LAKE PLACID — Anne Reynolds, a white-haired lady in her 60s, speaks softly when asked about the younger version of her painted on a downtown Lake Placid mural. "That's me, 1966, when shortly after arriving as Charles Reynolds' bride, I was elected the first president of the Lake Placid Arts and Crafts Fair." Reynolds' home, a two-storied, New Orleans style red brick with black, wrought iron balconies, perches on a high bluff, Bear Point, offering a panoramic view of what used to be Lake Childs, now Lake Placid. The 12-acre property boasts heavily mossed, native-Florida trees and foliage. A golf cart ride downhill leads to a rectangular, green building, once a garage, now a lab. David Butler, archaeologist and professor at Rollins College, comes here, often bringing students, and studies findings from the Blueberry site — more about that later. The samples are sealed in labeled, plastic bags and piled around the musty, somewhat mystical room. ...more

July 6, 2008