Kingsley Lake History / Resident Profile
This is the first of what we hope will become a series of profiles about
long-time lake residents. We asked Beverly to write a short account
of her early memories of the lake to accompany some wonderful
photographs she has collected over the years. -Clark


Cady’s Landing - 1930:  Mrs. Flora B. Cady (owner), son Mr. Guy Blackshear,
granddaughter Beverly E. Cady, and friend Thelma Andrews. Click to enlarge.

Kingsley Lake Memoirs by
Beverly C. Blackshear

Flora B. Cady, my grandmother, purchased our property on Kingsley Lake in 1925 for $2,700. The property consisted of five acres, with 300 feet of lake front. She later purchased additional property which extended beyond the five acres. There were two houses, one dock and one pier on the property. The houses were built in the 1800’s. There were windows from ceiling to floor in several rooms in one of the houses. The windows had been in a church across the lake. In the past, it is said that people from the north settled on property across the lake, and planted orange groves. There were three settlements, and each one had a post office. Later the orange groves froze, and the owners left.


Beverly Blackshear, and sons Tommy, and Jimmy (in boat), 1957.

The church windows and some lumber was brought across the lake on a raft and used in building our two houses.

In 1925 there were summer homes on the lake owned by families from Starke, Gainesville and Jacksonville. The owners and their families spent summer months on the lake and returned to their other homes when school started. Very few people lived here during the winter.

Much of the shore along the lake front had trees and plants, but as yet no buildings [or docks as you see today]. Thus, sometimes big bass could be seen in the shallow water near the shore, and water lilies growing here and there.

In those days there was a graded road #16 from Starke to the south end of the lake. There was also a graded road which ran parallel as far as the county line. From there on people drove on trails or dirt roads to locations on the lake where the homes were.

Most people had row boats or fishing boats. A few people had motors, and as time went by a few more affluent people had what we called speed boats; the speed was about 35 miles per hour.

When we moved to the lake, some time passed before we had electric lights and running water. We had lamps and “pitcher pumps,” and eventually we acquired a good telephone service.

I lived here on the property from age 11 to 27. My grandmother died in 1940, and I moved to Starke.


Beverly Cady and friend Eloise Ritch, 1926.

Enclosed pictures are of the lake front and home. Other pictures are of the front of Black Creek which was across the lake from our dock. This was in 1930, and I was 16 years of age. up to this time the property on the other side of the lake consisted of trees, palmettos and foliage, but no roads or buildings.

Soon World War II started, and the construction of Camp Blanding. I later returned to my home on the lake and worked at Camp Blanding. After my husband returned from the war we lived at home on the lake with our sons.


Beverly showing photos of her garden to Valerie Thomas Bukharin (Clark's sister), July 2004.


Beverly in her garden with her son Tommy Blackshear, 2000.


Mr. and Mrs. James M. Blackshear, 1957.


View from house of lake front with diving stand and rental boat pier, 1930.


Beverly sharing her photographs, July 2004.

_________________________
The day I stopped by to show this page to Beverly (March 25,'05), she told me a few more details and anecdotes. She mentioned that a British couple named Howe owned her property prior to 1925, and they had set it up as a swimming park called Howe’s Landing (derived from Strickland use of the term 'Landing'). The Howe’s had let it run down, and it took Flora Cady a few years to repair the docks and build it back up. The 1926 photo of Beverly & Eloise shows the run-down state of the lake front, and the 1930 photo at the top shows it after the repairs.

While in her twenties, Beverly taught First, Second and part of the Third grade at the Rising School, a 3-room school house on Lake Butler Road, which she calls, "One of the best parts of my life when I look back on it."

She also told a wonderful story about an afternoon when she was across the lake by herself in a small boat. The motor was tuned off and the breeze was pretty strong, so she stood on the bow of the boat and opened an umbrella! The wind blew Beverly and her boat all the way across the lake, within a few docks of home. Isn't that a great image!

“It really is wonderful to be able to live right here on the lake where I’ve had so, so many wonderful memories.”