Pioneer lake nomenclature: Carter Lake (Lotela), Tiger Lake (Tulane), and Lake Pioneer
Nineteenth-century press dispatches and early commercial directories for Avon Park occasionally reference water bodies whose names do not appear on modern cartography, specifically Lake Carter (or Carter Lake), Tiger Lake, and Lake Pioneer.[fla-ag-1895-05-15][fla-ag-1897-12-01] Primary founding records and federal land office survey data resolve the geographic identity of each of these historic water bodies within Township 33 South, Range 28 East.[crosby-1919-recollection][glo-tract-book]
Carter Lake as the Pioneer Toponym for Lake Lotela
On his initial winter 1885–1886 exploration of the central ridge with guide John A. Adams, town founder Oliver Marvin Crosby navigated using an antebellum government survey sketch:[crosby-1919-recollection]
“Passing Red Hill, as we left the flat woods, we rode into the highlands, or the backbone ridge, where your West Main Street now must be, and suddenly we were looking over your Lake Tulane, then known as Tiger Lake. We made coffee and had our lunch. Taking out the map that was furnished us by Capt. Adams, I said ‘if this is Tiger Lake then there is a much larger lake over yonder.’ We rode on and found Carter Lake, which is now Lake Lotela, and we knew that we were not lost.”[crosby-1919-recollection]
“Carter Lake” was originally named for early Fort Meade cattlemen and merchants associated with the firm of Carter & Henry, who grazed open-range cattle across the south-central ridge flatwoods prior to town platting.[maxwell-1976]
Although Crosby systematically assigned classical and melodic names (replacing “Carter Lake” with Lake Lotela and “Tiger Lake” with Lake Tulane), the older designation persisted in local vernacular usage throughout the 1890s.[crosby-1919-recollection] In December 1897, when Miss Law of Indiana founded the Indiana Pinery, the Bartow Courier-Informant reported her location as situated on “Lake Carter,” confirming the high sand ridges flanking Lake Lotela as the site of this major commercial pineapple enterprise.[fla-ag-1897-12-01]
Lake Pioneer and the Section 10 Homestead Tracts
In May and June 1895, The Avon Park Idea reported that homesteader Charles J. Williams had successfully grown half-bushel-sized heads of lettuce on elevated sand hills “near Lake Pioneer,” demonstrating that ridge soils could sustain high-grade truck farming without muck fertilization.[fla-ag-1895-05-15]
General Land Office records confirm that Charles J. Williams entered a federal homestead in Section 10 of Township 33 South, Range 28 East, receiving his federal patent on 13 October 1893.[glo-tract-book] Section 10 occupies the undulating ridge terrain directly north of Lake Verona and Lake Olivia, extending toward Lake Damon and Lake Pythias.[glo-tract-book]
Crosby specifically recorded “lovely Lake Pioneer” alongside Lake Viola and Lake Pythias as the prominent solution lakes observed during his initial survey of northern Township 33 South before Lake Verona was charted.[crosby-1919-recollection] During the 1920s land boom, the Boston development firm Stiles & Stiles platted the “Paradise Hills” subdivision across the rolling high ridges overlooking Lake Pioneer and Lake Pythias, confirming its permanent location within the northern solution lake basin of Avon Park.[maxwell-1976]
References
- crosby-1919-recollection — Oliver Marvin Crosby. Founding Scouting Trip Recollections (1919). 1919. the-first-hundred-years-of-avon-park_leoma-bradshaw-maxwell_1976.md
- glo-tract-book — Bureau of Land Management. General Land Office Survey Plat and Tract Book for Township 33 South, Range 28 East. 31 August 2026. https://glorecords.blm.gov/s/
- fla-ag-1895-05-15 — The Florida Agriculturist / Avon Park Idea. The Florida Agriculturist, 15 May 1895, page 15 (reprinting Avon Park Idea on C. J. Williams). 15 May 1895. https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn96027724/1895-05-15/ed-1/?sp=15
- fla-ag-1897-12-01 — The Florida Agriculturist / Bartow Courier-Informant. The Florida Agriculturist, 1 December 1897, page 13 (Avon Park cor. Bartow Courier-Informant). 1 December 1897. https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn96027724/1897-12-01/ed-1/?sp=13
- maxwell-1976 — Leoma Bradshaw Maxwell. The First Hundred Years of Avon Park, Florida. 1976. the-first-hundred-years-of-avon-park_leoma-bradshaw-maxwell_1976.md
Related
- Finding: Pre-Crosby Land Entries and Patent Claims in Township 33 South, Range 28 East
- Finding: Pioneer pineries and early horticulturalists of Avon Park, 1890–1910
- Finding: The Seven Lakes of the Pabor Lake Colony
- Finding: Regional newspaper correspondence and the Avon Park Idea, 1890–1918
- Entity: Oliver Marvin Crosby
- Report: The Founding of Avon Park
Where this comes from
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Sources
- Oliver Marvin Crosby, Founding Scouting Trip Recollections (1919) (references/the-first-hundred-years-of-avon-park_leoma-bradshaw-maxwell_1976.md) (1919)
- Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Survey Plat and Tract Book for Township 33 South, Range 28 East (2026)
- The Florida Agriculturist / Avon Park Idea, The Florida Agriculturist, 15 May 1895, page 15 (reprinting Avon Park Idea on C. J. Williams) (1895)
- The Florida Agriculturist / Bartow Courier-Informant, The Florida Agriculturist, 1 December 1897, page 13 (Avon Park cor. Bartow Courier-Informant) (1897)
- Leoma Bradshaw Maxwell, The First Hundred Years of Avon Park, Florida (references/the-first-hundred-years-of-avon-park_leoma-bradshaw-maxwell_1976.md) (1976)
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