a friend say that before she moved to Southwest Florida she thought of the State as a place for wild spring break parties and theme parks. To a degree that is valid, however, the state has a rich history dating back to the 1600's when the Spanish first set foot on the coast.

Some people are aware of horse country in Ocala but not many know about cattle ranching. If not, I recommend The Legacy of the Florida Pioneer "Cow Hunters" In Their Own Words, by Nancy Dale. Many of these families came here after the Civil War and rounded up the wild cattle left by the Spanish.

Back in the early days men were not called cowboys, but cow hunters because there were no fence laws and cattle roamed the open land and had to be gathered from the woods, swamps and prairies. They rode "cracker horses" also know as "marsh tackies." Post WWII they were called cow men or cowboys but prior to that time they were cow hunters. There was concern that the cracker horses or cracker cattle would become extinct but are being preserved by the Department of Florida Cracker Cattle and Cracker Horses. The herds roam in the Withlacoochee State Forest near Brooksville, FL.

The term "cracker" refers to the whips the cow hunters used, snapping or "cracking" them in the air to move the cattle out of the palmettos or the swamps.

I try to incorporate tidbits of Florida history in my contemporary stories without becoming "preachy."

Hope you enjoyed reading this piece of Florida history.

Virginia Czaja, writing as Virginia Crane.