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Babcock Ranch sign


There was a unique birthday celebration in 2014. It included  a link to our natural past and a promise for our future. Instead of the usual cake and candles, it involves, Cracker cattle, cow hunters, lots of swamp filled with cypress knees and trees, saw palmetto and alligators.


 

 

 

 It all began in February of 1914 with  a lumberman from Pennsylvania named Edward Vose Babcock.  He saw an opportunity to make money harvesting the cypress and yellow pine that were plentiful in the area and bought 156,000 acres and began logging the cypress. You can step back in time for 90 minutes  for an in-your-face glimpse the natural world of southwest Florida on the Babcock Wilderness Tour.  On Feb 14th, there is going to be a special cattle roundup performed by the four resident cowboys. They will ride their quarter horses, used because of their speed and agilities. Each cowboy has his own dog and whip. They will do a meet and greet  where they explain the methods and tools of their trade.  The Cypress Lodge, located with a fantastic view of the swamp and not part of the regular tour, will be opened. The festivities continue into the 15th  with "Wild Things Day" and 16th with "All things Native and Natural."

model train in Musuem at Babcock in Roucille Museum 
Train station in Rouxville exhibit at museum 

Since Mr. Babcock was conservation-minded long before it became stylish, much of the ranch is preserved in its natural state. His youngest son, Fred, later took over the operation and in the 1940's transferred 65,000 acres of this land to the state. This land became the Fred C. Babcock / Cecil M. Webb Wildlife Management Area. The remainder of the property is managed now by Fred's daughter, Courtney. It's  around 90,000 acres and is the Babcock Ranch.

The tiny town of 200 Edward Babcock set up to provide the labor for the operation was named Rouxville. The commissary is still standing and you will see it on your tour. This was a general store as well as where the manger lived as well as a school teacher and a doctor. The teacher would drive the children into Punta Gorda for classes each day. The company offered a medical plan. The cost was 40 cents a month covering their medical expenses from birth to burial. For 2-bits  extra –that's a quarter–the doctor would cut their hair. You'll see the old barber chair on the commissary porch.  A nearby body of water was where Rouxville women did the family laundry. The bridge and bank were filled with alligators when we visited. Wonder how many of the local children and pets got eaten?

Swamp buggy tour bus at Babcock Ranch  
Our tour bus AKA Swamp Buggy 
Another place you visit on the tour is the10,000-acre Telegraph Cypress Swamp. The swam gets its name for the miles of telegraph wire strung around the swamp. Originally it was planned to run through the middle of the swamp but the tightly packed saw palmetto with its razor sharp fronds made that impractical.  The densely packed vegetation also created a different style of ranching from the "old West" version. Here the "Cracker Cow Hunter" was born of necessity. He got his name for the whip he used to snap in the air to help his cur dog bring the cow out of the stands which were too dense for a human to enter.  Cracker cattle are descendants of the Andalusian cattle brought over by Ponce de Leon in 1521.With luck you might get to meet Dolly, the oldest Cracker cow on the Babcock Ranch.  Dolly is 24 years old: very old by cow standards.  Terry, our guide was able to coax her to our "swamp buggy" – actual a converted school bus with windows cut out to provide a great way to photograph the surrounding area– with a handful of corn.

White egret in swamp at Babcock Ranch  Alligator rest on the bank at babcock ranch 
This egret perches on a log while an alligator lurks below    The biggest alligator I saw at Babcock
The tour often brings you face to face with deer, raccoon, eagles, bobcats, coyotes, feral hogs and countless other wildlife. Florida black bear, wood stork, eastern indigo snake, Florida burrowing owl, crested caracara, gopher tortoise, red-cockaded woodpecker and even the Florida Panther roam these well-preserved bit of old Florida.  In the watery places, there are many egrets, anhingas, nighthawks, herons and many varieties of wading birds.  One native species of bird, the Osceola wild turkey, is another bird you will probably see. Again Terry was able to lure  them to our buggy with corn.  You will come face to face with some alligators. Probably dozens outside and one little critter, your guide will bring aboard the buggy to explain more about alligators to you. Sometimes visitors see more alligators than they would like.

Bus driver feeds a cracher cow at babcock Ranch  alligartor sunning itself on the road near a wooden bridge  at babcock Ranch 
Terry feeds Dolly some corn This alligator is sunning in the road in Telegraph Swamp
Two visitors who preferred a few less ‘gators were Lawrence Fishburne and Sean Connery. Their brush with the reptile came about in 1995  when they were filming "Just Cause" at the ranch. There was one scene where they were retrieving a gun from a culvert channeling a small stream. As the two actors reached into the culvert, a large alligator burst forth from it. It only took the ranch hands a few minutes to remove the reptile. It took quite a bit longer for the director to coax the two movie heroes back to the scene.

Driver holds up a baby alligator inside the bus  at babcock Ranch 
Terry explains the finer points of Little Girl
You get to stop and disembark in the swamp near an old logging engine used to pull trees from the water. Terry explained that sometimes, the water covered the ground and the timber would snag on the cypress knees which were submerged. when this happened, she explained, "the rope usually broke." You can stroll into the swamp via a boardwalk. The native growth is varied.  There are many examples of Florida's state tree, the sable palm, the strange looking cypress  tree with its bulging lower trunk, the resurrection fern that lives on the branches of the trees and  dies back in dry weather but turns green and healthy with a little rain and the many bromeliads or air plants that live on the trees and require no soil to thrive.

You may want to sample the ‘gator dishes in their Gator Shack Restaurant.

Be sure to see the museum, housed in part of the former movie set of "Just Cause." It illustrates the history of the ranch and photos of some of the animals you may see. And you will meet an orphan calf being bottle fed in the little corral near the museum. Another thing you won't want to miss is Lulu, the stuffed three-horned cow, with her head sticking out the barn door and a sign telling you all about her.

Boardwalk leading out to Telegraph Swamp  at babcock Ranch 
The boardwalk leading into Telegraph Swamp

There is a trail if you want to see more of the ranch and a country store where you can get a souvenir of your visit.

Today, the ranch raises cattle, timber, sod and even vegetables. The ones I saw offered for sale by the tour area were very large and tasty looking. The Babcocks have entered into a sale/partnership with the state to provide an opportunity for visitors to get a glimpse of what old Florida once was like. Thanks to people like the Babcocks, parts of that old Florida still remain almost untouched.

For more info:

http://www.babcockwilderness.com/

 

 

 


 

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