Honor Roll

Below is a list of people who have made major contributions to the Historical Society of Interlachen.  Through their hard work and dedication we have accomplished much over the years.  We have for example, helped the Town secure a half million dollar grant to renovate Interlachen Hall, placed Interlachen Hall on the Registry of Historical places, published a book of the history of Interlachen, collected hundreds of historical items and created a museum for their display, given talks on Interlachen history to school children and community organizations and many other worthwhile projects.  None of this could have been accomplished without the contributions of time, money and expertise of the following people: 

                Richard Vance –  Richard attended the University of Florida in the mid 1970s, at about the same time as the Country was celebrating its Bicentennial. He was majoring in Urban Planning and did his thesis on Interlachen history. He did much research among the old timers who still lived in Interlachen at the time as well as at libraries such as the University of Florida’s P. K. Young Library where he was able to find documents from the earliest years, which he carefully copied. After he finished his studies he saved his documents and encouraged the Town to realize that buildings such as Interlachen’s vintage homes and Interlachen Hall were treasures that ought to be preserved. Richard donated his documents to the Town. Among other things, Richard attempted to have Interlachen Hall placed on the National Registry of Historic Places.  In essence, Richard, along with a few others were the first Historical Society or at least got the ball rolling. Richard became friendly with Franklin and Virginia Smith who gave him many glass plate negatives, which Richard took to the U of F to be developed. Richard gave the society copies of all those old pictures. Richard moved to Palatka before our current society was established, but he visits in Interlachen and gives us information and items so we owe him a debt of gratitude. 

                Joseph and Priscilla Stock and sons – Mr. Stock’s family was among the founding fathers of the Town of Interlachen and Mr. Stock realized how important it was to document the history and save all of the pictures, paperwork and especially the old buildings in his hometown so in 1986, just before the Centennial, he put a notice in the newspaper stating that he was starting a Historical Society. Mr. Stock was the founder and first president of our organization.

            Interlachen Hall was the home of the Interlachen Library at the time, but The Friends of the Library were working toward having a new library built and Mr. Stock hoped to be able to combine restoring Interlachen Hall, (which the Town was talking about selling or tearing down) and using it as a museum within which our history could be studied and archived. Over the years Mr. Stock and his family saved much of the written things, pictures and other items which they thought would be interesting to generations to come.

Many years ago the Stocks unearthed in their farm yard, an old dugout canoe made by local Indians, hundreds or maybe a thousand years ago, and still in very good shape. Although they would have liked to have saved it in Interlachen it needed special preservation so it was donated to the University of Florida.

            Fortunately, smaller, but no less interesting and valuable, Indian artifacts that they found remained in their home for 100 years, waiting for that day when they could be seen and studied and appreciated by all. Now that day has come.

Upon Mr. Stock’s death, his son John offered the Stock collection to the Town but since the Town was not interested, the Historical Society was promised his interesting historical items. John told us to let him know when the museum was ready and he would give us the things his father promised us so long ago. John was true to his word and his family has donated or loaned us many wonderful items including arrow heads and a very rare old Indian pot which are now on display in the museum.

A high school term paper written by John Stock was helpful when the history of Interlachen was being written . Even as a child, his interest in the history of his Town was obvious.

            Without the forethought and help of the Stock family, we probably would not have a museum and Interlachen Hall would probably not have been restored. We really owe them a debt of gratitude.

            Elma Gay - Elma and her husband Virgil moved to Interlachen in the mid 1980s. Elma has always had a love of books and history so she joined the Friends of the Library and as president, was involved in raising money for a new library. The Friends’ were compiling a cook book and Elma thought it ought to include some Interlachen history so she joined the Historical Society. Elma was elected president of the Society twice and nobody ever worked harder to try to make sure that the history of  the Town, as well as the history of the Historical Society wasn’t lost to the generations to come. Her quiet determination in saving everything is what made her such a valuable member of our Society and years from now, when people are doing research in our museum, they will find Elma’s name on many of the documents. Although Virgil has died and Elma has moved back to Michigan, she was here for the Interlachen Hall Reopening.

            June and Ken Jones - June and Ken Jones have a history that goes way back in Interlachen. June’s mother lived here many years ago and was the librarian when the library was opened in Interlachen Hall. June and Ken visited her mother here many times and spent a lot of time with her in the library when it was in the Hall. They retired to Interlachen about 25 years ago. They joined the Historical Society shortly after it started and worked tirelessly to get Interlachen Hall the respect they thought it deserved. Probably no one loved Interlachen Hall more than June. She was always offering her help to clean the Hall or the yard around it.  June’s dedication was boundless and the Hall is safe and beautiful, which was her vision back when nay-sayers were saying it couldn’t be done. June and Ken were involved in everything that got done at the Hall. The Society could always count on them. They volunteered to drive to Tallahassee to appear before the committee to get the first grant to see if it was feasible to restore Interlachen Hall way back in 1993. Because of their perseverance, the Society did get the grant and soon it was more than just an idea. Although June was the one who was elected President of the Society, she and Ken were always a team.

            Mary Lou and Lynn Dawson The Dawson’s moved to Interlachen in 1979.  They bought and restored the old Holford house, built in 1882/83. Since moving here, nearly 30 of their relatives and friends have also succumbed to the charms of Interlachen and moved here too.  From the beginning they have been interested in the town history and have been civic minded.  From 1982-1984 Lynn served on the Town council. 

            A news article about Joseph Stock and others starting a Historical Society in 1986 was the beginning of the Dawson’s activism. The main goals of the Historical Society in the beginning was to save and restore Interlachen Hall and to write a history of the town.

