The Carr Family Cabin — A Forgotten Jewel in the Florida Scrub

(Text and video contributed by Equinox Documentaries)

If there is any single family who helped communicate the values and ethics of Florida’s nature and the need for its protection, it is the Carr family.

Moderns Florida naturalists are indebted to scientist and author Archie F. Carr, Jr., for his inspired work involving Florida’s nature through his compelling books and his science. For Archie, a young grad student in zoology, the subtropical landscape was a natural treasure trove where a scientist could fashion ideas from the unstudied terrain. He became an expert in sea turtles, helping the public understand the concept of “conservation biology” revealed by the wide ecological range of the reptiles.

But other members of the Carr family played vital roles as well. In fact, three generations of this family can trace their Florida outdoor learning to a cabin on the edge of Lake Nicotoon and the Big Scrub in the Ocala National Forest. The cabin was build in 1938 by Dr. Archibald Carr and his wife, Louise, from local scavenged materials.

Although the cabin is in disrepair today, it remains a potent symbol of the launching ground that helped the Carrs fashion a conservation ethic that has touched every Floridian and nature traveler.

In April 2007, Dr. Tom Carr donated the Carr family cabin and 46 acres on the northeast shore of Lake Nicotoon to the U.S. Forest Service where it remains as a living classroom. The iconic cabin and surrounding landscape offer a rare glimpse into the ethic of Florida’s “first family” of conservationists. More information can be found at: http://www.equinoxdocumentaries.org/carr/