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Leon Whilden was born somewhere around 1914, he graduated from high school in 1932 and went on with his education for two years of college at the University of Florida and then received a Music Scholarship to Peabody. When the war began he joined the service and spent most of his time at the African front, and then in the Pacific. He found beauty in all of the horror of war by getting interested in the different kinds of plants, flowers, and orchids at the places he was stationed. Many of those plants ended up on the property he was to purchase in the Big Cypress.


In the 1950's Leon purchased 13 acres of property on the south side of Tamiami Trail, which he called "Orchid Isles", and seven acres across the street on the north side of Tamiami Trail. He worked as an engineer for the new Jetport that was being built mid-way between Miami and Naples on Tamiami Trail, not far from the property that he had purchased. The Jetport was going to change everything. It was going be the largest airport in the world, and that would change aviation. It was going to stimulate development of a new community of 150,000 people, and that would change the demography of south Florida. Purchasing "Orchid Isle" seemed like a good investment at the time, but conservationists were worried about the impact an airport of that size would have on the environment of the Everglades and Big Cypress. It would generate five million gallons of sewage and industrial wastes, and more than 25 tons of jet fuel pollutants each day. It would certainly change the face of the environment. A battle began to stop the Jetport, and save the Everglades and Big Cypress from further development.


When the battle was won by the conservationists, the area in which Leon lived became the Big Cypress National Preserve. After an angry fight with the National Park Service, Leon lost his seven acres on the north side, but was able to retain all thirteen acres on the south side of the road. He was lucky. The Park Service had said that no one could retain anymore than three acres of land. Leon went to court and proved that it took all thirteen acres of his land to produce his orchids, and without it, the Park Service was taking away his livelihood. However, the land was never going to "boom". It would forever remain a peaceful piece of heaven. After the construction on the Jetport was shut down, Leon no longer had a job, so he decided to sell orchids to the tourists…and that is when his story REALLY begins. To be continued…. . .
Swamp Walks and Muck Abouts at Big Cypress Gallery 52388 Tamiami Trail Ochopee, FL (Everglades) Phone: (239) 695-2428