Sunday, July 26, 2009

Lundy Landing

I was visiting Manatee County Florida this week. While there I decided to try to locate the spot where my great great grandfather, William Lundy settled on the Manatee river in 1890.

A Lundy cousin told me the general area but said I couldn't get to it because it was on private land and posted. I had coordinates from the plot map and drove out anyway. Using my GPS I found it pretty quickly.

The old house is long gone but was on the river at the end of 104 Avenue East on the north side of the river. 104th Avenue dead ends on the river. Apparently the neighboring property owner convinced the County to close off the road. There is a gate across it about one half mile from the river.

There were plenty of No Trespassing signs on the fence along the road but none on the dirt road itself. Since it is still public property I decided it was not illegal to walk down the road. I jumped over the gate and walked to the river. At the end of the road I could not find any sign of the house. There were some old red bricks but from the photos I've seen the house was wood frame painted white. They may have come from the chimney or maybe just trash from someone over the last 100 years.

Ponce De Leon Mineral spring was also at this point but I knew it had gone dry in the 1920s
so I didn't expect to find any sign of it and didn't.

It was getting dark and since the adjoining land was posted I decided to stay on the old road and go home. But at least I found it and can say I was there.

1 comment:

Iris McClain said...

Hi Mark, I write articles for the Parrish Village News on "This Old House" monthly. Recently I came across an old home built in 1930 w/52 acres in the area of Lundy's Landing, I also saw a very old structure that looked like it had been built out of tabby material. I've not been able to get any info on this structure. I would be like to send you a copy of this article w/ pictures or you can go into ParrishVillageNews.com, click on archives, on the 3rd page of the June issue will be this article. By the way Vivian Simmions Buice is a very good friend of mine and I think she may be your cousin. If you know anything about this old structure please give me a call or e-mail me all info is in the article. Iris McClain