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Holdout recalls old Florida, offers a slice
By MAUREEN BYRNE AHERN SEMINOLE -- As a teenager, Edwina Hutchison would ride her bike from her home on the mainland to the beach, passing only one or two cars. At night, it was pitch black. "You couldn't see a light anywhere," she said. That was in the 1930s. Edwina Repetto was born on July 12, 1916. Her family moved from Washington state to Pinellas County when she was 2. They settled on 200 acres in the country, or what is now neighborhoods and businesses near the AAA Auto Club here. She attended Seminole Elementary, a two-room schoolhouse where she later returned to teach. She married Charles O. "Bud" Hutchison, who started Orange Blossom Groves with his brother-in-law, Al Repetto. When the two men returned from World War II, they bought citrus groves in Pinellas and Manatee counties. In 1946, they opened a small fruit stand on Seminole Boulevard. Two years later, they opened another small stand on U.S. 19, which was a small county road. Orange Blossom Groves proved to be a successful business. Both stands, now full-service stores, are still operating. In 1948, the Hutchisons bought about 35 acres near Long Bayou for $1,800. Mrs. Hutchison says that's why the $2-million offers she has received on her property, now 22 acres, amazes her. "I get offers all the time, but I never know how sincere they are," she said Thursday. She says the only offer she cares about is the one Seminole city officials have proposed. With so little undeveloped land in the Seminole area, the city wants to buy Mrs. Hutchison's property and preserve it. A park with trails and a nature center sounds good to both city officials and Mrs. Hutchison. Wearing brown moccasins, blue jeans and a green turtleneck, Mrs. Hutchison recalled simpler times here. Traffic moved slowly along Seminole Boulevard, a two-lane brick road. Oysters were plentiful in Long Bayou. Wild animals, such as fox, roamed her property. Although things have changed drastically during the past decades, Mrs. Hutchison speaks fondly of Seminole. "I think it's still a nice place to live," she said. "I wouldn't want to be anyplace else, I think." She says she loves her home, which was built in the 1940s, and wants to spend the rest of her life there. It's quiet, she says. Mrs. Hutchison, 86, likes watching the dozen cattle that graze on her pasture. Her brother owns them and sells some for beef. A couple of cows slipped under the fence one day and ended up in a nearby Home Depot parking lot. "That's the last time they misbehaved like that," she said. Mrs. Hutchison has a son who lives in Seminole and a daughter who lives in Hillsborough County. She has three grandchildren. She rarely drives, but when she does it's in a red Toyota truck to the doctor's office, church or grocery store. She says she wants to save a slice of old Florida, a place where people can escape the congestion. "We just need a little space around here," she said.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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From the Times South Pinellas desks |
