>> GOOD EVENING AND WELCOME TO CONNECTING POINT, I'M JIM
MADIGAN.
TELL SOMEONE YOU ARE GOING TO FLORIDA, AND THEY THINK PALM
TREES AND BEACHES.
WHAT IF YOU ARE ACTUALLY HEADING TO THE LITTLE TOWN OF FLORIDA,
MASSACHUSETTS.
WELL, THAT'S WHERE WE'RE TAKING YOU TONIGHT, AS PRODUCER TONY
DUNNE AND VIDEOGRAPHER DAVE FRASER TAKE US ON THE BEATEN
PATH.
>> FLORIDA IS GOD'S DIRECT YOUR, IT'S GOT A WEALTHY AREA, NOT AN
OVERLY POOR AREA, KIND OF SOMEWHERE MOSTLY IN THE MIDDLE.
>> THERE IS A SENSE OF RUGGEDNESS, AND YOU REALLY HAVE
TO WORK TO BE HERE.
SUMMERS ARE GORGEOUS AND WINTERS ARE NOT.
>> THERE MIGHT NOT BE MANY PEOPLE BUT THEY ALL HAVE BIG
HEARTS.
>> SOME PEOPLE STRUGGLE.
BUT IT'S A WELCOMING AREA.
>> THERE IS A LOT MORE TO FLORIDA THAN THE BROWN'S GARAGE.
>> THERE'S A GREAT SCHOOL THAT HAS DONE AMAZING THINGS FOR MY
CHILDREN AND OTHER CHILDREN.
THERE IS A GREAT CHURCH, AN ACTIVE SENIOR CITIZEN'S HOME.
>> FLORIDA IS SO BIG IT HAS THREE ZIP CODES, JUST TO THROW
THAT OUT AT YOU, YOU KNOW, THE TUNNEL AREA, THE TUNNELLITES IS
A DIFFERENT ZIP CODE AND THE JURY SIDE IS A DIFFERENT ZIP
CODE.
>> THERE ARE CLOSE TO 800 PEOPLE, GIVE OR TAKE, DEPENDING
ON WHO IS HERE AND WHEN.
AND SO THERE IS A SENSE OF THIS.
>> THE TOWN OF FLORIDA CAME IN TO EXISTENCE IN 1805 WHEN IT WAS
A, WAS INCORPORATED AS A TOWN, AND IT WAS THE SAME YEAR AS
FLORIDA, THE STATE WAS A TERRITORY COMING INTO THE UNITED
STATES.
>> SOME PEOPLE HAVE SAID THAT IT WAS WHEN THE FIRST SETTLERS CAME
IN, AND THE MOUNTAIN LAURALS BLOSSOMED AND THERE WAS A LOT OF
FLORA, SO THAT COULD BE THAT, TOO.
>> FLORIDA HASN'T CHANGED MUCH IN 200 YEARS, IN A LOT OF WAYS
TO ME.
BEHIND ME, THERE IS PROBABLY JUST AS MANY PEOPLE OR DWELLINGS
AS THERE WERE 150 YEARS AGO.
>> IT WAS DIFFICULT BECAUSE IT WOULD HAVE BEEN ALMOST
SUBSISTENCE LIVING.
YOU WOULD WORK ALL SUMMER TO GET READY FOR WINTER.
>> AND THEN THE TUNNEL BROUGHT CONSTRUCTION, PEOPLE, BROUGHT
WORK.
>> 4.75 MILES OF THE TUNNEL GOING THROUGH THE MOUNTAIN, AND
THAT WAS ONE OF THE GREATEST ENGINEERING FEATS OF THE 19th
CENTURY.
>> AND AFTER THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE TUNNEL, THE POPULATION
DROPPED.
WHEN I WAS BORN, THERE WAS ONLY AROUND 300 PEOPLE HERE, AND IT
WOULD HAVE BEEN DESCENDANTS, IN MOST CASE, OF A LOT OF THE FIRST
SETTLERS.
>> COME FROM NEW YORK CITY, AND AS FAR AS THE TOWN OF FLORIDA
WILL BE, EVEN THOUGH I'VE BEEN HERE FOR 50, 52 YEARS, I AM
STILL THE KID FROM NEW YORK CITY.
>> THEY CALLED ME A NEWBIE OR SOMETIMES, AS ONE OF THE LOCALS
SAID I COULD BE CONSIDERED PASSING THROUGH.
I HAVEN'T GOTTEN MY FEET WET YET BECAUSE I WILL BE AT 20 YEARS IN
OCTOBER.
>> EVERYBODY KNOWS YOUR NAME.
AND KNOWS YOUR FAMILY, THAT CAN BE A GOOD THING OR A BAD THING
BUT I FOUND IT TO BE MORE GOOD THAN BAD.
>> THIS IS A VERDICK HOUSE, NAME FROM FLORIDA MOUNTAIN AREA.
