Cassadaga: Florida’s Oldest Spiritual Community in the South

When walking through this quaint Victorian town of Cassadaga, it’s difficult to not admire its historic wood-framed vernacular buildings and its old streets lined with century-old oak trees. Cassadaga is located in the pristine “lake and hill” country of Central Florida in Volusia County. Many of its Victorian dwellings date to Cassadaga’s inception in 1894, when George P. Colby donated thirty-five acres to the Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp Meeting Association. In 1991, Cassadaga was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In 1875, George P. Colby, instructed by his Indian spirit guide Seneca, was advised to head south to establish a community where thousands of believers could assemble. Colby set off to Florida traveling south on the Saint Johns River, arriving at Blue Springs, Florida located in Volusia County. The following morning Colby, in a trance-like state, was led by his spirit guide through uncharted woods where the spiritualist community would later be settled. Seneca had prophesied a utopian land of lakes and bluffs during a séance in Lake Mills, Iowa. It was the seventy-five acre tract of land, for which Colby would later file a homestead claim in 1880, that would become home to southern Spiritualists. At the time, Florida was hardly much more than a frontier swamp land with old overgrown military roads from the previous Seminole Indian Wars that were still barely passable. Seeking a warmer location in Florida would not only be a bit daunting due to its flora, but also because of its southern religious conservatism.

“Spiritualists who found themselves ‘marginalized’ in their native north might have expected to harmonize even less with southern religious culture, which was dominated by Christian evangelicalism and fundamentalism,” wrote John J. Guthrie in his chapter entitled “Seeking the Sweet Spirit of Harmony” from Cassadaga: The South's Oldest Spiritualist Community. Guthrie continues, “Yet despite their unorthodox faith, they [the Spiritualists] were steeped in a set of Protestant American traditions that ranged from capitalism to republicanism.” On January 29, 1893, Harrison Barrett, the future president of the National Spiritual Association of Lily Dale, New York, announced a meeting in DeLeon Springs, Florida. Thus, in February of 1893, a crowd of almost 600 people gathered for the Sunday meeting in DeLeon Springs.

Many came solely for the peculiarity of the event, wondering what Spiritualism entailed. In fact, Guthrie noted that even “a correspondent for The Record, went to investigate the authenticity of Dr. W.S. Rowley, a ‘spirit telegrapher’ from Cleveland. Using an ordinary battery with a Morse Key sounder, Rowley gave one of the ‘most remarkable demonstrations ever witnessed in a public assembly.’ According to the journalist, unseen operators ticked off long messages from the spirit world without Rowley’s hands ever touching the keys.” Speeches were given by George Colby himself, as well as many others, including A.B. Clyde, “the great silver-tongued orator from Ohio.”

Interest and serious settlement in sunny Florida did not abate. The Spiritualist Association was appointed by a commission to select a central terminal for the new winter camp. Cities such as Tampa, St. Petersburg, Tarpon Springs and St Augustine where investigated by representatives. Civic leaders in DeLeon Springs had offered the Spiritualists the same tolerance, twenty-five acres of land, and a two-hundred-room brick hotel, so that they would locate the spiritualist camp within the city limits. Only after all possible options were considered, did George Colby suggest that the committee visit his property. Two women, mediums Emma J. Huff and Marion Skidmere, were the only ones who accepted Colby’s invitation to visit his site in Florida. Both women were responsible for founding the Lily Dale Spiritualist congregation in New York. It must be noted that “Spiritualism,” a term coined by Horace Greeley, would offer women a distinguished opportunity to “acquire a public position in religious life.” In fact, the majority of mediums of the 19th Century were women, and women still dominate the field. The two female mediums, Huff and Skidmere would also play a crucial role in founding Cassadaga. Colby’s site made a great impression on them and in March of 1894, it was chosen by the committee. The winter camp in Florida would be named Cassadaga (a Seneca word meaning "Water beneath the rocks") in honor of its sister camp in Cassadaga, New York.

