| Limestone: Hardee County’s best kept little secret By CHIP BALLARD Sun Correspondent Sooner or later, the cat was bound to get out of the bag; probably sooner – such a secret couldn’t be kept too long. How do you find it? Well, from U.S. 17 in Zolfo Springs, you go west on S.R. 64 through Oak Grove, and on to Ona. Turn south in Ona on C. R. 663 just before you get to the flashing light at the railroad track. Drive 10 miles due south. Be aware that every mile you drive, you probably will be more and more inclined to let your window down and breathe; just breathe, deeply. The farther into the country you go the more you will sense you are leaving something behind, something heavy and oppressing that you have been hauling around a long time. By the time you pass the USF Range Cattle Research and Education Center, and then the sign pointing to the ZAUZ Nursery, you will realize suddenly and with overwhelming clarity what it is you’ve been hauling; you see it fading fast in your rearview mirror: The rat race of modern civilization. If you are taking this drive in late afternoon, a golden hue will begin to settle upon the countryside. The wide open spaces all around you will beckon you to pull over onto the shoulder of the road and get out of your car. By now you will have noticed cows grazing lazily in pastureland on either side of the road, and very likely you will see deer, armadillo, raccoon, opossum, perhaps a bobcat. You will sense wildlife that you cannot see. There will be no doubt in your mind that wildlife is abundant. A bald eagle very well could sail over you at any time, for they are not uncommon in that area. If you do not have a camera, you will promise yourself to bring one next time. After staring at the pastel pinks, reds and purples in the late afternoon sky, climb back in your car and continue east a short distance and soon you will come upon a charming, compact community known as Limestone. In Limestone, there are no convenience stores or bus stations, no police cars or fire trucks, no Wal Marts or Targets, and no Blockbusters or beauty shops. The entire community is compressed into perhaps four blocks; there may be two dozen houses. There are two churches. Limestone Baptist Church perches on the northwest corner of Keystone Ave. and Lawrence St. The other church, St. Paul Missionary Baptist, stands on the northeast corner of Washington Ave. and Jefferson St. Monthly meetings have been held in Limestone Baptist Church for the past six months to decide what to do with grant money Limestone is to receive from the state. So far those who have attended the meetings have been unable to agree upon the best use for the funds. Some believe that by the time any agreement is reached, the money will be gone. Right in the center of Limestone, on the east side of a sharp and dangerous curve on C.R. 663, stands a quaint little store called Herb’s Limestone Grocery and Country Club. Herb’s is reminiscent of small general stores snuggled back in hollers in the mountains of North Carolina. The front porch is as large as the inside. Herb built the porch himself, and customers marvel at the craftsmanship. Herb also built the bar inside as well as the walk-in cooler behind the bar. On the walls hang framed pencil drawings that Herb has created, fascinating in their detail. “Herb is quite an artist” says Howard Solomon, creator of the internationally known Solomon’s Castle, a few miles down the road. A motorcycle, which Herb helped build, stands proudly in the center of the room. Hanging in one corner is a life-sized wicker motorcycle. In the opposite corner hang acoustic and electric guitars. There is a drum set. A skeleton. A pirate. A boar’s head. Elsie the Cow playing a banjo. So much stuff. One could spend hours, looking. The room is small, but cozy and warm. Outside is as interesting as the inside. A cluster of Australian pines, once so common in Florida, stands right outside the front door. Near the pines stand a 1928 model double-A truck and a 1934 model V-8 Ford flathead. Across Murphy Road, on another piece of property Herb owns, are three 1930s model-A automobiles and a 1946 Seagraves fire truck. Behind the store stands a metal container about half the size of a train car that someone doesn’t care for. Herb offered to paint a mural of a country setting on the container, but that didn’t make someone happy, so a complaint happened. Someone made an anonymous call to the zoning board saying the container was an eyesore, so someone came from Wauchula and decided that the container violated some obscure zoning code and that Herb must move the container elsewhere. Again Herb offered to decorate the container with beautiful country murals all around it; but still someone wasn’ t satisfied, and Herb was told to move the eyesore pronto or pay a hefty fine. As you leave Limestone, you are apt to experience a slight ache in your chest. Do not be alarmed. Odds are you are not having a heart attack. What’s happening is you are gathering back up the weight of the load your were able to leave behind for a while, the weight you’ve lugged around so long it has become almost a part of you: The burden of modern life in the fast lane. Don’t worry too much about the mild ache in your heart you might experience for a few days, or the sense of nostalgia that might hang over you for a while, or the longing for something you seem to remember having lost, but quite recall what it was. You’ll be back to normal soon. You’ll get numb again. The ache will go away. In our society where the unacceptable has become acceptable, and the intolerable is now tolerated, we tough, civilized folk can stand just about anything. How else could we survive? End |
