updated 2.15.09
This Chapter was formed in Winter Park, Florida on March 10, 2005 in support of
and agreement with the Mission Statement of NWC, Inc.
2009 Orlando Officers:
President: Michael O'Neil (center)
Vice-President: George Houston [2nd from left]
Treasurer: Kristin Shutler (right)
Secretary: Lisa McIntyre [left]
Sergeant-at-Arms: David Green (2nd from right)
The NWC IEC has designated a Mark Grande Memorial Scholarship to be given to an Orlando recipient in 2008)
The Orlando Chapter of the New World Celts
meets the 2nd Thursday of every
month at 7:30pm at "The Claddagh Cottage" 4308 Curry Ford Rd. Orlando 32806.
407-895-1555. Stop in for Celtic history of old, live music, whisky
tastings, and a damn fine time! For more info, please contact Mike O'Neill
Chapter President.
wolfspirit429@netzero.com
Local Organizations with NWC
Orlando Scottish Heritage Group
Central Florida Highland Games
Beneficiary
Rosie O'Grady's Pipe Band
Central Florida Highland Games 2008
The Orlando area is very special to local Celts because it was named
after Welsh Plantation owner and militiaman Orlando Rees (or Reeves).
In 1821 Florida became a U.S. territory. In 1832 the American artist John James Audubon visited Spring Garden, then owned by Colonel Orlando Rees. Rees built a waterwheel that harnessed the spring flow to grind his sugar cane. The plantation was sacked during the Second Seminole War (1835-42). General Zachary Taylor, commander of the U.S. Army in Florida, retook the springs from the Seminoles in 1838. One of the stories about Orlando was that it was named after a soldier killed during the Second Seminole War, Orlando Reeves. The problem is, there is no record of a soldier by that name on the regular Army and state militia muster rosters. The name is also missing from any casualty list. Another problem with the story is that soldier Reeves was killed by an arrow, and the Seminoles during the wartime almost completely abandoned the bow and arrow technology. Local author Mark Andrews and historian Brenda Elliott have exposed this local urban legend. But there was a plantation owner Orlando Rees, whose plantation at Spring Garden was burned by the Seminole and Yuchie Indians early in the war. It is thought that Rees traveled through the area chasing Seminoles, and carved his name on a log, later mistaken for a tombstone of Orlando Reeves. (from Orange County History) Regardless, the City of Orlando was born on July 21, 1875, population 85; named after Orlando Rees.