In order to fully understand Spiritualism’s beginnings, we must understand the changes that occurred during the antebellum period of United States. The catalyst behind Mormonism was started in the 1820’s by Joseph Smith who claimed special contact with the spiritual realm and gathered followers who considered him a prophet. There was the establishment of John Humphreys’ ‘free love ideology’ and community at Oneida, and William Miller’s prophecies of the end of the world in 1843. New sciences of memorization and phrenology were the proponents of modern spiritualism. In 1849, the Fox sisters claimed to have summoned spirits which attracted attention from Quakers and other seeking reconnection with their dead loved ones. Eventually they were inundated with the likes of P.T. Barnum, who cordially invited them to display their mediumship at his hotel during the summer of 1850. Horace Greely endorsed the Fox sisters and wrote about their rappings (telegraphic communication with the dead) in his newspaper.

However, with great sensationalized national attention would later result in mere controversy. In 1888, Margret Fox (of the Fox sisters) would later confess that the strange rappings heard in early séances had been a hoax. However, she withdrew her statement the following year. The reputations of the sisters were ruined and within five years, all three Fox sisters were dead. Historian Ann Braud purported that “once mediumship demonstrated a potential for monetary gain, ‘fraudulent mediums imposed themselves on the public, and some indeed profited from deception.’”Bret E. Carroll in his A Historic Overview of American Spiritualism claimed, “Within a short time, such literary luminaries as James Fenimore Cooper, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Harriet Beecher Stowe were investigating séances.”

During the late 1840’s, a shoemaker by the name of Andrew Jackson Davis was used as a subject in a hypnosis experiment for William Levingston, an early predecessor of hypnosis. While in a trance, Davis began recounting clairvoyant visions and unconventional medical remedies. Davis and Levingston began traveling together garnering a large following all over New England. By 1844, Davis was claiming wisdom from the spirits such as the ancient physician Galen and the 18th Century Swedish scientist, turned mystic, named Emanuel Swedenborg.

Spiritualism owes some of its influence to French Socialist Charles Fourier, who suggested that social and spiritual harmony could be obtained through reorganizing human society into small commonalities based on natural laws of attraction. In the United States during the 1840’s and 50’s, followers formed phalanxes applying his principals, though most would be short lived communities.

Today, local mediums own the buildings at Cassadaga, but the land is owned by the Association managed by a board of directors. Lease agreements were arranged in 1895 to insure the town’s building integrity. One can make appointments with more than two dozen different Reiki doctors, mediums, psychics and spiritual healers whose phone numbers are available at the Camp Bookstore (Andrew Jackson Davis Educational Building circa 1905). At Cassadaga, one can also make reservation for the Encounter Sprits Tour or the Nighttime Orb Photography Tour. Make sure you bring your digital camera for the latter event. Candle light healing services take place on the second Friday of each month at the Colby Memorial Temple, or one can attend a Sunday service that recognizes all religious sectors.

The town is filled with historic framed vernacular and stick-styled homes that radiate energy, and you will see many psychics sitting on their front porches drinking lemonade and sipping herbal tea. Some of the historical landmarks in the town include Brigham Hall built by Fred Brigham in 1897, Harmony Hall circa 1897, a frame vernacular building once used as a boarding home, and George Colby’s home built in 1895, which is of a gothic style, also donning a distinct crossed gabled roof.

There are a plethora of historic homes on the northeast side of Cassadaga that were built around 1895-1899. Most of Cassadaga’s architecture is located within the community, and dates from about 1895-1927. All residences are occupied by working mediums or psychics. One mile to the north of the city in Lake Helen, you will find a beautiful array of homes boasting the following architectural styles: Queen Anne Victorian, Colonial Revival, Folk Victorian and stick style. Many of these homes date back to the early 1880’s.

