The Central Florida Witch House Sits Empty - Al Capone Abandoned Golf Course / Mount Plymouth & MORE
Central Florida Small Towns Oct 2021
Transcript
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welcome everyone adam the woo here as
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the recording of this friday
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october 29th
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2021
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i'll be going on some of the florida
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back roads
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and to a couple of small towns about 45
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miles north of here two in particular
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sorrento and mount plymouth
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which are kind of twin towns
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if you will and
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since it is only two days
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until all hallows eve
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there is a couple at least one
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but possibly a couple
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different
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fairy tale style homes similar
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to the witch house you might be familiar
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with in beverly hills california
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on the west coast want to check that out
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and there's also a little bit of an al
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capone tie-in
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in mount plymouth and
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a location that no longer exists
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tying into him in the history of that so
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gonna head from here and celebration
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here on water street market street right
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there get in my car
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and head up i'm inviting you to join me
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shall you
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should also mention got big the foot
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tagging along
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co-pilot today
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just kind of dangling right there
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almost there big the foot it's been
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about an hour commute so far but almost
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there
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almost there
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ended up finding this little pull off
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here
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past this little dirt patch
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with some rock
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off of this little thoroughfare wasn't
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any real parking off on the street i
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guess i could have
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but opted to just
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take this little
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little pathway head here
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next to the fence my car is parked
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around this the shrub
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and there is a placard over here that
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designates the history that is easily
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or could be easily missed
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right here on the corner of a dare
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i'm looking at the street sign
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adar avenue
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is the cross street and you can see
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former sidewalk down here
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crushed can well you know i could have
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parked here supposedly i guess i could
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have parked
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right there mount plymouth
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memorial park now what is it
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memorializing i'll show
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momentarily the cross streets as stated
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at dare avenue
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lake county
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is where i'm at
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dubs dread
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might be tough to see it with the
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light there that's a little better dubs
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dread drive
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and a dare
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you can see there's some partitions some
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stanchions
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here broken up
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this was a country club
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this was the entryway to the country
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club
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many years ago
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became a
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couple other things after the country
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went out of out of business
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also a golf course attached to this i'm
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gonna see if i can find some remnants of
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that
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burned down the property burned down in
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the mid 80s i believe
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see what this says
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mount plymouth memorial park in memory
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of the mount plymouth hotel and country
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club built in 1926
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and it was also the florida central
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academy after the country club
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was no longer in business the academy
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closed in 83 here we go january 6 1986
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it was destroyed the building was
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completely destroyed by fire
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this historical entrance
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is preserved by the east lake
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historical society
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now not 100 on if this is part of the
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original entrance
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i'm gonna say yes that's what i'm
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leaning towards
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and speaking of leaning this is leading
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this wall
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i have a little inscription here a
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little carving
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as well
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as some sort of note
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oh this says lost cat
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very very faded out
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right on the side
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now al capone had
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his hand
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in this place
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and it could be seen around the golf
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courts
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simmons him him and some of his friends
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his cohorts
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interesting tie-in
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there's a bench over here that they
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placed
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to give a little reference going to
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scroll through a few photos of what
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once stood here
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back then
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these are great
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very impressive place
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here's an aerial view
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kind of standing about where i am i
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believe i'd be over here off to the left
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now keep in mind this was just the entry
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point so you'd have to
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go up in quite a bit to get into the
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development
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past where these houses now
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are built
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and there's a rooster
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or a chicken of some sort
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kind of crowing down there in order to
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get to the spot where the golf course is
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you cannot go through the houses that
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have been built here and the new fence
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line you have to go over to troon
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troon avenue or troon road
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which is right over there so i'm going
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to
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drive over that way see what i can find
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before going over that way though you
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just got to figure how long it's been
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since this burned down
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but you can see a little bit of rubble
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down in here like you can see this rock
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another rock over there looks like it
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might have been part of
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part of something
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now there's palm trees have sprung up
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so whoever owns this home would have
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been right in the pathway
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leading towards that historical hotel
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in fact al capone could have taken the
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same path
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right through there
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you never know
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okay going to get my car
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head down troon headed around the block
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a bit and found this old fence here and
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was able to pull in
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and park next to it
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i looked at some satellite images from
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back in the day
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current day and then also
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back in the mid 80s
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and the best i can figure out is
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that hotel which turned into the academy
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was located in the former golf course
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which is right here the next road over
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into one of the neighborhoods is labeled
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pga
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avenue or pga street
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which alludes to the golf course however
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there is no golf course
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anymore however as i continue to walk
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through this field
