Moon Lake Estates [Florida]

Selling off a former sportsman’s paradise.

This interesting and ephemeral plat map was designed by Denel and Day Engineering on behalf of the Moon Lake Development Corporation. It shows one (Number Thirteen) of twenty-one different housing ‘units’, each constructed on land formerly occupied by the Moon Lake Gardens and Dude Ranch.

This outdoor retreat, established in the early 1930s, was one of Florida’s first self-contained resorts. It covered over 9,000 acres and encompassed over a dozen different lakes, offering a bounty of hunting and fishing. The game preserve encountered financial difficulties after World War II, and was eventually sold off into a series of housing developments. According to a local historian,

“This was one of the first significant housing developments on the county’s west coast. Initial plans called for a community complete with a large shopping center and other general facilities, fully paved roads and affordable, three-bedroom homes ranging from $5,000- $7,000. By September 1954, a survey crew was busy transforming the former ranch into the proposed community. In December, the first plat maps for Moon Lake Estates were filed with the Pasco County clerk and lots were advertised for $20 down. For six years, surveyors worked to plat out the 21 units of the community which until recently still contained the former lodge building.”

Source.