Back in the 20's, Sulphur Springs was a resort with a beautiful, natural spring on the Hillsborough River. The gazebo and the old water tower were built on the property which also included an arcade building and hotel. When my ex-husband's parents moved to Tampa from Ohio, they actually lived in the old arcade for a while. My uncle John worked in the arcade building as an accountant in the 60's before it was torn down. When my ex (Pee Paw to you grandkids) was growing up, he lived on the banks of the Hillsborough River. On his 5th birthday, he was given 5 pennies and he decided to walk to the old arcade and buy a toy. When he got there he didn't have enough money for the little truck he picked out, but someone else paid so he could have it. He happily walked back home with his toy only to find his worried parents dragging the river thinking he had drowned.
Over the years, the neighborhood became more and more run down. The springs became too polluted to swim in and it was eventually replaced with a swimming pool. The pool was recently renovated and that is the pool we visited yesterday. We went with Courtney, Jill's mom. We had a picnic in the shady park beside the gazebo and swam in the beautiful cool water. The kids had a ball sliding down the big yellow water tube which I didn't think to take a picture of either. Jonah curled up in a ball and gathered lots of speed going down the tube so he could shoot out very far at the bottom.
Here is a picture of the tube from an article by Mike Wells from the link above.
That is so interesting, we have a couple of towns west of here built around a sulphur spring with the way coolest old hotels. I can almost here the carriage wheels on the cobblestones when I'm there.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to see these landmarks deteriorate. And there is so little $ to go around now. Who dreamed this would happen? I didn't. But it looks like a great pool with lots of activity. Community pools are of utmost importance in Florida!
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