One of Florida's most majestic trees, the graceful, Southern Live Oak can grow to heights of about 45 feet, and widths close to triple that! Their enormous limbs branch out and sometimes curve down to the ground before coming back up. These trees, probably more than most others, are the ones threatened by Spanish Moss, which is an air plant, and adds wind resistance to the giant oaks during major storms, which can cause them to suffer damage. Spanish Moss rarely kills its host tree, but this is one time the somewhat parasitic plants can live up to their infamous, though mostly false, reputations! This scene was taken at the Canaveral National Seashore, on the grounds of the old Eldora House. Some of the trees in this photo are probably a couple hundred years oid at least!

Shotgun Houses....there is something about them that I love. This poor old home has been left to ruins but I have seen some beutiful remodeled Shotgun homes before. This style was popular in the South from the civil war to the 1920's. Called a Shotgun House because it is said if you were to shoot a gun into the front door that it would go out the back door w/o hitting anything. The front and back doors are on the same side and the house is straight and narrow.