Book

Excerpts

Did you know that Nelson Rockefeller, the millionaire, once lived here in a big house on the river by the Ormond Bridge? The kids in town would all be given a dime each every day when he was sitting out on the beach. He really liked to see them come around. Mr. Rockefeller built his house here because he wanted to live in the healthiest place in the world. He was advised by scientists that Ormond Beach was it.

Harold was wondering about the name of the Tarzan tree. “Joe,” he said, “why do you call it the Tarzan tree? I said, “I’ve been told that many years ago, a big Hollywood movie studio came here to make a jungle movie. They had a big setup with a lot of actors, lots and lots of monkeys, and lions. “I can’t remember the name of the movie. Johnny Weissmuller, who plays Tarzan, starred in it. He climbed up that tree—the one leaning over the river, dived in the river, and swam over here to save Jane from a lion. He also swung on some vines from tree to tree to fight an alligator that wants to eat her.

It was feeding time when we came in the door. The six opossums were nocturnal and did not come out in the daytime, so Ray put glass on the side of their display cage so the tourist could watch them sleeping. He had many other animals such as a pair of raccoons, one gopher tortoise, two wild turkeys, and a bunch of different kinds of snake (such as rattlesnakes) in a pit. The snakes’ pit was about fifteen feet across, and it was round so the people could see the snakes from all sides. Ray must have had twenty of them in there. He also had monkeys in a large wire-scree enclosure. All these were outside in the compound.