Peacock Lane

If you’ve lived in North Tampa for very long, you’ve seen the peacocks. There are two groups that I know of, the ones near old – or should I say, original – Carrollwood and the ones near the Upper Tampa Bay Trail where it crosses Gunn. I don’t know where the second group came from, but I can explain the existence of the first group.

My family moved to Carrollwood Drive in the early sixties, before Carrollwood Drive was even finished. It had to be paved on down to 11110 in order to build our house at the corner of Lipsey Road. Our lot was dotted with 26 orange trees, and the family on the other side of Lipsey had grapefruits. Some of my friends had tangerines, and there were even kumquat trees down near White Sands Beach.

You see, old Carrollwood was originally a citrus grove and, apparently, the dropping fruit attracted snakes. So, as the story goes, the owners of the grove kept peacocks to kill the snakes; I guess it worked because I have plenty of memories of peacocks and none of snakes.

Anyway, if you continue east on Carrollwood Drive from Lipsey Road, on the right is Lake Carroll, and the next street to the left is Peacock Lane, named for the peacock farm. That’s right, at least that’s what we kids called it. Whenever we didn’t have anything else to do, we’d walk down to the Peacock Farm to collect the beautiful feathers. The farm actually reached all the way through to what is now the curve where Lake Ridge Road becomes MacFarland Road.

Every family in the area had at least one vase filled with the lovely feathers. The peacocks roamed the whole area, frequently strolling into the backyard where we fed them bread. We got a kick out of it, but as a kid I didn’t realize just what a novelty it was.

As Carrollwood grew, development drove them further and further away, but there are still a few around. I don’t know if anyone has any idea how many.

So now if you see them looking altogether out of place on the sidewalk in front of Whaley’s Market, strolling through the parking lot at Lowes, or appearing to be waiting for a table outside of Carrabba's, you’ll know where they came from. Be nice to them because they were here first.

Today, when I run on the UTB trail in the late afternoon, I can hear the piercing calls of the peacocks in that area, and I am transported back to those carefree childhood days in old Carrollwood. Just yesterday I spotted two albino peacocks in the street behind Blinds to Go. Maybe someone who can explain the origin of that group will comment on this post and enlighten me. They are lovely creatures, and I’ll always be happy to share my North Tampa with them.

Comments

[Julia Stander]

I loved your Peacock Lane. In the office I used to work in, we would always have these beautiful birds visit. One even found a nice spot in front of the office to create a nest and lay some eggs. She was a devoted mom too. Rain or shine, she would sit on the eggs and she wasn't the slightest bit botherd. People would park their cars and not notice her. We would check on her every day. Then one morning the eggs hatched and off she went with the babies never to be seen again. They are such awesome, but noisy birds and give Original Carrollwood some of its charm.