June 18 event news

Update!  This is an update and reminder of our Cadillac & LaSalle Club event on Saturday June 18th

photos courtesy Doubledaves 

Come join the Florida Suncoast Region on Saturday June 18 at   2:45 pm at the visitors center on the left of parking lot, as we visit one of the rarest sights in central and south Florida…the Gamble Plantation! The only surviving plantation house in South Florida.

For those members who would like to join a caravan of cars to the sight coming from the north. Drivers may meet up at the North Skyway rest area at 2 pm, this is the location of the Blackthorn Memorial. Drivers should depart at 2:15 to caravan over the beautiful Skyway Bridge.

Drivers will proceed to the first exit south on I-75, which is exit #224. Turn right off exit onto US-301 and proceed about 1 mile. The mansion will be on the right.

After our history tour of the Gamble Mansion, at approximately 4:30pm we will caravan about a mile up US 301 to Hickory Hollow BBQ. Robert and Donna opened the restaurant in Jan of 1984 using family recipes from the Chesapeake Bay area and North Carolina. They were rated 3^rd in the nation in the “USA Today” for BBQ eateries. They feature pork, beef, chicken and fish and over 30 home made sides. The restaurant ONLY ACCEPTS CASH, so plan accordingly. There is an ATM nearby at a local bank.

See their web site for menu;   http://www.hickoryhollowbbq.com/

The Gamble Plantation took six years to build. This antebellum mansion was completed by Maj. Robert Gamble in 1850 and served as his home on the surrounding sugar plantation. The columns in the front as well as the rest of the house are constructed of tabby, which is a mixture of locally available materials such as burnt oyster shells. Of note is that the walls are two feet thick! During the time that Gamble was at the plantation, he ran up a debt of $190,000 partly due to the drop in sugar prices. He sold the property in 1856 to satisfy the debt and moved to Tallahassee with all of the mansion’s furniture. He placed the furniture in a storage warehouse, and 13 hours later the warehouse burned to the ground! 

After Gamble left, Capt. Archibald McNeill, a famous Confederate blockade runner, moved into the mansion. With McNeill’s help in May of 1865, the Confederate Secretary of State, Judah P. Benjamin, took refuge in the mansion following the fall of the Confederate States of America. He departed for England from the plantation’s landing on the Manatee River.

Following the Civil War, the mansion fell into disrepair, most noticeably by the early 1900’s. In 1925 the house and 16 acres were purchased by the United Daughters of the Confederacy and then donated to the State of Florida.

Tickets for a guided tour of the mansion at 3pm can be purchased in the visitor center. Price for the tour is $5.00 per adult, Children 6 through 12 $3.00; Children under 6 are admitted free. 3708 Patten Avenue, Ellenton, Florida 34222             Take I-75 exit #224…then west on US 301.

Check out the Gamble Plantation web page at

http://floridastateparks.org/gambleplantation/default.cfm

News for June

Presidents letter for June 2011

June is here and gosh that means the year is about half over! I’m going to need to start my Christmas shopping soon.

 I know most of our members have very active lives. Whether one works or is retired it seems there is always something on the calendar to do. I remind myself not to complain as this means I am out of the house, busy and hopefully enjoying myself. Checking this month’s calendar, this is the month to think of and remember the man in the house. Father's Day, a holiday which honors fathers worldwide, is celebrated in the United States on the third Sunday of June. It originated in the United States in 1910; a few years after the country began celebrating Mother’s Day. However, Father’s Day didn’t become an official U.S. holiday until 1972!

Some men may want to kick back and relax on Father’s Day. Many of the men in the Cadillac & LaSalle Club may think a great way to enjoy Father’s Day is to get the old Cadillac out of the garage and take it to a car show or even one of our regional events. Our Florida Suncoast Region of the CLC plans events every month in the hope that our members will want to join in the activities and also enjoy the camaraderie of fellow club members. We have a meeting and planned event every month and hope that our members and friends will enjoy what we have planned.

