Mary PITTS Randolph of Orange House Hotel

Central Florida’s FIRST ever free-standing hotel south of Lake Monroe was managed by two women. Alaha-Chaco, or ‘Orange House’ Hotel, opened in 1869 at Fort Reid, about 2 miles south of Mellonville’s pier. This historic hotel was surrounded by 40 acres of sweet smelling citrus trees, a historic stand of nearly 20 year old trees, known then as the Woodruff Grove.

Mary PITTS Randolph partnered with Sarah CHURCH Whitner to manage the hotel. Mary’s husband, Attorney William M. Randolph of New Orleans, continued living in Louisiana. Sarah’s husband, Surveyor Benjamin F. Whitner, stayed busy farming both the Woodruff Grove and a sizable grove of his own at Silver Lake.

Orange House Hotel was front and center of post-Civil War development in a 3,000 square mile county having fewer than 2,200 residents. The Orange House even served briefly, in spring 1870, as headquarters for a short-lived railroad, planned to run south from Mellonville to Tampa Bay.

Meals too were served at the hotel. Maitland’s Lake Lily, as mentioned in my book, First Road to Orlando, was known for a time by John’s Hole. The Legend of John’s Hole tells of poor John, leading his ox-team north from Lake Conway, carrying succulent chickens to “Orange House Hotel at Fort Reid.” Stopping to rest at a small round lake, his ox, chickens and wagon all slid down the steep slope into the lake, and poor John barely escaping with his life. Thereafter, the lake was known as ‘John’s Hole’.

Mary’s interest in land ownership spread inland, and by the time of her death in 1886, she owned all of the land surrounding old Fort Gatlin.

Many an early pioneer influenced central Florida development, but few had the impact Mary (PITTS) Randolph had during the early years following America’s Civil War. She donated land at Fort Reid for their Minister’s parsonage, and bought land where Fort Gatlin once stood. Her motherly desire to bring family together following the War brought many of today’s established pioneer families, including: Randolph; Preston; Pitts; Harney; Whitner; Montague; Mott, and others.

Randolph Street in present day old Fort Reid, and Randolph Street crossing Harney’s old Homestead, 25 miles apart and assumed by some to honor William, are in fact memorials to the man’s wife, a frontierswomen who had a major impact on shaping a 19^th century #cflParadise. In fact, her personal touche to early Orange County remain visible today.  

Born 1816 at Essex County, Virginia, Mary (PITTS) Randolph married at Tallahassee, Florida in 1840. She died October 12, 1886 at Orange County, Florida, and was at first buried alongside her husband and daughter on the grounds of old Fort Gatlin. They were later removed to Orlando’s Greenwood Cemetery.  

Tomorrow: The Railroad Lady of East Orange County