The Way It Was: Ladder Reminds Of How Big Citrus Trees Once Were

    Lake County officials joined citrus history enthusiasts on Tuesday to unveil a special tribute to Lake County’s citrus history. The ceremony, held in the rotunda of the Lake County administrative building in downtown Tavares, offers the latest public celebration of the industry that dominated Lake County for over 100 years.
   "The mission is to tell the story of citrus," said John Jackson, who spearheaded the creation of the exhibit. A longtime extension agent in Lake County, Jackson was inducted into the Florida Agriculture Hall of Fame in 2020. Today, he works to keep Lake County's long history as a major citrus-producing county alive.
   The display features a 38-foot tall fruit ladder, one of four donated by the RD Keene fruit company, which started in Eustis before moving to Winter Garden. The ladder stretches from the rotunda’s second floor past its fourth, and provides a shocking visual of how tall early citrus trees were.
   “They would plant them 25 foot by 25 foot,” Jackson said of the huge trees that dominated the area until a freeze in 1962. “many of the lower limbs were above head height.”
   After that 1962 freeze, the industry discovered equal, or even higher, production could be found by growing more trees closer together and shorter, with annual pruning keeping trees the size more commonly found in the industry today.
   “Crops jumped by as much as 40% with the smaller trees,” Jackson said this week. “More fruit, and easier to harvest.”
   The massive ladder, made of cedar and constructed in Bath, New York, represented a popular style due to cedar’s lighter weight. Ladders in the south were often made of split cypress and ash, a heavier and more burdensome product.
   The display also features historic citrus labels, crates, testing kits, and more, offering those interpreting the display a look into how the industry functioned back in the days when the county was covered in citrus trees and packing houses, and when citrus was far and away the dominant commercial activity in the county.
   “I want to share the history of citrus,” Jackson said. Indeed, the new display comes on the heels of a project Jackson spearheaded several years ago, that saw large billboards placed throughout the county that feature historic citrus labels associated with the communities they were based in.
   Those interested in learning more about Lake County’s citrus history, visit www.historyoflakecountycitrus.com.