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notice the little crevices
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the little nooks
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the crannies if you will
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the hills the mountains
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a little elevation here
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where you know like a golf course would
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have
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yeah this is where the golf course was
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just off to the side of this is an
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active
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pump house
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just looking for some relics down in
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here there's a softball
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down over there
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i find a golf ball that'd be pretty neat
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probably not but this piece of concrete
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from former foundation as well
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now the hotel would have been over
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got to kind of make my way through
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don't don't really want to touch that
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there's probably some bugs in there
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that'll
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be very itchy
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so best i can tell as i said
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just going off of a hunch
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right here where this little overgrown
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area was
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was where the hotel and the foundation
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would have been later and life became
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the academy
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ah
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here we go a little clue
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as i stroll through the foliage
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it's a light
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piece of electrical work here surrounded
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by a box maybe a light for the golf
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course
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or possibly some sort of electrical unit
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for the academy that was
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the hotel
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that capone would frequent
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it's a little relic
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there yeah
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right in this section
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they don't mow any of this they mow this
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the former golf course
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but they don't get any any mowers back
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in this section oh yeah
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look at this
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look
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at
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this
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proof
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there you go
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right there
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that's pretty neat
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i'll leave that as a little souvenir for
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someone else that might want might want
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to explore
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all right
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proven
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i like how i said that as if i just
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discovered something that wasn't easily
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searchable
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like i get excited
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this sidewalk here
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leading into the main section
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of the golf course
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and these are those houses on the other
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side of that placard that i started off
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at over there
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see all the little dips in the holes in
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the hills
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pretty cool
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pretty dang cool
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and one of the episodes of the sopranos
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they mentioned by name
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this town and this establishment and
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capone
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that he was here
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fun fact
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they were on a golf course not this one
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talking about that he had ever been to
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florida
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to where capone would golf
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oh there's an animal over there
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something is burrowing
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i don't know what that is but there's
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something burrowing in that hole
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oh that's a big hole
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i'm staying away from that i don't know
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what's over there
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i don't know what that was burrowing
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in the sand
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something was big a lot of empty
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property not being used here now
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these homeowners don't have to worry
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about any golf balls
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smashing through the windows
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kind of thinking
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it could have been wild hogs in those
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holes they were huge holes i didn't want
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to get too close i don't know if a wild
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hog is something
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i want to mess with
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got some dogs barking up here
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nothing too exciting oh hello doggies
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oh they got a fenced oh look
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this has stop written on the side of it
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just passing through there's a crow
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flying off
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i'm repeating myself but yeah pretty
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neat how
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you got these little valleys and dips
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man-made
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you know for the golf course and then
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either to walk on or the golf carts go
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down that sidewalk
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there's another piece of foundation down
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from somewhere another
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little stump of some sort
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that's kind of the end of the property
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so the complex the building
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could have stretched this far was pretty
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big
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all the way back down into the woods
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down there
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and then
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that way should i walk in the woods
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should i go this way
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i'm going this way oh don't want to slow
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down too much though look at all those
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ants red ants ooh i'm standing in them
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okay keep moving
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a lot of ants
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down in there
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a couple blocks from here as i was
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driving over to find a find a spot to
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pull the car off the side of the road
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i saw a bear sign
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a sign saying if there were bears
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i'll go back by it and show that
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not in my imagination there could be
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bears out here
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florida bears are not common who
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wouldn't even think there'd be
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florida bears but there was a sign
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saying watch out for bears bear crossing
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i don't want to bump into a bear what is
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it's a stick
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okay my mind is playing tricks on me
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right now
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i'm gonna keep carrying on really just
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wanna find some sort of foundation a
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more prominent foundation oh
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not a foundation but
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definitely something here
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piece of fencing
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a lot of fencing
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probably went around this little
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kind of dip to protect anyone from
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falling in there but the fence is
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falling down
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or maybe a piece of signage
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i'm not gonna pick that up i don't want
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a snake to be underneath there
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now over there are some shingles
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and corner pieces of a roof line
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and just to show i did see a sign about
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bears
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there's the sign
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kind of overgrown
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with the bear emblem on it even another
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block or two away onto turnberry avenue
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where it says no outlet
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you can see little remnants of what once
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was as well as down in there more
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sidewalk and more of
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the adjacent golf course
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i'll just kind of drive along here
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very expansive
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area
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doing a little more reading up on the
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subject
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this area and the hotel which was you
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know on the other side of the golf
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course there were going to be four
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18 hole golf courses that was what the
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plan was so a lot of land
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was utilized and capone was not the only
