Winter Park
Leafy neighborhood where a nineteen eighty-one sinkhole swallowed a house and became a lake.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Winter Park turns on one evening in May 1981, when Mae Rose Owens stepped into her backyard with her dog, Muffin, and watched a full-grown sycamore tree vanish into the ground. By morning the crater had swallowed her house whole and reached the property next door, a Porsche dealership stocked with sports cars, along with half of the neighborhood pool. Best heard standing near the water, picturing the ordinary evening before any of it began.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Lake Eola Park
Man-made sinkhole lake ringed by a scenic park, home to swan boats and a resident swan flock.
Linton E. Allen Memorial Fountain
Illuminated lakefront fountain shooting water seventy-five feet high, with a colorful choreographed light show nightly.
Audubon Park Garden District
Revitalized post-war suburb turned walkable dining and shopping strip, threaded with community gardens and a market inside a former church.
Thornton Park
Historic lakeside district of brick streets and restored bungalows near a downtown lake.
Kelly Park - Rock Springs
Spring-fed swimming hole and lazy river flowing a steady sixty-eight degrees through limestone-shaded woodland.
Scenic Boat Tour
Narrated pontoon cruise through spring-fed lakes and cypress-shaded canals past historic lakeside estates.