Historic Lutz, FL, Train Station – and new subscription method!

Before we get to the train station photos:

I’m super-excited to announce a new subscription method for this blog! It’s a higher-tech system than the old one and will serve both me and you better. Look at the top of the sidebar on the right just beside this post and you’ll see the new subscription form.

Please fill out the form and subscribe via the new system, even if you already receive the posts or notifications in the old way. The old way will be discontinued soon, and I don’t want you to miss a single post.

The best part is, I’m offering you a FREE 22-page recipe ebook just for subscribing! It’s only available to new subscribers, so please sign up today! After you fill out the form at right, you’ll receive a confirmation email that verifies your email address. (I promise I will never share your information with anyone else – only for my newsletters and book launch announcements, etc.) After you verify, you’ll be able to download the full-color ebook (pdf form) as my free thank-you gift for (re-)subscribing.

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The ebook contains a baker’s dozen (13) of recipes I collected from Germany during my time living in Munich. I translated them into something easy for American cooks to read and follow. In addition, I’ve written anecdotes about the food and interesting language tidbits. And I included many of my own photographs in full color to illustrate the dishes. This ebook is a great companion to my full-size cookbook, A Travel for Taste – Germany, available on Amazon. The ebook contains additional recipes; there are no duplications between the two books!

Remember, the ebook is available only to subscribers of this blog and only those who sign up via this new method. Please fill out the subscription form today. Thank you and welcome to the new blog tech!

On to the blog proper. A week or so ago, I went out with my photo buddy, Paula Showen, to photograph, oh, lots of things. But in this post I will show you just one of our location shoots. It’s the historic Lutz, Florida, train station.

You know me, first we must have a pronunciation lesson. ‘Lutz’ is pronounced ‘loots’ not ‘luts’. There. That was painless, right?

The train station is actually a replica of the original and it’s located in “beautiful downtown Lutz”, which means at the intersection of Highway 41 and Lutz Lake Fern Road. The original was located across the road from this replica, or behind it in the photo below. These days the original location is occupied by a Jazzercize and a Feed Depot.

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The station was the first and only train station for Lutz. In 1907 the Tampa Northern Railroad was built, connecting Tampa to Brooksville and points north, putting a stage coach line out of business. An engineer on the line, William Lutz, named one of the stops where the train picked up more wood for its steam engine after himself: Lutz Station.

In 1909, William’s brother Charles built a narrow-gauge tram line that connected to the Tampa Northern. This line ran lumber from his sawmill in Odessa, 10 miles to the east. Lutz Station became Lutz Junction and the station building was constructed.

The tram line was nicknamed the Peavine Railroad because it was so curvy and twisty. This could explain why Lutz Lake Fern Road is so convoluted; I think the old railroad was the precursor of the current-day automobile road.

There isn’t much more to see of the station than the two pictures above, though there is a large, grassy area adjoining it where July Fourth picnics and so on are held. But here are some detail shots:

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Highway 41 runs parallel to the tracks. The station is to the left of this picture and behind me:sta7Can you tell the tracks were more interesting to me than the station house?

Next to the station is the Lutz library. It has this interesting relief sculpture on the outside:

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Lutz is unincorporated today, but its name is official because the US Postal service eventually authorized a post office there. Today’s population is slightly less than 20,000.

So you’ve visited my “town”. Hope you didn’t blink. I also hope you took the time to subscribe using the form above on the right. Can you belive I started this blog back in 2005? Looking forward to many more years together!

Photo for No Apparent Reason:

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8 thoughts on “Historic Lutz, FL, Train Station – and new subscription method!”

  1. Thanks for a wee-bit of local history!!! Love it! Wonderful photos too!! (Thanks for the cook-book!! Love it too!)

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