BAREAH
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BAREAH |
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NAME: Bareah COUNTY: Polk ROADS: 2WD GRID: 3 CLIMATE: Fine BEST TIME TO VISIT: Anytime |
COMMENTS:
Scattered farm residents. Just north of Avon Park, take the Avon Park Cutoff west and turn south on West Bereah Road. Not East Bereah Rd. REMAINS: Cemetery of the Corinth Primitive Baptist Church |
| Hidden by the groves of Polk County lies the former community of Bareah, now spelled Bereah. No one seems to know when the spelling of the name was changed. This small farming community once had a two room school called the Athens School at the corner of Altman Road and West Bereah Road where many of the pioneer families remember attending school. Closed aabout 1918 the Post Office location wass approximatly across the road from the Athens Baptist Church, also on West Bereah road. The community, now citrus groves, was basically a vegetable farming community that relied on truck farming. There once was the Dean Turpentine Still and a sawmill down Old Town Road to the south where many black families once lived and worked. The shanties, sawmill, and the still are gone today. Many of the homes have been demolished and have become a part of the groves, owned by the Ben Hill Griffin Family, as the owners passed away. The Athens Baptist Church and the Corinth Primitive Baptist Church are still there with the Corinth Church dating back before 1893. The pioneers of the area can be found in the Corinth Church's cemetery where the oldest grave seems to be 1860. The story goes that this gentleman was on a hunting trip and he sat down to rest on this spot saying, "When I die, I want to be buried right here." When he passed away he got his wish and that supposedly is the beginning of the Corinth Church's Cemetery. The area also "sports" a ghost legend called the "Ghost Light". Apparantly in the middle of the night a bright ball of light could be seen coming through the woods with a center about the size of a wash tub. When the light got near anyone or someone said anything it would vanish. Some residents swear they saw it and others say it is a bunch of "hooey". Nevertheless people sat out in the dark into the 1980's looking for the light. Submitted by: Mike Woodfin |
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