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Joe and Eleanor Burghaze

By CHANDRA BROADWATER
Published April 29, 2007

Joe Burghaze hugs wife, Eleanor, in their Mariner Boulevard home. They were the fourth family to move to Spring Hill 40 years ago.
	[Times photo: Danny Ghitis]

ADVERTISEMENT Eleanor Burghaze is shown in September 1967 outside her and her husband's first Spring Hill home, on Holiday Drive. They lived there for 18 years.

SPRING HILL - They were the fourth family to arrive and one of the first to buy the dream of Spring Hill.

In 1967, all it took for Joe and Eleanor Burghaze was about $600 down and $65 a month for their little piece of retirement heaven - a two-bedroom, one-bath concrete-block home they would live in for 18 good years on Holiday Drive.

"Ha! Can you believe it?" asked Joe, now 84, smiling with a twinkle in his crystal blue eyes. "Imagine, a home, lot and all for $10, 600. That's what we did without knowing beans about this area.

"We were like church mice."

Looking over at Eleanor, who sat across from him in their Mariner Boulevard living room on a recent afternoon, he said that the last 40 years have gone by quickly. Just about as fast as the traffic whizzing by on the four-lane road outside their second Spring Hill home.

Both 84, the Burghazes are among the some of the only original Spring Hill residents still living in this community of 95, 000 people, an unincorporated city masquerading as sprawling subdivision.

And to think, all they came with from Pennsylvania were a few bucks in savings and the idea that it would all work out.

They didn't pay much attention to the scraggly terrain and the few little houses built on top of the sandy soil. They didn't mind because they knew they would always have each other.

Spring Hill would be an adventure, a test of their wills. Did they have what it took?

"Everyone thought we were crazy, " Eleanor said. "Our families, the people we knew in Pennsylvania, they thought we were cuckoo. They wondered, 'Why would they want to move down there?' "

* * *

Joe first heard about Spring Hill from a co-worker at the U.S. Steel plant where he worked in New Hope, Pa. Both he and Eleanor were 44 at the time. Joe was nearing 15 years with the company, but the hard work and long shifts were taking a toll on his health.

He had digestive problems and the beginnings of emphysema. Breathing in the gunk in the air at the mill for so long wasn't good. He knew he would be dead before he could make 30 years and the company pension.

So when he heard about the rural development along the west coast of sunny Florida, and the free trip to see it, he seriously considered the idea. But he wasn't sure what Eleanor would think. They would have to sell their beautiful home, say goodbye to family - including two children who were 18 and 16 at the time - and start all over by themselves.

A few days later, he called Deltona's Pennsylvania sales office. After talking it over with Eleanor, he figured they didn't have anything to lose by at least visiting the place.

"They said we'll fly you down, put you up and pay for your expenses, " Joe recalled. "They gave us vouchers to restaurants and explained that there was no airport where we were going and would fly into Tampa."

Like the other couples who took the Mackle Bros. up on their low-cost trips, the Burghazes stayed a couple of nights in the Hawaiian Village hotel on Dale Mabry Highway. The morning after they arrived, a chauffeur-driven car hauled them north toward Spring Hill.

From U.S. 19, they turned right onto Spring Hill Drive, past the brick waterfall entrance proclaiming the area from the wild it was. The couple knew they wanted to move to Florida, but weren't so sure of the west coast.

But all it took was that one visit, a cheap home and knowing that they weren't too far from civilization. After all, they would be 33 miles from Clearwater.

Joe remembers seeing about seven model homes on the tour. Some were as low as $7, 900, the highest about $17, 000. There was nothing else except these few little houses and roads.

"So we signed up for a $10, 600 home, " Joe said. "We paid $65 a month, which at the time covered the home, a 30-year mortgage, taxes and homeowner's insurance. They called as the home progressed, and then we made arrangements to move."

After saying their goodbyes, they came to Florida in September 1967, but had to find somewhere else to live while the finishing touches were put on their house. From County Line Road to State Road 50, and from U.S. 19 to U.S. 41, there was nothing but the foxes, rabbits and other creatures that Brooksville residents hunted.

Somehow, someone directed them to a trailer for rent in Weeki Wachee, along the river. Eleanor thought it was the beginning of the end.

But there, in that tiny trailer, as they watched fish jump out of the water at night, Joe assured her it would be all right. Once they moved into their home, he would find a job - eventually with the U.S. Postal Service in Brooksville as a letter carrier.

Then he and Eleanor began escorting each other into their twilight years. They said they had no idea that retirement in Spring Hill would be so good.

* * *

The Burghazes have never regretted their decision to move to Spring Hill.

Sitting in lounge chairs across from each other in their living room, they recalled how hard it was at first. They were alone, sort of like they are now.

Grocery and other shopping was far away, down U.S. 19 in New Port Richey. There weren't any hospitals if something happened, and nothing to do for fun.

The couple never missed the picnics Deltona hosted. Sure it was a trade-off, Joe explained, but everyone had a good time. The people who lived in Spring Hill could have a party, and the people thinking about moving to Spring Hill could see the vision behind the pre-planned community.

At those gatherings, sometimes at Hunters Lake, Joe and Eleanor met other couples in the same situation. Anxious, they were all living in or moving to a place they didn't know "beans" about.

"But that was all right, " Eleanor said. "It was a happy-go-lucky community at the time. Nothing like it is now."

She and Joe have outlived most of the intimate friends they met in the days when a few hundred people gathered at those picnics on the lake. And they don't really know their neighbors anymore.

On one side of their current home is a family that has children. They seem nice enough. To the other, is a family that speaks only Spanish.

Eleanor wishes they could converse, but she tries her best with "Como esta?" and "Go with God" translated into Spanish.

They say they could really do without the traffic that makes it impossible to pull out of the driveway. According to Joe, they probably wouldn't be able to leave their house if it weren't for the patch of concrete they use as a turnaround.

But that's okay. Eleanor doesn't drive anymore, and they don't travel like they used to. They mainly go to doctor's appointments, out to eat around the area or maybe take an occasional trip to see their daughter, Marie, in West Palm Beach.

Over the past 40 years, the Burghazes believe Spring Hill turned out great. Their lives turned out pretty well, too. They learned they had what it took to make it, and this is where they will die.

"We gave it our best shot, " Joe said, his eyes getting watery. "That's all. We were the fourth people to move to a vast area, this nothing. You think to yourself, am I man enough to do this? Is she tough enough to do this? I bet if you think hard enough about it, I bet you could, too."

Chandra Broadwater can be reached at cbroadwater@sptimes.com or 352 848-1432.

[Last modified April 28, 2007, 19:14:47]