Hurricane Ian Update

Hello, Dixie here with a hurricane Ian update. Thank you all for the outpouring of messages and calls checking in on us. First let me say that the most important parts of CMNC, are uninjured. The people and animals are ok. A great deal of consideration went in to protecting the livestock and assets at CMNC. Having said that, we took a considerable amount of damage. We are still assessing it. By some cracker miracle, the Tatum House is unharmed besides one window. the same for the Florida Native Village replica. Unfortunately this is not the case for the rest of the property. There are trees down on the Welcome Center, Cracker Cabin, composting toilets, the back of Museum & tool barn. Hundreds of trees are down on fences, trails, driveways and in all common areas.

There is more water than we’ve ever seen, the myakka river is 100 yards from our driveway. There are snagged trees and due to this and a pine condition called shake, we will loose more trees as time goes on. Because of this and out of an abundance of caution we will be closed until further notice. Once we can fully assess what needs to happen we will put a shout out for volunteer cleanup days.

Thank you so much for understanding. Stay safe. Just because the storm is over doesn’t mean the danger is. We have no power, Wi-Fi, telephone or cellphone so response time is delayed. We will update as much as we can. We will rebuild.