More correspondence from New Zealand - "Ridge Street pineywoods" - What do you know?

Capt. Wm. S. Stafford (Ret.)

Master of Science Degree (AvSciTech)

Commercial Pilot ASMEL

Instrument Airplane

FCF Flight Engineer C-130B, E & H

Airframe Mechanic

Royal New Zealand Coast Guard Boatmaster # 37155

Canterbury,

South Island,

NEW ZEALAND

23 January 2010

Mr. Wes Blackman

Via E-Mail

Dear Wes;

Cheers for posting my letter on the blog earlier. It was good hearing from you as well.

I know that from reading your extensive blog site, you have learned quite a bit of history of old Lake Worth, especially with regards to the historic areas, buildings, and records. As we say in KiwiLand, ‘Good on ya, mate!”

I wrote to the Mayor and the LW Library a while back concerning an area of land that was east and parallel to the SCL Railway, which ran north and south from 6^th Avenue South to 12^th Avenue South. To the east of this strip of land was Ridge Street. I wrote asking about any historical knowledge of that area of Lake Worth, but nothing came back.

As a boy who grew-up on South Pine Street in the late 50’s and 60’s, there were still a few wooded lots around which had not yet been developed. Most of those areas we kept out of due to the impenetrable nature of the scrub brush, cactus, fire ants and the occasional rattlesnake, and, in swampy areas, the ever-present water moccasin The sandspurs were ever rampant, so riding one’s Schwinn Sting Ray into these areas always resulted in a flat tire, scratched legs, and insect bites of one form or another.

But there was an area of land that ran north to south, between the SCL and Ridge Street. This land is now long gone due to I-95, but prior to I-95 and the 6^th Avenue South interchange, and the area was one of a local mystery.

There was a row of Australian Pines that ran parallel to the railway tracks, and Ridge Street. In addition, there was also some old sand seal pavement, with modern day concrete curbs with steel lips, most of which was overgrown. Among the scrub brush and cactus, we discovered the concrete foundations of what appeared to be long-gone houses, with cisterns and in-ground concrete septic tanks which were open and exposed. All of these were overgrown with vines, bushes, and tortoise dens that harboured the occasional rattlesnake.

There was a pathway running from north to south, which one could walk or ride a bike. In later years, we would ride our Honda Trail 70’s and Trail 90’s along this path which was fairly navigable. One might say it was an early BMX or Scrambler Track before such became a fashionable activity.

A few of the house foundations showed signs of a fire, and we found many 1920’s telephone pole insulators laying about. We would also find 1920’s & 1930’s era Coca-Cola bottles, and some old car parts which were clearly from a Model A Ford (I researched this in my JC Whitney Model A catalog of the time…). We then found a hub and spokes of a wheel assembly, but no metal rim. There were also some household items (ie an iron skillet rusted, flatware, and early wrenches) in the area. Coins from the area had minted dates ranging from 1908 to 1932.

This was essentially, and interestingly enough, a ghost town within the city limits itself. One kid who lived next to this land on Ridge Street said that it was haunted, and that he had seen lights and apparitions floating about. It was an interesting observation, as he never ventured into the area. We thought it may have been an excuse due to his parents ordering him to stay out of the place, and to keep off the land.

A few of us boys in the neighborhood decided that this would be a perfect hiding place to skip school, and avoid the other kids, as well as our parents! We thus began to procure materials for our already-intact underground forts!

Working tirelessly with the same energy one would have in building a tree house, we were able to make use of the underground concrete tanks. After a thorough clean-out of the weeds and trash, we found some old white paint and went to work on the interior walls. We reasoned that it was better to be underground, as the hurricanes blew away tree houses, and lightning from thunderstorms eventually would burn down the same. Underground offered protection, and invisibility! Pretty cool strategy, we thought…

We also thought that the larger concrete structure may have been a grease-pit for servicing vehicles, as we discovered a rusted flange in the middle of the floor when we cleaned the largest structure out.

We managed to reconnoitre the area and found what appeared to be the concrete lids to some of the other structures under thick brush. It took a while to roller these to the 4 walls and placed them on top, but the overhang was perfect. We also sawed old telephone poles and placed them inside our underground forts for extra roof support. Then we repeated the same for the other two smaller intact structures nearby. We were always on the look-out for intruders in the area and quick to stop work and hide in the brush in the rare event someone might be walking by and spot our ‘secret project’!

Then, we covered the two structures over with sand, and threw some of the cleared scrub back over the top for camouflage. We insured that these hiding places would only be known to the 4 of us. Oftentimes, we did such a good job that we would have to look really close to find the entrances. In time the scrub re-grew, and this made for a greater blend with the area.

Our underground fort served us really well. We fitted that baby out with lawn chairs, Eveready 6 volt lanterns, snacks, a transistor radio, and at one point a battery-operated TV! (It was great to watch Weaver the Weatherman whilst underground at 5:55PM on WTVJ Channel 4!!!) Usually our bikes would be put into the smaller underground structure, and then we retreated to the main fort. We always had tangerines, oranges and mangoes from our parent’s and neighbor’s fruit trees to sustain us during our times of retreat from school, home and other kids who we didn’t want to be around.

Over the years, I thought about the old Ridge Street ghost town, and I have always wondered who lived there and why the area was abandoned. Did the houses burn as the result of a passing steam engine that ignited the homes with sparks and cinders? Or, more interestingly, was this a neighbourhood that was devastated by the 1928 Hurricane and later burned and abandoned? The artifacts that we found pointed to that era of time.

In your studies of past historical Lake Worth, and some archaeology involved with the same, have you come across any old street maps or cancelled titles and deeds to that area that I have described? I would be curious and interested to know more about the area.

On www.ghosttowns.com, under Florida, I can’t find anything that describes this area of Lake Worth.

Cheers for any info that you may have come across, Wes; & no problem with posting this to your blogsite, as someone may know more about the area.

Kia Ora, Mate-

Will