Eatonville

Eatonville is a town in Orange County, Florida, six miles north of Orlando. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 2,432 at the 2000 census. As of 2006, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 2,272. It was one of the first all-black towns to be formed after the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and, on August 15, 1887, was the first such town to be incorporated. Zora Neale Hurston grew ... more

Eatonville is a town in Orange County, Florida, six miles north of Orlando. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 2,432 at the 2000 census. As of 2006, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 2,272. It was one of the first all-black towns to be formed after the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and, on August 15, 1887, was the first such town to be incorporated. Zora Neale Hurston grew up there. Every winter, Eatonville stages its annual Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities and the Zora Neale Hurston Library opened in January 2004. Eatonville was also the hometown of former professional football player David "Deacon" Jones. Artist Jules Andre Smith did a series of paintings depicting life in Eatonville during the 1930s and 1940s. Twelve of these works are at the Maitland Art Center in the adjacent town of Maitland. While sources seem to disagree on the exact date and even the year of the town's... less