Landmarks and private historic homes in Lake Helen/Cassadaga
Anne Steven’s House/Clauser's Bed & Breakfast circa 1895
Harmony Hall (1150 Stevens St.) circa 1897
Brigham Hall (1145 Stevens St.) circa 1897
S.J. Andrews House (306 N. Lakeview Ave.) circa 1888
John Mills House (294 N. Lakeview Ave.) circa 1885
Clinton Gunby House (272 W. New York Ave.) circa 1885
Frank and Edwin Stoops/McGill House (340 W. New York Ave.) circa 1896
John Porter Mace House (214 S. Euclid Ave.) circa 1886
Ellis Blake House (186 S. Euclid Ave.) circa 1894
Idylwild Cottage (225 W. Garden St.) circa 1887
First Congregational (Church 107 S. Euclid Ave.) circa 1889
Blake Memorial Baptist Church (134 N. Euclid Ave.) circa 1894
Gould House (176 N. Euclid Ave.) circa 1888
Franklin Nettleton House (212 N. Euclid Ave.) circa 1894
Willard Hopkins House (226 N. Euclid Ave.) circa 1890
Thaniel Snover (N. Euclid Ave.) House circa 1893
Hopkins Hall (192 W. Connecticut Ave.) circa 1897
Residence (212 S. Lakeview Ave.) circa 1888


Bibliography
Lake Helen and Historical Trails, by Steve Rajtar and John Stephen Hess (1999)
Cassadaga The South’s Oldest Spiritualist Community, by John J. Guthrie, Jr., Phillip Charles Lucas, & Gary Monroe, Inc.(University Press of Florida 2000)

Hauntings at the Old Polk County Courthouse

Many hauntings tend to be associated with human tragedy; although, this isn’t always the case. However, the Old County Courthouse has had its share of tragedy. There is said to be possibly six entities haunting the old Polk County courthouse, but in order for us to understand the paranormal activities that have occurred here, we must first indulge in the courthouse’s rich history.

At first sight, you probably would not imagine this beautiful majestic courthouse to have spirits roaming its hallways. With its spectacular grand facade and gleaming tower, the idea could make one apprehensive to even conclude that it may be haunted, let alone by six ghosts. My intentions are not to convince the reader of such; instead, I would like to invite you to judge for yourself, based on the history that this courthouse has experienced throughout the years.

The City of Bartow is located just 39 miles east of Tampa and 50 miles southwest of the greater Orlando area. Bartow was originally established in 1851 and is also known as the “City of Oaks and Azaleas.” Bartow can trace its roots to Fort Blount and Reidsville when the city was later renamed Bartow in 1862 in honor of Francis Bartow, the first Confederate brigade general to die in combat during the American Civil War.

Three courthouses have stood on the same square, bounded by East Main and Davidson Streets, Broadway and Central Avenue. On June 15, 1867 the county commissioners awarded the contract for construction of its first courthouse to John McAuley of Fort Meade for a sum of $3,800. A second structure was erected in 1883-4, built by J. H. Thompson, at a cost of $9,000. The present building, erected in 1908-9, was designed in the Classical Revival style by E. C. Hosford, and built by Mutual Construction Company of Louisville, KY at a cost of $83,900. This courthouse is still in use as a museum and historical library.

Our first investigation involves an event in the town’s history that occurred all the way back in 1886.

Who were the Mann brothers?

By 1885, there was not a single saloon in Polk County; however, with a multitude of new settlers from the North where prohibition was not as popular, the majority of registered voters from Lakeland, Bartow and Fort Meade now agreed to have seven saloons established in the area. One of those saloons opened in Bartow in 1885 by Johnson, Daniels & Co., yet before this occurred, the proprietors employed Dan and Lony Mann to gather up enough signatures for the pro-saloon petition in exchange for a share of the profits. However, things would not proceed as simply as that. (See Canter Brown Jr.'s Florida's Peace River Frontier)

