This week one of my projects was a trip to Arcadia in DeSoto County. My goal was to locate and photograph the Sunland Center there if it still existed. Surprisingly, I came away not really knowing if it ever existed. I had assumed that there would be some memory of it but none could be found. I ventured to City Hall, where I was directed to Miss Ella, a long term employee. She was the first person to tell me that Sunland was placed on the same campus as the G. Pierce Wood hospital, about 5 miles outside of town. G. Pierce Wood was one of Florida's historic chronic mental health facilities, like Chattahoochee and MacLenny further north. This brought back fond childhood memories of being threatened with a trip to Chattahoochee should I continue to misbehave. Hmmm.
Moving on, I went to the Arcadia library and found that there is a local historian who might be able to help me. The librarian gladly gave me his phone number. I then drove to the G. Pierce Wood campus. The facility was constructed in 1946 on the former Carlstrom Field, used to train pilots in both world wars, according to several written references on the subject. GP Wood closed in 2002. It's now used as a state juvenile justice facility. I was able to drive around and photograph several buildings on the campus, but there was no clear indication of a Sunland facility having been there. I spoke with administrative and maintenance employees, gaining one more phone number of a long term worker who might recall whether Sunland was there. I have called both of my phone sources, reaching the local historian but not the G. Pierce Wood worker. Even the historian could not specifically recall a Sunland Center, but he did point out that occurrences on the G. Pierce Wood campus were not often shared with the community.
I will continue to try to reach the other source. I'm mystified that it is this difficult to confirm the presence of Sunland in the local community when it is listed among state Sunland Centers in a number of official state documents. More on this later.
Kim,
ReplyDeleteI am enjoying reading about your adventures and the information you are gathering. It is interesting to reflect on the stigma associated with certain illnesses in our society and our attempts to remove or hide them from sight. It sounds like many of the facilities were very secretive, even to those in the community. I had the experience of working as a nurse's aide in in 1973 at an old TB sanatarium. It was functioning as a "respiratory hospital"/ long term care facility at that time. The buildings were set back from the road with a barrier of trees in front and no signage. The campus and old buildings were beautiful, but obviously hidden from sight. Sort of like the old saying "out of sight, out of mind".
I look forward to continuing to hear about your findings!
Diane