The City of Orlando Florida was named for this gentlemen.
Orlando Rees apparently was among the sugar-growing planters who had been burned out of the area by Seminole attacks on or just after Christmas Day 1835 (the year of the fictional Orlando Reeves' death).
One story says the real Orlando led an armed expedition to track the Seminoles and recover his stolen slaves and cattle. His route might have taken him through what is now downtown Orlando.
"Some historians theorize that Rees may have left a pine-bough marker with his name on it next to the military trail to show other searchers where he had been," historian Mark Andrews has written. Someone might later have seen the sign, mistakenly read it as "Reeves" and also assumed it was a grave marker. But the real Rees is not buried here. He returned to South Carolina, where he died in 1852 at the age of 58.
Orlando Sentienal 2011
Orlando Rees apparently was among the sugar-growing planters who had been burned out of the area by Seminole attacks on or just after Christmas Day 1835 (the year of the fictional Orlando Reeves' death).
One story says the real Orlando led an armed expedition to track the Seminoles and recover his stolen slaves and cattle. His route might have taken him through what is now downtown Orlando.
"Some historians theorize that Rees may have left a pine-bough marker with his name on it next to the military trail to show other searchers where he had been," historian Mark Andrews has written. Someone might later have seen the sign, mistakenly read it as "Reeves" and also assumed it was a grave marker. But the real Rees is not buried here. He returned to South Carolina, where he died in 1852 at the age of 58.
Orlando Sentienal 2011
The City of Orlando Florida was named for this gentlemen.
Orlando Rees apparently was among the sugar-growing planters who had been burned out of the area by Seminole attacks on or just after Christmas Day 1835 (the year of the fictional Orlando Reeves' death).
One story says the real Orlando led an armed expedition to track the Seminoles and recover his stolen slaves and cattle. His route might have taken him through what is now downtown Orlando.
"Some historians theorize that Rees may have left a pine-bough marker with his name on it next to the military trail to show other searchers where he had been," historian Mark Andrews has written. Someone might later have seen the sign, mistakenly read it as "Reeves" and also assumed it was a grave marker. But the real Rees is not buried here. He returned to South Carolina, where he died in 1852 at the age of 58.
Orlando Sentienal 2011
Orlando Rees apparently was among the sugar-growing planters who had been burned out of the area by Seminole attacks on or just after Christmas Day 1835 (the year of the fictional Orlando Reeves' death).
One story says the real Orlando led an armed expedition to track the Seminoles and recover his stolen slaves and cattle. His route might have taken him through what is now downtown Orlando.
"Some historians theorize that Rees may have left a pine-bough marker with his name on it next to the military trail to show other searchers where he had been," historian Mark Andrews has written. Someone might later have seen the sign, mistakenly read it as "Reeves" and also assumed it was a grave marker. But the real Rees is not buried here. He returned to South Carolina, where he died in 1852 at the age of 58.
Orlando Sentienal 2011
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