Dan Mann had a propensity for alcohol, a hotheaded temper and had fled town after a knife fight with his brother-in-law, nearly killing him. On May 15, 1886 the two brothers, who owned a 20 acre orange grove in Winter Haven, returned to collect their dues, only to be refused payment by the saloon proprietors. The Mann’s had threatened the saloon keeper and angrily dispatched off to the local store and purchased a package of .32-calibre cartridges for their guns. The men then went back to the saloon to take things into their own hands. The town Marshal, W.S. Campbell, was summoned to stop the odiously tempered men and to arrest them. While the two men resisted, “Happy Jack” McCormick, a night watchmen, dashed at Dan’s buggy to seize it. In a heat of rage, Lony pulled out his pistol and shot Jack McCormick in the left ear nearly killing him. Marshal Campbell was not so fortunate: Dan had shot him in the heart, killing him instantly. The Mann brothers fled.

Sheriff R.P. Kilpatrick summoned a posse of men to capture them. Meanwhile, a half mile out of town, the Mann’s buggy hit a tree stump, overturned, and as a result, the crash seriously injured one of the brothers. They were later spotted by T.S. Hull who held them until the posse arrived and returned the men to Bartow to await their punishment.

Crowds gathered around the 1883 courthouse, vociferating and screaming “Lynch them. Kill them.” Cantor Brown states in his Florida’s Peace River Frontier, that “crowds grew more violent when the Marshal’s wife and young children were brought to view ‘the [Marshal’s] dead corpse lying in the street.’”

The Sheriff was notified that the Mann’s would be lynched by the angry crowd-- a mob of two-hundred embarked for the city jail. Within hours, the Mann’s were transported to a nearby oak tree on Main Street located in front of the old 1883 courthouse. The angry mob began to string up Dan when Lony suddenly attempted to escape but was subsequently gunned down, hung and displayed in front of the courthouse. Allegedly, the bodies were later hung from the second story inside the old courthouse for several days.

Today, in the rotunda area of the courthouse, the staff and some visitors have reported feelings of despair as well as strange cold spots. Apparitions of two men roaming about the courthouse are believed to be the Mann brothers.

Another incident occurred in the basement boiler room when an explosion took the life of a male operative who was working in one of the four rooms. Many employees and museum visitors have reported unearthly and agonizing screams, but much to their dismay, there have been no explanation as to the source of these activities. Some suspect it’s a residual haunting of the unfortunate man’s disembodied spirit reliving his tragic demise in the explosion.

On the first floor in the criminal courtroom, many have experienced unexplained cold spots, although, it is inconceivable to identify any supernatural beings who might occupy this room. Many criminals have been inscribed in the books of the old courthouse’s roster, including those who faced life sentences or even death.

Flickering lights and cold spots have been observed in a room containing ancient Native American artifacts housed on the first floor. An apparition of a young lady wearing a white antique dress has been observed by many people near the second floor bathrooms and on the third floor. She could be one of several women who had a strong attachment to the building, but it is not clear who she is or why she haunts the old building.

The Murder of Judge Chillingsworth

During the early morning of June 15, 1955 two men broke into the circuit judge’s oceanfront home in Manalapan, Florida. The judge and his wife Majorie were bound, assaulted, and then dragged to a boat on the beach. The two men tied weights on Marjorie Chillingworth and threw her into the turbulent ocean water. The judge, though bounded, jumped overboard into the water attempting to save his wife. When he was caught, the men attached an anchor to him and then watched as he sank beneath the waves.

One of the killers, Floyd “Lucky” Holzapfel, described the judge’s last words: “Remember, I love you," while his wife replied, "I love you, too," before she was discharged into the ocean. Holzapfel and Lincoln were tried in the old courthouse, along with Joseph Alexander Peel Jr. (once West Palm’s only municipal judge), who would later be charged with organizing the murder.

In the original section of the 1909 courtroom, cold spots are felt and people have claimed feeling something grazing against them. It is believed that the source of this presence might be that of Judge Chillingsworth. It is rumored that the judge watches from the front of the courtroom as his accused killers are repeatedly sentenced, reliving his tragic event. Many years later, it has been said that seaweed was found inside the courtroom where the trial once occurred.

