The State We're In: Deborah Sharp on Finding Old Florida

Author Deborah Sharp at the Cracker Day Parade.

To much of the world, Florida is DisneyWorld and Miami Beach – a sunny playground. But in our series, "The State We’re In," we’ve been telling you stories of a quirkier, lesser-known Florida – a sorority of aging mermaids, our cowboys and cowgirls, the water-skiers of Cypress Gardens.

In this commentary, author and Florida native Deborah Sharp calls it “Old Florida” – but she says it’s getting harder to find.

I stepped smack dab in Old Florida in a cow pasture in Zolfo Springs: SQUISH.

After scraping my shoes, I signed my books at the Cracker Trail Museum.

A friend sets her mysteries in California wine country. Mine take place in Florida’s rodeo and ranches belt. I have only myself to blame for the fact that she skips around sipping Chardonnay, while I dodge cow patties and sniffle because I’m allergic to hay.

Truth is, I’m grateful for the chance to aim a spotlight at Old Florida. It’s getting harder and harder to find. You can see the shift in once-rural stretches of Hillsborough County, where subdivisions now sit atop old strawberry fields.

Some years back, when I left journalism for mystery-writing, I planned to set my books in the ranching town of Okeechobee. The heart of Old Florida, right? But then I spotted a hand-lettered sign outside a country store: “Boiled P’nuts,’’ it said. “Cappuccinos.’’ Not long after that, the Okeechobee Walmart moved in.

Sure, the high-school mascot is still a 1,500-pound Brahman bull named Bubba. But traffic now clogs State Road 70, and fast food signs dot the land like neon-lit weeds.

I wanted something smaller. So I dug into my memories as a native Floridian, and created Himmarshee. My characters visit actual Old Florida landmarks, and take part in events like the cross-state Cracker Trail Ride.

And that’s how I came to find myself recently in Zolfo Springs, signing my latest book.

I did the week-long ride in 2007, for research. Amazingly, they welcomed me back, even though I milked this annual homage to Florida history for murder and mayhem.

Come to think of it, maybe that cow patty in the pasture was Old Florida . . . SQUISH . . . ripe with karmic revenge.

Florida native Deborah Sharp is a former USA Today reporter. Her latest mystery, set on the Florida Cracker Trail, is MAMA RIDES SHOTGUN.