Oldie, but goodie

Historic Micanopy offers many simple pleasures, even during these dog days.

By BARBARA L. FREDRICKSEN
Published July 27, 2007

If you motor up to Micanopy this summer, be sure to take your parasol (the gents can call it an "umbrella"). Otherwise, the warm midday sun could make you into a quintessential and quite boring valetudinarian.

(That, dearies, is a kind word for someone who thinks he or she is sick all the time.)

My, my, that sun can be brutal.

On the other hand, that sun keeps away the less stout-hearted and leaves the place to those of us who aren't too cowed by a little warmth to turn off frantic Interstate 75 about 12 miles south of Gainesville, drive a few miles east and enter a slow and gentle old town that feels like something from the 1800s, which is exactly what it is.

A little dew on the upper lip is a small price to pay for a few hours of such tranquility.

Micanopy is the oldest inland town in Florida. Its brick buildings have stood tall and proud for a century or more, with 38 of them on the National Register of Historic Places.

There's a genuine American Indian mound nearby and a fascinating museum housed in an 1895 warehouse by the railroad track (open 1 to 4 p.m. daily, $2 entry fee).

Near the museum are the Micanopy Archives for serious historians. Call Diana Cohen at (352) 466-3848 or John Thrasher at (352) 466-0054 to get information and make an appointment.

Micanopy has a couple of spots for light dining in the newer buildings (Old Florida Cafe and Coffee 'n Cream), old Cracker homes, the gorgeous Herlong Bed & Breakfast in the grand Herlong mansion, art, antiques, collectibles, books, flowers and a host of other things to see and buy.

Unlike some other old towns, Micanopy's residents have successfully fought to keep out tacky commercialism. Benches and rocking chairs along the sidewalks invite weary visitors to sit a spell and cool off.

Locals sit in the porch swing at Coffee 'n Cream on Cholokka Boulevard and boast that they kept out the dreaded Wal-Mart and even a Dollar General Store that wanted to set up shop on the country road that leads to their little piece of paradise.

If you look hard, you can find a few tchotchkes in some of the dozen or so stores along the main street - coffee mugs, key chains, T-shirts and other trinkets.

But the vast majority of wares are serious stuff.

Take Delectable Collectables (yes, that second word is deliberately misspelled with an "a" so it rhymes with the first word), Monica Beth Fowler's place on the south end of town. She has lovely antiques and estate jewelry and an impressive amount of majolica and Flow Blue china, but her specialty is a huge collection of graceful cameo brooches and pendants.

Ms. Fowler thinks her collection is the largest in the South: hundreds of cameos made from agate, jasper, carnelian, sardonyx, museum-quality helmet conch, coral, lava, stone, some antique and some modern, many from Europe, others from Asia, still others made in the Americas.

A favorite destination along Cholokka for many visitors is the venerable O. Brisky Books, owned by former New Port Richey resident O. Brisky.

The large, two-room store has more than 40,000 volumes - mostly hardcover but a few thousand paperbacks - going from $1.95 to $250, with an occasional $1 rack sale.

Brisky buys books, too, "mostly nonfiction and classics," he says. He's not interested in romance novels or current authors. He specializes in Floridiana, history and archaeology.

There are sections on art, music, fishing, reptiles, boats, World Wars I and II, the Civil War, photography and religion, boxes of old Life magazines -- you name it, it's there.

Take a moment, too, for the latest venture, the Mosswood Farm Store, in a former residence next door to the museum. It specializes in organic, recycled and earth-friendly wares and has a genuine bicycle-powered ice cream churn. "Stuff we need" is the store's motto.

Owner Morgan Pevonka and her daughter Emily Piazza plan to give "country living classes" in the fall: how to make soap and beeswax candles, quilting, knitting, canning fruits and vegetables, and other life skills that they fear are being lost.

They have vintage aprons, churns, homemade jams and jellies, recycled overalls, solar ovens and the like and are open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, and closed Mondays.

Micanopy will have its big Fall Harvest Festival on Nov. 3 and 4 this year, when the streets are lined with arts, crafts, antiques, collectibles and "junque" from all over the Southeast, as well as musicians and food vendors. The local stores put out their best wares.

To reach Micanopy, take I-75 north, take Exit 374, go east on County Road 234 and follow the signs. It's about 110 miles from Bayonet Point and takes about two hours to get there.

It's worth the trip.

[Last modified July 26, 2007, 21:31:51]