Florida Senate - 2013                            (NP)    SR 1804
       
       
       
       By Senator Hays
       
       
       
       
       11-01794B-13                                          20131804__
    1                          Senate Resolution                        
    2         A resolution recognizing master craftsman Jeff Penuel
    3         for his painstaking restoration of the Carr Family
    4         Cabin in the Ocala National Forest.
    5  
    6         WHEREAS, the Carr Family Cabin is a historically
    7  significant structure located on 46 acres of wild land donated
    8  to the Ocala National Forest in 2007 by Tom Carr, and
    9         WHEREAS, the Carr Family Cabin was built 74 years ago by a
   10  local Florida Cracker craftsman, using the Carr family as his
   11  labor, and
   12         WHEREAS, the Carr Family Cabin was the location where Tom
   13  Carr’s brother, Archie, a famous naturalist, was introduced to
   14  Florida’s wild lands, setting the stage for his lifetime
   15  commitment to this state’s ecological conservation and the
   16  global plight of vanishing sea turtle populations, and
   17         WHEREAS, the Carr Family Cabin is often compared to
   18  naturalists Henry David Thoreau’s Walden, Aldo Leopold’s
   19  “shack,” and Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings’ Cross Creek, and
   20         WHEREAS, in 2007, with the Carr Family Cabin in imminent
   21  danger of collapse, the United States Forest Service
   22  commissioned the exterior bracing of the disintegrating
   23  structure, contracting with local custom-home builder Jeff
   24  Penuel, himself a direct descendent of Florida Crackers, and
   25         WHEREAS, in 2008, the Carr Family Cabin was determined
   26  eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic
   27  Places, and
   28         WHEREAS, with the Carr Family Cabin braced, the United
   29  States Forest Service formed a partnership with the Umatilla
   30  Historical Society which gave birth to the Friends of Carr
   31  Cabin, and under the umbrella of the organization’s tax exempt
   32  status, funds were raised to restore the cabin, and
   33         WHEREAS, the Friends of Carr Cabin once again turned to
   34  Jeff Penuel, who, over the course of the next 4 years, lovingly
   35  and painstakingly restored the structure, donating significant
   36  time and resources to bring the project to completion, and
   37         WHEREAS, in 2012, the Society for History in the Federal
   38  Government awarded the Carr Cabin Restoration Project the
   39  distinguished John Wesley Powell Prize for outstanding
   40  achievement in historic preservation, and
   41         WHEREAS, the restoration of the Carr Family Cabin is
   42  testimony to Florida Cracker determination and the power of
   43  community partnerships, NOW, THEREFORE,
   44  
   45  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:
   46  
   47         That we recognize master craftsman Jeff Penuel for his
   48  painstaking restoration of the Carr Family Cabin in the Ocala
   49  National Forest.