VILLA CITY

Villa City is a Florida historical marker in Groveland, Lake County, dedicated 1995.

Lake County · dedicated 1995 · Lake Emma Road, 3 miles north of Groveland, Groveland

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On this site in 1885, George Thomas King, founder of Villa City, built an estate that was the showplace of the area. By 1895, the town had a post office, school, church, hotel, photographic studio, dispensary and 35 homes. The citrus based community flourished until the Big Freeze of 1894-95. A warm spell, after a devastating Dec. 29 freeze, filled the trees with sap. Snow then fell in the evening of Feb. 7, 1895. The frozen trees exploded when the warming sun returned. Their hopes and dreams broken, the settlers left. The last original house, the Gano House, was demolished in 1968, but the beauty of the area remains.

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Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

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under a mile from where William Gabby lived in the 1760s

what this marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years here

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Marker data: Florida Historical Marker Program, Division of Historical Resources, Florida Department of State

VILLA CITY

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