Park Avenue Is Really Like It Sounds

Park Avenue in Winter Park. Postcard circa 1940's

Winter Park is the towm just north of downtown Orlando that is the center of the area's cultural life. Park Avenue bisects the center of it and the street, heavily lined with trees, has over a hundred tableaus of planters and potted specimens that show the vast diversity of flora that grow in this area as it straddles climatic zones where both tropical and temperate plants flourish. The avenue starts on the south end at the Rollins College campus as it spreads along the shores of Lake Virginia. The school boasts an outstanding art museum, the Cornell , which Frommer's Travel guide once rated as one of the nation's top free attractions(there is now a nominal fee). Gourgeous live oaks and long leaf pines shade the campus which boasts a mediterranean revival style. Moving north the street is lined with shops and sidewalk cafes as it passes Central Park. After the park, the street passes the Morse Museum of American Art. Here one finds the world's greatest collection of works by Louis Comfort Tiffany. One can easily make an argument that he is one of the most important figures in the history of American art and design.
Park Ave. Winter Park

As the the street progresses, it slices through the Winter Park Golf Course along whose eastern perimeter is the relocated masterpiece "Casa Feliz" by renowned architect James Gamble Rogers. The citizens of Winter Park raised the money to move it when a nouveau riche gent in the cruise line business bought the lakefront lot where it was located and promptly announced his intention to tear it down. Folks rallied, got the funds and the place will now serve as a community center and museum to Roger's works.
Park Ave. Winter Park

Park Avenue turns west just past this spot and eventually joins Orlando Avenue as it passes into the charming little city of Maitland. Half a mile further it passes Lake Lily Park. Today there was a farmer's market and I sampled a piece of cabernet soaked fromage called "Drunken Goat." And just a short block further north is the Maitland Art Center.
Originally conceived by Andre Smith in the 1930's as a research studio, it consists of a series of small buildings with stamped concrete inspired by Mayan designs and set in a series of gardens. I can't think of a better place for a monkey to rest at the end of a trek up Park Avenue.

Park Avenue, Winter Park.

Greenada Court located on Park Avenue. Postcard circa 1940's

This boat tour runs every hour, every day, and has been for the last 70 years. Postcard circa 1940's.

Winter Parks Spring Art Festival. Postcard circa 1964.