AND THEY MET ME WITH A BOX OF CANDY.
>> SO IT'S A GREAT PLACE TO LIVE.
>> ONE OF THE GREATEST MOMENTS IN TOWN HISTORY WAS, OF COURSE,
THE TODAY.
>> THEY HAD TWO TOWN HALLS.
AND ONE WAS IN THE ITEM, AND ONE WAS UP TOP HERE.
>> THE MOUNTAINEERS AND THE TUNNELLITES COULDN'T AGREE ON
DIFFERENT THINGS.
>> THERE WAS TENSION FOR A PERIOD OF TIME.
>> AND THE STATE SAID THAT'S ILLEGAL.
YOU CAN'T BE HAVING TWO HALLS, AND TWO DIFFERENT VOTES.
THEY WOULD HOLD ONE MEETING UP HERE AND THE OTHER MEETING AT
THE TUNNEL VILLAGE HALL.
>> AND I CAN'T IMAGINE A TOWN HAVING TWO TOWN MEETINGS, BUT
YOU KNOW, APPARENTLY THEY DID.
>> CERTAINLY ONE OF THE KEY FACTORS OF PUTTING FLORIDA ON
THE MAP, BECAUSE AS YOU KNOW, IT IS EVIDENCE DRIVING UP HERE
WE'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, WAS THE MOHAWK TRAIL, AND BACK
IN THE DAY THE TRAIL WAS THE TWRAIL TO DRIVE ON, IT WAS THE
SCENIC TRAIL.
>> IT BROUGHT MORE TRAFFIC THROUGH THE AREA, AND THAT WOULD
HAVE BEEN 1914 WHEN IT OPENED.
>> IT CHANGED SO MUCH SINCE I WAS A CHILD BECAUSE THERE WERE
SO MANY PLACES ALONG THE TRAIL FOR PEOPLE TO STOP.
>> ONE OF THE THINGS, I OFTEN JOKE WHEN I AM BRINGING SOMEONE
HERE FOR THE FIRST TIME, I WILL BE LIKE LOOK, THERE IS AN ELK
AND THEY WILL LOOK QUICKLY AND NOT REALIZE IT'S A GORGEOUS
STATUE.
>> THE ELK WAS SET UP THERE IN 1923, BUT IT'S IN MEMORY OF THE
SOLDIERS FROM WORLD WAR I, AND THEY SAID THAT THERE WAS 10,000
PEOPLE FOR THE DEDICATION, I BELIEVE THAT WOULD BE THE MOST
PEOPLE EVER IN THIS TOWN AT ONE TIME.
>> THEY HAD ONE OF MOST BEAUTIFUL VIEWS YOU WILL EVER
SEE, FOSSILLAGE FOR MILES.
>> YOU CAN GO DOWN AND GET RIVER AND COME UP ON TOP AND GET THE
MOUNTAINS AND GO BACK INTO THE STATE FOREST LAND AND WALK FOR
AGES.
>> THE SEASONS ARE DRAMATIC UP HERE.
WINTER IS A -- WINTER IS -- IT'S A WINTERS WONDERLAND, ESPECIALLY
WITH AT ICE STORM.
>> THE LAUGH IS THAT IF YOU LIVED IN THE HUZICK TUNNEL,
SPRING CAME ABOUT FOUR WEEKS EARLIER.
FOUR OR FIVE WEEKS EARLIER THAN IT DID ON THE MOUNTAIN AND THE
SAME WITH WINTER, IT CAME FOUR OR FIVE WEEKS LATER.
>> WINTER ISN'T A SEASON UP HERE, IT'S AN OCCUPATION.
SO YOU ARE GETTING READY FOR WINTER ALL SUMMER,.
>> FLORIDA IS A PERFECT ESCAPE IN A LOT OF WAYS FROM LIFE, FROM
THE BUSINESS, THE OVERWHELMINGNESS, THE
FRANTICNESS OF DAY-TO-DAY LIFE.
I SPEND MOST OF MY WORKING TIME IN NORTH ADAMS, FLORIDA IS MY
TIME TO RELAX.
>> WHEN YOU HAVE A STRESSFUL DAY AND YOU WANT TO GET AWAY FROM IT
ALL, THIS IS MY ESCAPE.
MY WORK HAS ME TRAVELING ALL OVER LITERALLILY ALL OVER THE
WORLD BUT YOU KNOW TO COME BACK HERE FOR A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP,
TO COME BACK HERE AND SIT ON THE PORCH AND HAVE A CIGAR AND A
SCOTCH AND LOOK OUT, BE ABLE TO SORT OF RECALENDER, TO JUST
THINK, TO JUST FIGURE OUT LIFE.
>> I LOOK AT IT AS MY WILDERNESS.
IT IS A WILDERNESS UP HERE IN FLORIDA.
IT'S NOT FOR EVERYBODY, BUT IT'S FOR ME.