In Orlando, swans have long been in the picture
If visitors from another planet were to plop down near Orlando’s Lake Eola and park their flying saucer in the Thornton Park garage, they might look around and wonder, “What’s up with the big white birds?”
What’s up? We like swans, that’s all. And we have for a long time.
Swans have been a presence at Lake Eola Park for decades, and now they’re also featured nearby in artistic form in murals that blossomed this spring inside the Thornton Park Central garage at 120 N. Eola Drive.
The murals are a project of the Thornton Park Mainstreet District. Organizers asked artists to come up with images inspired by the neighborhood and, if chosen for the project, to render those images on the walls of the garage’s ground floor. Lake Eola’s swans proved to be a popular subject, along with dogs, cats, moss-festooned trees, friends, festive beverages, and more.
And it’s no wonder the swans swam into the picture. They’ve been associated with the City Beautiful for more than a century — the subject of snapshots and postcards sent to the folks up North. Now they’ve become a muse for modern image makers.
Mr. Lord’s Vision
Although long associated with Lake Eola Park, the tradition of swans in Orlando began in 1910 at Lake Lucerne, according to Eve Bacon’s history of Orlando.
That was long before the lake was bisected by a causeway, in the early years of the 20th century when Lake Lucerne was a pretty spiffy place to have a home. One of the area’s residents, Charles Lord, had come to Orlando from England in 1885 and had done well in the grocery business. He and his wife, Alice, lived at the corner of Lucerne Circle and Grace Street and were known for their hospitality.
Lord remembered the swans he’d seen on the Thames River in his youth, the story goes, and on a visit back to England, he bought some and sent them back to Florida. (Historian Steve Rajtar notes that Lord told a 1931 interviewer he got the birds in Connecticut, but the English story stuck.)
Whatever their origin, Lord’s swans reportedly arrived in Orlando in November 1910. He installed them near his Lake Lucerne home, and city workers looked after them.
Big Bad Billy
Those workers may have been busy. One of the swans, a big guy named Billy, was a handful: He picked on some of the other swans so much that they had to be moved to Lake Eola for their safety.
Back at Lake Lucerne, Billy ruled the roost, earning two nicknames. The first, “Billy Bluebeard,” comes from the enduring story that Billy drowned his original mate, Sally, because she either neglected their nest or had eyes for another.
Billy’s other nickname, the “Tyrant of Lake Lucerne,” comes from his fierce protection of his territory, especially during nesting season. Billy chased children on their walks to and from Delaney School. He even chased cars. He was one tough bird, and he became an Orlando legend.
One account says Billy was 75 when he died of old age, in the early 1930s. But some folks just didn’t want to let him go, especially when he might be good for business. So the manager of the Swan & Co. Dry Goods Store on West Church Street took Billy to a taxidermist, and for some years he was on display in the store.
Eventually Billy was given to the Orange County Pioneer Society, and he still resides in the collections of the Historical Society of Central Florida, although he’s no longer on display. He did make an appearance last year at one of the Orange County Regional History Center’s “History in a Glass” events, and I think I see a shade of his spirit in the big bird artist Johnny Coppersnake painted in the Thornton Park Central garage. Wings in motion and eyes bright, this is a bird to be reckoned with.