Lynn and Mary Lou made a number of trips to Tallahassee. First to get Interlachen Hall placed on the National Registry of Historic Places and later, with others, to secure both the first and second grants to restore the Hall. Mary Lou visited with Restoration Specialist Bob Jones and invited him to visit Interlachen to evaluate Interlachen Hall. He actually came all the way from Tallahassee which helped in the restoration plans. Mary Lou spent hours and hours on the computer and on the phone with Mr. Jones in an effort to have Interlachen Hall placed on the National Registry of Historic Places. At first the Town government did not seem to appreciate that Interlachen Hall was a treasure.  Finally the officials were convinced that having a museum and historic buildings added value to the town. Getting the Hall placed on the National Registry was a lot of work but with the help of Bob Jones it was accomplished and Mary Lou deserves the lions share of the credit.

Mary Lou has been involved in virtually all the meetings, projects and programs during the entire history of the Historical Society. She was elected President of the Historical Society at a time when there was much work to do. It was mostly done out of the public eye. Of the five major goals the society had at its formation:  have Interlachen Hall placed on the National Registry, restore the Hall, create a museum, publish a book on the history of the town and create a historical district, only the historical district remains undone and these goals were accomplished largely by or under the direction of Mary Lou Dawson.

Lynn took over the task of writing the history of Interlachen with Mary Lou and that twenty year task was finally completed.  Lynn also created and maintains the web-site for the Society.  He has taken on the task of digitizing the historic photographs and he has taken “after” pictures to go with the “before” pictures we have collected.

            Harry and Beryl Jacobs - When Harry and Beryl joined the Historical Society they had yet to be married. Harry was an avid researcher who got involved with genealogy and liked researching his family history so much that he was soon hard at work on his church’s history, and before long he was also a very active member of the Historical Society. It was no surprise that he was elected President. It is safe to say that without Harry, the Hall wouldn’t have been placed on the Registry and there would not have been any grants and the book might never have been written. Harry was a brilliant man who devoted his life to making sure that the past would not be forgotten and Interlachen owes him a huge debt of gratitude.

            Tim Keyser - Tim Keyser has lived in the Interlachen area for quite a long time. He is an attorney who has his law office here in Town in a historic old home. Tim, his wife, Sue Nicosia and his mother-in-law, Anna Nicosia joined the Society not long after it was incorporated. Tim tried very hard to get the Town to give the Society the respect it deserved by helping to write agreements and other legal documents for the Society, pro bono.

            Ralph and Lois Godwin - Lois and Ralph are yet another couple who can be counted on when we look for teamwork for the good of the Town. They have been members of the Historical Society for years and Ralph was elected Mayor of Interlachen every time he ran for office. Lois was our secretary for a while and she did a super job. They are both very involved with the band shell project but they still found time to drive to Tallahassee when we needed to show that the Town was solidly behind the restoration of Interlachen Hall. 

            Diane Rogers - Diane is one of our very active movers and shakers. She joined the Historical Society shortly after she moved here. How one lady can be so involved and so active in so many associations is mind boggling. When Diane got interested in Interlachen Hall we knew that she would be 100% involved and she has been. She was appointed the Liaison Person between the Town Council and the Historical Society when she was on the Town Council and has been constantly singing the praises of the Society at Council Meetings and anywhere else she could. When the Hall Project started she jumped in with both feet and has kept the Society informed about everything that was happening all along. She was elected Chairman of the Steering Committee in February of 2002 to coordinate the grand opening celebration which was to be a joint effort between the Town and the Society. Diane has of late taken on the formidable task of restoring the caboose. The fact that Diane is a super volunteer wasn't lost on the Town when she was nominated as the State of Florida's Volunteer of the Year.

            Franklin and Virginia Smith and daughter, Janet Davis - Virginia Smith spent just about her whole life in Interlachen. Her mother was Elizabeth Baird Brush, the daughter-in-law of the Brush family who were founding fathers. Mrs. Smith kept many of the photographs and artifacts that have been in the family for more than 100 years. In 1976, when the whole Country was gearing up for its Bicentennial, Frank Smith was able to get the Telephone Company to donate it’s little office to the Town to be used as a repository for donations that people were making. Frank was very generous with his time and also with the storehouse of information they had amassed. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have both passed away but their legacy lives on.

Their daughter Janet moved back to Interlachen a few years ago. She has her parent’s best qualities. She got involved. She was in both the Town Council and the Historical Society where she has served as Secretary and Vice President. Janet spends a lot of time reading and sorting the photographs and historical documents that her parents so carefully saved. Thanks to Janet and her family we have the picture of Interlachen Hall when it was first built. We were so thrilled to get this picture. It showed the original color scheme which we sent to the architect and now the building looks almost identical to how it looked when it was built. She has moved away but her heart is still in Interlachen.

             Aletha and George Woodworth - Aletha and George were charter members of the Historical Society who had worked and played in Interlachen Hall. Aletha started compiling the History of the Town back before the Bicentennial to help Brian Michaels from the Putnam County Historical Society write The River Flows North. She shared much of her material with the Society. She also displayed articles like Interlachen’s first telephone, which she said she would let us have for our museum when it was built. Sadly, both George and Aletha passed away and never got to see the project finished but their children saw to it that their promises to the Society were kept.

             Shirley and Walter Whitehouse - Shirley and Walter are two of the busiest people in the Society.  They are always ready and willing to do the vital work of the society. They have found the time and enthusiasm to dress up in vintage clothes and help wherever needed at every Historical Society function and since the building was restored Walter has built just about all of the shelving and desk units in the Societies office. Shirley was the original Accessions Chairman and took over as president when the president resigned.