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famous face
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that could be seen around here
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also babe ruth
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the baseball player
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out here as well
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that's pretty cool one thing about
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capone you never know sometimes what's a
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hundred percent factual or sometimes
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what is factual and that's what's not
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kind of overblown just a little bit
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it's one of those kind of figureheads
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have taken on a life of their own
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like bonnie and clyde
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or
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well not in the same vein but like elvis
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stuff like that you know
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saying that those certain people were in
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certain areas
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not doubting capone was here but
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you know sometimes
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things get misconstrued
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see golf cart community
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oh it's very windy right now
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still using golf course even though
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there's no golf being played but they're
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still using golf carts
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even though there's no being goth being
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played
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had a hard time saying that
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only about a half mile away
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this storybook style home
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also has a tie-in to capone
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it was said that his bookkeeper lived
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for a decent amount of time back in the
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day
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from what i can tell this place is for
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sale and no one is living here
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at the moment
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very reminiscent
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of the witch house in beverly hills
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which she could be seen in the movie
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clueless she walks by it
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and featured in you know a lot of people
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have gone there and take photos of it
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but not too many people have stopped by
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this one
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which is just as impressive
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and eerie
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i also like this tree over to the side
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it was built in the 1920s by sam stoltz
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and there were five
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at the time that resembled something
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close to this
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they were given a name
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plymouth onions
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mount plymouth
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plymouth
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relating to
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the building itself
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and there is another one i have not been
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over there yet
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that's you know a couple miles away or a
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mile or two away similar to this one
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i'll go by there
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this is a thing of beauty of
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architectural beauty right here
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if you ask me
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and the reason is called the storybook
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is because
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you would see this in a fairy tale of
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sorts
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there is no one home no one is living
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here at the moment
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so i'm kind of getting a little better
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view
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of the front facade
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this is awesome
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i always think about if i had the money
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would i live
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in something like this
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would this be a place that
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i would put money into and reside the
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rest of my days
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look at that
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got the flamingos there
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this garage door
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incredible
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with a little gnome
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kind of going over the side there
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oh this is great
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even the carving there on the fireplace
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of some
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some foul some flamingos i'm guessing
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needs a little tlc needs a little work
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but would be a good investment
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if one had the money and was into this
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type of
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architecture
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so dang cool
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it is along a pretty busy street not
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super busy
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but not really tucked away
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in the woods
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like you think it might be
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okay i'm not gonna go any farther than
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this i'm seeing a sign over there by the
19:27
trash can nothing in the front yard so
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this is as far as i'm gonna go
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even though it is for sale and i'm sure
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they
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want people to show up and take a look
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at it
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prospects buyers and
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those who are just taking a peek
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not gonna go any farther up the driveway
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than here
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if anyone's interested
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i will not be throwing my hat into the
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ring
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to purchase this
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okay i'm gonna try to find the other one
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of the two the two of the five left
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the two of the five that are left here
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in town
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well the only two that i could i could
20:24
research and find there might be more
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well hidden but this one's pretty
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obvious right here along the side of the
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road
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and as stated there is that al capone
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tie-in
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bookkeeper
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doing the books crunching the numbers
20:44
keeping things in order for inventory
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monetary inventory for mr capone
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capone himself could have been
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right up in there having a little sip of
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tea
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or whatever else he was
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consuming
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think about it all right the second one
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is kind of down a little
21:05
i don't say a hidden road but a dirt
21:06
road it it starts off concrete
21:10
then it goes to dirt and i turned around
21:12
and did a u-turn
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so i won't be able to kind of stop and
21:15
get out but i'll just show a peek as i
21:17
drive by it
21:18
pretty impressive storybook house
21:21
back in here the the two
21:24
that remain
21:26
my car's making noises because i'm going
21:27
like
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in little crevices and ditches
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heading back over to the concrete you
21:33
can kind of see it there through the
21:35
through the foliage
21:37
and there are residents here so i'm not
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gonna
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not gonna get out but just kind of want
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to show it there through the
21:43
through the trees take a look at that
21:46
how awesome
21:48
okay back onto the concrete now
21:56
and back past the golf courses and dumps
21:56
back out on that former golf course
21:59
next to where the country club used to
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be pretty close
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corner of alcrest and
22:04
appa wamas
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drive
22:08
the coordinates
22:09
for the second dairy house
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secondary storybook house
22:14
just up the hill just a little bit not
22:15
too far maybe 100 yards
22:25
found another section here of the of the
22:25
course on the fairway
22:27
is very windy
22:38
very windy my apologies
22:38
the wind is too much
22:41
but i wanted to show this
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not a lot left but there are some some
23:00
remnants as stated
23:07
a lot of land out here
23:07
a lot of
23:08
probably pretty valuable land with us
23:10
golf course one sat
23:12
got some storm clouds of brewing up
23:16
also some
23:17
farm cylinders off in the distance
23:19
probably some grain
23:21
in there
23:27
i'm gonna end it back here behind
23:27
this abandoned store
23:30
oh is this a tornado shelter
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probably not
23:38
this area is not really no no it's not a
23:40
tornado shelter it's where you're it's
23:41
where a truck pulls up to unload trucks
23:51
there's the stairs
23:51
there's the
23:58
hot water heater not hot water heater
23:58
but the water
23:59
water tank
24:04
it's like something's been roosting up
24:06
right here on the corner of sorrento ave
24:09
that truck goes by
24:16
former store up there former store oh
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look there's the
24:18
the little billboard where the lettering
24:20
would go on there little makeshift
24:22
advertisement billboard
24:29
and a mower shop across the way
24:29
classic small town
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a little general store that once was
24:39
formerly
24:54
that's gonna do it
24:54
for today
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pretty fun
24:58
just getting in the car
25:00
going around exploring things looking
25:02
things up researching things learning
25:04
something new
25:06
small town life in central florida
25:09
away from the theme parks
25:11
away from the hustle and bustle
25:16
small towns
25:17
non-extreme populated areas and a little
25:20
bit of history that i didn't know about
25:21
and maybe
25:22
you didn't know about either
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thanks for watching i'll see you in the
25:25
next video the vlog
25:28
my hair what's going on my hair there
25:31
the vlog
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is over