Avon Elwood North and the Murder of Bettie Albritton

Small towns carry dark secrets, as with this tale about Avon Elwood North, a mortician, who murdered his business partner, Bettie Albritton in 1951. Locals claimed that when business was slow, he'd just make more business. Tales of poisoning, embalming and expedient burials ran rapid through the community, gaining media attention from all over the nation, including Time magazine. The 1890's funeral home, where these sinister acts may have occurred, still stands today on the southwest corner of Broadway and Oak Avenue, in historic Fort Meade, Florida.

Avon Elwood North of Lake Wales, Florida, and business partner I.W. Albritton opened up a morticians practice in the old Fort Meade home in the late 1940’s. However, on January 1951, I.W. Albritton died, leaving his business dealings with his wife Bettie Albritton. In June of the same year, North visited Mrs. Albritton’s home, a wood-framed cracker dwelling in rural Fort Meade. Also present, were Mrs. Albritton’s seventeen year old son and a farm hand, when she had suddenly fell ill. North told the two boys to head into town to get an ambulance, but by the time they returned with medical attention, Mrs. Albritton was on the floor dead.

North said, “Mrs. Albritton had suffered an attack and fallen from her chair,” according to reports published at the time in the St. Petersburg Times. North had arranged Albritton’s funeral, including the embalming and was buried within 4 days. However, just days prior to her untimely death, she had changed her will, making North the sole benefactor of her $50,000 estate, which raised great suspicion.

A.E. North would later be arrested for first degree murder just days after Mr. Albritton’s death. The case was sensationalized by the media and newspapers. Rumors began to spread of poisonings, expeditious embalming, speedy burials and murder. An anonymous old timer quoted the following: “Well, I know there were more victims, not everybody knows that, but I do.” Apparently, when business was slow, A.E North allegedly made extra business by resorting to murder; although, this has never been proven but suspected. If true, this would make Avon Elwood North Fort Meade’s only serial killer in a town where a single murder occurs less than every seven years.

To make matters worse, Rev. Andrew Tampling, a pastor of the First Baptist Church of Fort Meade, and Stanley Myers, North's father-in-law were arrested and charged with attempting to tamper with a witness’s testimony. W.A. Arnold had testified to seeing bruises around Albritton's neck during the funeral arrangements. Tampling and Myers offered to pay Arnold $3,000 if he would make an affidavit that the testimony was extorted from him and that he was instructed by prosecutors in what to say.

North's appeal, which cited the meal blessings by the clergy as a source of influence over the jury, had reached first the State Supreme Court, then finally the U.S. Supreme Court, which refused to reverse the court's decision.

Time Magazine reported the following statement on Monday, January 25, 1954: “The Supreme Court refused to reverse the murder conviction of Florida Undertaker A. Elwood North, found guilty of bludgeoning and strangling his business partner, Mrs. Betty Albritton. North appealed to the Supreme Court on the ground that an evangelist had been permitted to say grace twice at the dining table of the jury that convicted him. The preacher had read from Psalms and Proverbs, North contended, and might have prejudiced the case with references to 'destruction of the wicked'"--thus influencing the jury's decision to convict North for his "wicked" ways.

North was executed by electric chair in 1954, proclaiming his innocence up until his death. According to Cinnamon Bair’s research, A.E. North had written a letter to his wife stating that "others are going to someday clear my name and let the public know that the life of an innocent man was taken." The letter was released by North’s wife after his death.

www.peacerivervalleyflorida.com

Women, Teaching, and the Importance in Education in the Late 1890’s: The Summerlin Institute, Bartow, Florida

The Summerlin Institute was founded by Jacob Summerlin in 1867. Originally constructed as a wood-frame building, it began to deteriorate in the mid-1880s, and was soon replaced by a substantial brick building. The Summerlin Institute had high quality educational equipment for the times, including 12 botanical microscopes, a four-inch telescope valued at $250, survey instruments, and electrical mechanisms. When the new Summerlin Institute was completed in 1889 at a cost of $20,000, it was the only brick school south of Jacksonville. By 1901 enrollment had reached 470; a majority of the registered students were women.

