You are probably familiar with Winter Garden as there is a great shopping mall there but it is worth a little drive further on to the village of Winter Garden itself . I suppose it could be called the “poor relation” to Winter Park -in truth it probably is but still worth a visit. It has nice cobbled streets with a mixture of modern and quaint style shops. If you go on a Saturday morning there is a market .
A stroll down Plant Street in the Historic Down town District will take you past Art studios and live theatre, bicycle stores and flower shops, and a wide range of restaurants flanking the West Orange Trail. Amongst the shops is Scoops Ice Cream parlour. The shop is in front of the Edgewater Hotel and has a back door that goes into their lobby. Not only an ice cream parlour but also a shop full of vintage posters, and furniture, and really makes you feel like you have gone back in time to an ice cream shop of days past.
They offer 20 different flavours and also serves up incredible sandwiches, hot dogs, classic glass bottled sodas, coffee drinks, shakes, and a bunch of other things I can' t remember. The chicken salad sandwich on a croissant was the best I have ever had.
So if in Winter Garden make a stop and experience the experience that is Scoops Old Fashioned Ice Cream.
Winter Garden was initially settled in the 1850s, but didn' t really begin to develop until after the arrival of the rail road in the 1880s. The early settlements were mainly scattered farms and homesteads along the south shore of Lake Apopka. The local economy depended largely on citrus and vegetable production-in alignment with almost the rest of the area . By the turn of the century a small commercial district had emerged along Plant Street and residential neighbourhoods began to appear.
The historic development of the area spans from about 1890, the date of the oldest remaining buildings, through 1945. With few exceptions, the historic buildings in Winter Garden date between 1915 and 1940.
There are 2 museums -both free in Winter Garden. One is The Central Florida Rail road Museum which opened in 1983, and is located in the historic Tavares and Gulf Rail road depot. It houses rail road memorabilia from all different rail road companies .
The Winter Garden Heritage Museum provides a three-dimensional walk through Winter Garden’s glorious past so you can learn a little of the towns history. . The museum features a large collection of local citrus labels, a citrus packing house replica and an audio kiosk detailing the area’s citrus history, as well as Native American artefacts, and photographs and memorabilia of the area dating from the days of pioneer settlement to the present. Just outside the museum stands a 1943 Cheshire caboose and a 1950s fire truck, as well as old tractors and equipment used in the local citrus industry which offer great opportunities for a photo call