Pioneer Village to extend hours

Home

Around Kissimmee

Other Sun Publications

FREE DELIVERY!
Get Free Delivery! Request your Osceola News Gazette Today.

Login Form

2013 Osceola Health

2013 Sexual Predator Sexual Offender List sexualpredatorcover13

Windows on the Classroom March 2013

School Calendar
2012-2013

View our other Special Sections

Pioneer Village to extend hours

Around Osceola

Wednesday, 07 July 2010 00:00

The hot lazy, hazy days of summer are here. But summer fun can still be enjoyed out-of-doors, especially at places that seem to lend themselves quite well to summer.
One such place is the Pioneer Village of the Osceola County Historical Society (OCHS) on North Bass Road in Kissimmee. And for the first time, OCHS is extending its museum exhibit hours to include Wednesdays, in addition to its regular Thursday-through-Sunday schedule, for this summer of 2010.
Spread over 4 acres of green grass, various plants and scrubs, the central area of the Pioneer Village is shaded by the majestic canopies of beautiful hundred-year-old live oak trees, providing an ideal cover for family picnics. Add to this, the unusual beauty of being surrounded by rustic historical buildings dating to the late 1800s.
Individuals can spend a small fortune going to the theme parks to see wonderful replicas of old-time buildings. And while there is that wow-factor of seeing how well crafted the attractions are in creating the illusion of another time and place, nothing quite compares to the experience of seeing an authentic building from that earlier time that has been lovingly restored, with its walls, rooms and furnishings containing remnants of real lives and real history.
This village is a restoration containing an authentic cracker house, a general store, one-room schoolhouse, cow camp, blacksmith’s shop and a citrus packing house surrounded by a real citrus grove. This packing house is the oldest of its kind surviving in the State of Florida, dating to 1882 when citrus was becoming a booming industry. A formal OCHS museum containing an extensive collection of artifacts from Osceola County’s early history — up to the near-present also is located on the village grounds. It currently houses The Grand Hotels of Kissimmee, a limited-run exhibit that has been extended through Labor Day.
The village can be explored at one’s own pace via a self-guided tour brochure, or visitors can choose to take a formal tour given by OCHS tour guides on the weekends. On Saturdays, tours are offered at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., and on Sundays at 1:30 p.m. And for nature lovers, there is even the natural beauty of the 8-acre Mary Steffee Nature Preserve to explore across the road from the village entrance. It contains a mile-long hiking trail including a boardwalk which extends over a swamp that is part of the Shingle Creek ecosystem.
On the first Sunday of each month, the village is alive with the sounds of bluegrass when musicians from around the region gather to participate in Bluegrass Jam Sessions under the oak trees from 1 to 3:30 p.m. And spectators are welcome — just bring a chair, settle down and take a listen.
Pack a picnic basket and bring the family for a few hours at the village. While spending a little family quality time (and without breaking your budget), learn the answers to what a Florida cracker is, how to cook your clothes, and did cows go to camp?
The village is at 750 N. Bass Road (just off U.S. Highway 192) in Kissimmee. The extended summer hours are Wednesdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (through Aug. 18), and admission is $5 for adults, $2 for children ages 6 to 12.
For more information, call OCHS at 407-396-8644, or visit the website at www.osceolahistory.org .
Submitted by the Osceola County Historical Society