Canter Brown writes in his Peace River Frontier, “The old Summerlin Institute constructed in 1867, had begun to show it’s age. In 1884 it was ‘a rickety old frame building,’ containing only the rudest furniture and a promiscuous lot of pupils ranging from infancy to manhood.” On May, 12, 1887, Jacob Summerlin laid the corner stone for his new institution. Crowds came from as far north as Orlando and at even greater distance from the Charlotte Harbor to witness the event. Dr. W.F. Yocum would be the school’s first principal.

Two of the Institute’s most enterprising faculty members included Miss Rowana Longmire and Miss Maud Schwalmeyer, who were progressive teachers in their own right. In a time when women’s rights were far from equal to that of their counterparts, and in an era predating women’s suffrage, these women, as early as 1894, were teaching the sciences, chemistry and advanced English.

In the 1899 Biennial Report, the Superintendent of Public Instruction in the state of Florida is quoted as saying: “One of the chief factors in the recent progress of the school [Summerline Institute] has been the admirable primary work of Miss Schwalmeyer, one of Col. Parker’s trained teachers, and the best results must follow such good early training.”

In her 1904 essay, “Child Study and Primary Methods,” Miss Maud Schwalmeyer spoke passionately about the need for psychological and pedagogical studies. She spoke at the Southern Educational Association’s annual meeting and purported the following: “Let us begin with form study. All representation begins with the six geometrical forms. This knowledge coupled with childish joys of creating or representing things in everyday life, is used in the first steps of symbols. If these form lessons are connected with early lessons of the reader by association, a child learns a whole word in the same time and with the same effort required to learn a single letter. Hence, we have the successful word method in print and script.” It was a brilliant essay at the time.

In terms of Miss Longmire’s contribution to teaching, the following is noted in “The School Journal of 1898” about her: “Tuesday afternoon Miss Rowena Longmire read a paper ‘Observations on Children’s Reading.’ She asserted that reading is a means of development for the teacher as well as the pupil. It brings the teacher and the pupil together than does any other study. It often wins unruly pupils.” Miss Longmire was a true advocate for reading.

Miss Schwalmeyer articulated her own views on education in 1904, stating that, “Again, instead of filling the minds of little children with beautiful things in the texts of the best authors, we have boiled down all the mythology and nearly all of the English classics in simple prose for children, until little is left for them in the original, except ‘Paradise Lost.’ When primary curricula contains biology, chemistry, ethics, hygiene, evolution, astronomy, history, manual arts, mythology, music, arts, etc., there is a direct violation of the law of ’stimulus through newness or curiosity,’ and takes away the interest that should be excited when a text book of a new subject is taken up.” Her essay was very courageous, questioning the educational structures and boundaries of her time.

Miss Longmire and Miss Schwalmeyer were forerunners of early Victorian feminism at the “Turn of the Century” and were distinguished teachers. Rowena Longmire, along with Miss Maud Schwalmeyer, would later leave the Summerlin Institute at Bartow in 1905 to become founding members of the Florida State College for Women (FSCW) Alumni Association.

Through the Buckman Act of 1905, the state legislature reorganized higher education in Florida, establishing a school for female students in Tallahassee, FL. In 1947, the Legislature designated Florida State College for Women as coeducational, later changing the name to The Florida State University. The Longmire Building located on the Florida State University campus was constructed and named in honor of Miss Rowena Longmire in 1938.

In conclusion, women’s involvement with education in the Peace River Valley was substantial and evident in the late 1890’s. In fact, the Summerlin Institute was known as one of the most progressive schools in the county and the state, with women comprising the majority of the graduating classes. My sole purpose of this article is to enlighten my readers of the role of women and their importance in education in what was still a frontier town. I am regretful that my sources were limited, as much of history in those times was written mostly by men.