Girl’s Weekend in Historic Madison, FL

Friday afternoon, headed down the highway.
I was enjoying this beautiful sky and some island music on the radio while I was driving to meet my best friend, since the 7th grade, for a short girl’s weekend getaway. After leaving the interstate to head to my destination, I couldn’t help but snap of shot of these magnificent oaks.

It was just what you would expect from a small southern town. Ancient oaks dripping with Spanish moss.

Madison was just a dot on the map that was halfway between our homes so it seemed a great place to meet to make the trip even for both of us. It turned out to be a wonderful, friendly, relaxing little bit of history. Madison, we learned, was named after our 4th president, James Madison. It became a county in 1827 and was the largest of all the Florida counties. We thought it was interesting that it had been a county almost 20 years before Florida joined the Union in 1845.
We came across this monument during a walk around the town.

Madison is also known as the City of Four Freedoms and this is the statue that commemorates the name. The name Four Freedoms comes from a reference to a speech given by President Roosevelt in 1941, where he talked about freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear everywhere in the world. These were thought of as the ideals of American policy. This monument was dedicated in 1944 to the memory of World War II hero and Madison native, Army Air Corps Captain Colin Kelly, Jr. He was a Distinguished Service Medal recipient, who was killed early in the war during a bombing mission. The timing of Madison dedicating the Four Freedoms seems to have come at a very good time. After the Civil War, during Reconstruction until 1945, Madison was a hot bed of racial conflict. Madison was 6th in line for the highest number of lynching’s since Reconstruction began. The final one took place in 1945.

The road from the interstate takes you directly through the older part of town and one turn to the right and I was at my HomeAway rental.

Paul, one of the owners of this lovely historic home (built in the 1860’s) came out to greet me and walk me around to the cute and comfy side porch, which was the front porch of the unit we stayed in.

He told me some of the town’s history and pointed out several neat places to visit. He and his wife, Debra, just began renting this lovely apartment and had thought of almost everything, including a gift certificate to Cucinella’s, a mouthwatering authentic brick oven pizza place, right here in Madison.

My friend had not arrived yet, so I decided to walk down to the small lake just a block from our apartment.

It was that time in the afternoon where the sun hits everything just right, from the west, to give you a sense of nostalgia or of sultry summer afternoons. Or at least it does to me, it’s my favorite time of day. It reminds me of afternoons at my Great Granny’s house as the sun was going down on many, many sunny summer days in Florida.

This majestic oak draped with Spanish moss welcomed me to the lake. Fun fact: Spanish moss isn’t Spanish and isn’t a moss. It is native to North, Central and South America. It was named by French explorers who thought it resembled a Spanish conquistador’s beard. The term beard faded over the years and it became Spanish Moss. It also is a bromeliad, which is in the same family as a pineapple or types of succulent house plants. Many people think it is a parasite and might be damaging the trees but isn’t. Many people also think because of its grey color that it is dead but again, no. It is a living plant.

The lake was lovely with the sun going down. They have a small dock to walk out on and a paved side walk that you can use to go completely around the lake. My friend called and she was almost to the house so I left my serene lake side spot to meet her and see what our home away from home for the weekend looked like.
Once inside, we were very happy with the charm of the little apartment we would be spending our weekend in. According to the owner, Paul, the living room and bedroom had originally been servant’s quarters that were attached to the kitchen of the main house.

Many of the original features of these little rooms were still visible in the refinished oak floors, the heavy solid wood doors, the simple yet stately fireplace mantle and the original enamel sink with the drainage space on the side.

The kitchen was small but efficiently appointed with all the necessities. Paul and Debra had furnished even the smallest detail. Many items that you would normally have to provide for yourself in a HomeAway or Airbnb setting were taken care of.

We had packed coffee and powdered creamer since normally you provide your own and we didn’t want to have to shop right away so imagine my delight when I walked into the kitchen and found this.

Paul and Debra provided an organic Sumatran coffee with real cream. If you haven’t read somewhere else in my travels, I LOVE coffee. Hot steamy coffee. On rare occasion, a flavored latte, but daily I want real coffee. No flavoring, just coffee. Add a little real cream and sometimes a little sweetener and serve it up. I love to try different beans from all over the world and different roasting techniques. I am still investigating the best grind for my French Press. But that’s another post for my food section…..

The final room on our tour was the little bathroom. So many nice touches that it felt like a mini spa. Flowers, soaps, shampoos, scented warmers, lotions…. even a brand new, in the box, hairdryer. Very well-lit with lots of sunlight.

And just when we thought we could not be enchanted more with the hospitality of our hosts and the appeal of the apartment and location, Debra met us on the front porch with a plate of fresh from the oven ooey gooey white chocolate chip cookies. (Sorry, we were too excited for me to remember to get pictures until it was almost too late.)

After sitting on the porch enjoying our cookies we decided a short stroll was in order. Even though the main street shops were closed, we window shopped a bit and then headed to the lake.

We walked part way around the lake, watching the ducks swim,
enjoying the cool breeze and finally we were ready to order our dinner.  If we would have had any idea how authentic and scrumptious our brick oven pizza from Cucinella’s was going to be, we would have eaten as soon as we arrived just so we could have ordered again before closing.

The crust was perfectly cooked, crispy but not hard. Just the right amount of corn meal on the bottom. We had the white sauce pizza with fresh tomatoes. The sauce was creamy with just a hint of salt. Parmesan and mozzarella in the ideal blend. Very cheesy while not drowning out the flavor of the spices and tomatoes. And the tomatoes tasted fresh off the vine.

I would recommend a stop in Madison just to visit Cucinella’s. It is only a few miles off the interstate so if you are ever traveling across interstate 10 and need a fantastic little stop, Cucinella’s in Madison is just the place.
So, following a full day of driving to Madison, wondering around town close to our weekend home, and catching up with my oldest, dearest friend. It is time to draw this day to a close and get plenty of rest for the adventures tomorrow brings in this sleepy little southern town.
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