Belair Historical

Belair Historical (HM1R32)

Location: Lake Mary, FL 32746 Seminole County
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Country: United States of America
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N 28° 46.767', W 81° 18.12'

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Inscription
(side 1)
Belair, located between Crystal Lake and what later became known as Belair Station, a signal stop on the South Florida Railroad, was a 400 acre portion of the original 12,000 acre grant acquired by General Henry S. Sanford in 1870.

When Mr. Sanford found the land at his 100 acre St. Gertrude grove northeast of here unsuitable for oranges due to an impenetrable layer of soil called hardpan, he moved the grove to Belair in 1874. He actively urged agencies in Washington, D.C. to establish an agricultural experiment station in Florida; and in 1881 he offered to donate 100 acres for this purpose. He repeated the offer again in 1884. When this was unsuccessful, he himself established the first experimental station in Florida for testing citrus and tropical plants for their suitability to Florida climate and soils.
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(side 2)
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This experimental station of 145 acres had ninety-five acres devoted to the testing of 140 varieties of citrus imported from around the world, fifty acres to lemons, ten to nursery stock, less than an acre to 60 varieties of pineapple, and one acre to olive trees. In addition there were 200 varieties of grapes, three fig trees, and a large number of young pecan trees. A five acre track with a southern exposure sloping to Crystal Lake contained 60 rare exotics and other flowers and plants ranging from alligator pear (avocado) to varieties obtained from world wide sources.

Here Mr. Sanford built for himself a temporary two story frame lodge located in what is now the middle of the present Chase Groves subdivision. It was destroyed by fire about 1915.

In 1902 Belair was purchased by S.O. and J.C. Chase of Philadelphia. The Chase family continued citrus production at this site until the 1980s.
Details
HM NumberHM1R32
Tags
Placed BySeminole County Historical Commission
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Wednesday, March 16th, 2016 at 5:02pm PDT -07:00
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Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)17R E 470522 N 3183588
Decimal Degrees28.77945000, -81.30200000
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 28° 46.767', W 81° 18.12'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds28° 46' 46.02" N, 81° 18' 7.2" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)407, 386
Which side of the road?Marker is on the right when traveling South
Closest Postal AddressAt or near Casa Verde Blvd, Lake Mary FL 32746, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

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