Here in Florida we are very fortunate to live in a state that is so conducive to the car culture. There are many small to large regular car shows all around the state. There are many web sites and several magazines like “Mike Kelly’s Cruise News” that list events around Florida. There are 50 listings for Friday and 132 for Saturday and more found every night of the week. Recently I checked out the first Friday of the month show in downtown Palmetto hosted by Slick’s Garage. This was a fun night out and although at many car shows not many Cadillacs may be seen, I was delighted to see several at that show.

If you know of a local car show that our members may enjoy let us know so we can let our members know.

Some of our members may wonder what the roads are like before they make a trip in our fair state. Check out this helpful link for Florida Road conditions and improvements, construction zones. Floridas traveler alert system

Go to  http://www.fl511.com/

Activities Director's Corner

Hello again!

A big thank you goes out to Gordon Koncelik for suggesting a tour of the Bok Tower as a club event.  This is an event that was more than two years in the making.  It just seemed every time we tried to plan a visit, something else conflicted.  Ironically, Gordon wasn't able to attend afterall!  He was back in China to visit with his family.  We also suspect there were a few more local dishes that he missed on his last trip to China!

The trip to the Bok Tower was well worth the wait.  It really is a great place to spend a quiet day just relaxing and listening to the carillon bells and taking in the panoramic view by the tower.  Ruth and George Meyer were so excited by the event that they took off by themselves to tour the grounds!  They were so involved in seeing the grounds that the remainder of the club couldn't find them for the rest of the day. Club

 

Club member Bob Berlin brought his enthusiasm to the event, and I have to say that Bob tries to make as many events as possible.  When the tour of the gardens concluded, the group met at the local Chili's for dinner.  Dave Chestnut, the Region’s president, was his usual bubbly self…especially after a large Presidente Margarita . Also in attending were Mr. & Mrs. Brash, who live near Bok Tower.  The Brash's brought their immaculate 1970 white Cadillac convertible.  They mentioned his was the replacement for their 1969 Cadillac convertible, both of which are stunning models. 

As a coincidence, a group from the Olds Club of Florida was also at the tower for a tour that day.  Many of us were drawn to them with the appearance of a '53 Oldsmobile Fiesta, owned by a Mister Stutzman, who by the way does have his eye out for a Stutz Bearcat.  For those not familiar with the '53 Olds Fiesta, this one of the four “dream cars” that GM put out for public sale in 1953.  The others were the Cadillac Eldorado, Buick Skylark and Chevrolet Corvette.  While the Cadillac got most of the glory (thanks to President Eisenhower) the Fiesta, besides being a one year only model, is one of the rarest GM cars of that era you will ever see.  You will seldom see any of them at any car shows.

Members of both clubs got into a conversation of possibly trying to have “bi-partisan” events. The BOPC show was brought up.  While this is would be a great show for Buick, Oldsmobile, Pontiac and Cadillac enthusiasts, attendance in recent years by Cadillac owners has been just about nil!  The show will be in the fall at Old Town in Kissimmee.  As many know, Old town is a great location for a car show.  The BOPC show would be separate from the regularly scheduled Old Town cruise-in that day. The BOPC show will be held during the day and will be over before the evening cruise-in starts. As soon as the date has been established, I will let you know.

Mr. Stutzman asked if anyone from our region would be at the BOPC show to judge Cadillacs.  I volunteered to do judging, and I hope I don't end up just judging my own car!  Hopefully we can get enough Cadillacs, the crown jewel of GM, to make a decent presentation.  The last GM show we hosted was at Massey Cadillac in Orlando and we had more Cadillacs than the rest of the GM marques! 

Our June event is a tour of the Gamble Plantation in Ellenton on US 301 just west of I-75 exit #224.  Bob Berlin suggested this venue some months ago, and this should be another great event for the club.  After the tour, the club will head off to the nearby Hickory Hollow restaurant.  Dave West has assured us that the Carolina-Virginia style barbeque there will be "to die for".  You might want to make a full day of the event, as Ellenton is also known for the large outlet mall which is just on the other side of I-75.

                                                                                                  John Fleming

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