This photo, taken from a Piper Cub, shows the airport's abutting floatplane area with two floatplanes on ramps and one other at the dock. (Diamond Island and Rattlesnake Island—with no houses yet built on the Broads side—appear in the hazy distance).
Because the runway wasn't paved as yet, the photo could have been taken as early as 1957. My guess on the date would be 1961. The floatplane gas pump, photographed lakeside in 1966, doesn't appear here. A large blue hanger, built in 1971, also doesn't appear. (It would have appeared under the Cub's strut).
The paved runway was removed a couple of years ago by a developer, so the same aerial taken in 2006 would have shown a greener, but identical, scene! (OK, there would be no "peppering" of Florida mildew on the slide
).
Since 2006, three McMansions have been built and five docks added. The lakefront white cottage prominent in the photo was upgraded inside and out at a cost of $200K in 1999. It has today been replaced by a spec-built McMansion advertised for $3.9M.
(If you don't like the design of the spec-built, there's a buildable lakefront lot available nearby for $4.2M).
After 40 years, the runway has reverted to a grass landing strip once again.
An approach for a landing on the strip has never been easier, as many cathedral pines on adjacent cove lots have been removed. The runway has even been extended in both directions beyond anyone's imagination, and the landing strip's sides could someday be lined with houses with individual hangers.
The commercial hanger (not pictured here) remains to this day: Ralph Horn's distant dream of a "Hanger Community" (residences lined up on a landing strip) is still possible!
