Today's Opinions

Some people do not care for Spanish moss. However, as early as 1773, the value of the plant was recognized as cattle feed and a cheap packing for crates of fruits and vegetables.
The processed product also was well adapted for the purpose of stuffing mattresses, chairs, saddles and collars.
The plant is not a parasite, nor is it a moss. Instead it is a member of the pineapple family and one of the many epiphytes or “air plants” to be found in Florida.

Of all the recorded hurricanes to hit the United States since 1851, 36-percent of them have made landfall in Florida. However, the state did have 18 hurricane seasons pass without a known storm impacting the state.
Although hurricane season officially opens on June 1 of each year, the month of highest activity has historically been September, followed by October and then August. Weather officials began using female names to identify hurricanes in 1953 and followed with males names in 1979. The Saffir-Simpson scale for measuring hurricane strength was created in 1975.

The first established Masonic lodge of record in Levy County was chartered at Levyville on January 16, 1867. The Brown Lodge No. 51, Free & Accepted Masons was named for Thomas M. Brown (1785-1867), Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Florida in 1849.
On May 27, 1870, the Levy County Board of County Commissioners sold the old courthouse situated at Levyville and the one acre lot on which it stood, to the lodge for the sum of $510.