Axie Lang

Could this be Axie Lang? This is a photo of a caretaker walking through the Eldora community.

NPS/Photo

Eldora was held together by caretakers, grove-men, housekeepers, and cooks. Serving as a cook and a maid was Axie Lang, whose hard work for over 20 years made life manageable for the Warnock family. She was said to be New Smyrna’s best midwife as well. Her occupation in census records have shown either cook or nurse depending on the decade.

Copies of photographs in the Seashore files, taken during the early 1900s, show local families enjoying various recreational activities in the presence of caretakers. These employees account for most of Eldora’s African American population at that time. Axie was a much-appreciated member of the Eldora community. She prepared meals for the Warnock’s and their guests. She must have worked for the De Graw’s as well because she is recorded as beginning in her twenty-first season at Eldora in January 1914.

An anonymous guest was moved on March 1, 1916, to pen the following tribute to her: To Axie, the clever, the real Southern cook, needs never to get her skill from a book. But bread, pies, and cakes She most surely bakes When placed on the table Sharp eyes are unable to find any scraps left by most ravenous guests.

In 1918 Axie was a true patriot who served on the Red Cross war fund fundraiser committee. Funds were raised to benefit the soldiers who went overseas to WWI. Axie had a son Hilton Lang who served in WWI. Hilton was drafted on February 15^th, 1918, and then sailed on June 10, 1918 out of Hoboken NJ to serve the Company “C” 367^th infantry 92^nd Division.

Remnants of the historical town of Eldora may be explored at Canaveral National Seashore, Apollo Beach 7611 S Atlantic Ave., New Smyrna Beach FL.

Resources
(2008). Canaveral National Seashore Historic Resource Study. National Park Service.

(n.d.). National Archives. Ancestry. https://www.ancestry.com/sharing/1603131?mark=2f83a4439881cd9c0220ffc9a7340ca2c683a5afabc82ad61ea7c73f0a4c569d

(n.d.). 1910 United States Federal Census. Ancestry. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7884/images/31111_4327454-00906?treeid=&personid=&rc=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=dYt49&_phstart=successSource&pId=3115528

(n.d.). New Smyrna Daily News. Ancestry. https://www.ancestry.com/sharing/1603096?mark=9a30aa37cc3fb45d0b47e2da4d336a13caaf224083e9ccc1f05e15458a302d22