Yeehaw Junction, Florida: right near… nothing; in the middle of… nothing. It’s nearly an hour inland from the sea. It’s also an hour south of Orlando. So it’s nowhere near the two most common reasons anyone would ever visit Florida.
Set among drainage canals and swamp, Yeehaw Junction exists as little more than a rest stop along Florida’s Turnpike. I wouldn’t have any reason to fixate on this insignificant chunk of scrubland were it not for its colorful name.(1)
A Significant Site
The “town” (and I use that term generously) seems to be personified by a single structure. Basically it boils down to the Desert Inn and Restaurant. At first glance, it doesn’t seem like it would qualify as a Florida Heritage Site. Nonetheless, it even made the National Register of Historic Places. And it looks like a million other roadside Americana motels from the pre-Interstate era. The National Register places its period of significant as 1925-1949. The supposed significance traces to its “social history and commerce.”
The Desert Inn truly represents a vestige of Old Florida from days long before its amazing population boom. Naturally it flourished long before Disney World ever became a gleam in Walt’s eye.
Historical Marker
The State of Florida erected a roadside historical marker in 1996. It describes the situation in about the level of detail appropriate for short attention spans such as mine:
“The Desert Inn was founded as a trading post in the late 1880s. The present building dates before 1925 and served as a supply and recreational center for cattle drovers, lumber men and tourists during the era when much of Osceola County was still undeveloped wilderness. Cowmen working the free ranging cattle on the palmetto prairie and lumber men cutting timber in the nearby pine lands came to the Desert Inn to eat, drink, and dance at this ‘oasis’ where they could enjoy some relief from their arduous labors. Local patrons of the trading post and restaurant included African Americans and Seminoles, who had separate dining facilities in the era of segregation. The construction of roads in the 1930s brought tourists to the area, and a set of overnight cabins were erected behind the original building. Today the Desert Inn continues to be a popular destination for tourists and local residents. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.”
The Jackass Part
As the story goes, old-time laborers and ranchers would ride their donkeys to the trading post at the crossroads. So they called it Jackass Junction. Back then it didn’t really matter. Nobody was going out to the middle of nowhere and nobody cared.
However, things changed during the golden age of automobiles and the first highways. Florida’s Turnpike came rolling along and the crossroads became a logical place for a Sinclair gas station. It also served as a stop on a Greyhound Bus route. Outside meddlers forced a name change so residents took things down a notch. They renaming the crossroads Yeehaw Junction. One could interpret that as a little bit of passive-aggressive behavior I suppose.
A Salacious Past
The official history left out the best part. Why do they always do that? I suppose Florida believes an error of omission isn’t a lie. Maybe that’s correct in a technical sense, but it certainly lacks historical completeness. The Desert Inn during its heyday was also a brothel. Is that what the marker means by “a recreational center for cattle drovers, lumber men and tourists?” But that might offend people if embossed on a permanent plaque. Like it or not, that was a central purpose of this structure during the period of significance that led to its inclusion on the National Register.
This didn’t embarrass the person who owned the Desert Inn until recently. Staff would provide tours of the upstairs rooms upon request for a buck. The inn hadn’t served that purpose for generations but that didn’t stop the owner from trying to capitalize on its seedy reputation. In 2006 the St. Petersburg Times published a photo essay about the Desert Inn. It featured a room with a red velvet swing adorned with feather boa. A bit campy, and doubtfully accurate from a historical perspective, but a genuine roadside attraction. Unfortunately the article isn’t available online anymore.
An Uncertain Future
It’s difficult to find current information on the Desert Inn. Apparently the property changed hands. Even the domain name for its website lapsed. Ironically some of the rooms that formed the former bawdy house may become a Bed and Breakfast. I’m having trouble reconciling those two vastly different purposes.
When people live in a place saddled with a colorful name like Yeehaw Junction they can choose either to ignore it or to embrace it. The locals chose the later. They use the grounds of the Desert Inn for an annual Bluegrass festival, now in its sixteenth year. Yeehaw Junction is even the name of a bluegrass band. Inexplicably, they are based in Charleston, South Carolina rather than central Florida.
Change may be in the winds. Land is still cheap in these rural stretches of interior Florida. Developers purchased more than 25,000 acres surrounding the Desert Inn on three sides. They envision a planned community of more than 75,000 people to be called Destiny. That happened back in 2006 and in the meantime Florida was damaged more than most by the burst in housing prices. Once things recover however, my guess is that an influx of upscale residents aren’t going to appreciate living near something called Yeehaw Junction. It’s on borrowed time. This vestige of the rural south just doesn’t seem to jibe with the image of a large planned community.
An Unfortunate Demise
I learned of the destruction of the Desert Inn well after I first published this article. In 2019, a tractor-trailer crashed into the inn and pretty much destroyed it. Sadly, it probably cannot be restored.
12MC Loves Footnotes!
(1)I found it quite by accident while looking for Zip Code anomalies, if you must know. Exciting life I lead. Seriously there are some amazingly wacky zip code boundaries and I’ll feature them in a future article.
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