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In her book, "The Lures of Manatee", published in 1934, Lillie B. McDuffee cites what brought settlers to this area in the 1840s; no mystic glamour of gold lured the Manatee settler, it was the fertility of the soil, the charm and intrigue that lay in its scenic beauty and its ever-delightful climate.

Those lures brought thousands of people to the little fishing village of Sara Sota.  One of those persons was Mr. Rodney Grantham, a descendent of Peter and Sophia Crocker who settled here in 1872.

What was so special about Mr. Grantham?  They say a boy scout never forgets his Scoutmaster.  For two years he was my Scoutmaster, idol, instructor and guiding light.  When he would take us camping everything we did was a learning experience, although we didn't realize it at the time.  In today's jargon he would be known as a conservationist, a naturalist and an environmentalist.

One special camping trip was to Upper Lake in Myakka River State Park.  We camped, two nights, near a cabin that was built in the branches of an oak tree.  The Tucker family had built it in 1934.  We drew straws and I was one of the ones to win the privilege of sleeping in the tree house on a Spanish moss-filled mattress.  How proud I was!!  I gladly slept in my pup tent the second night hoping that the calamine powder on my fifty or so chigger bites would hurry up and take effect.

Lesson learned and remembered for sixty-six years.  Life was/is good.