BY GINNY GEIGER AND BARBARA ANDERSON
Garden Club of the Lakes
When we first arrived at the house on the corner of Fourth Street and State Road 100 in Lake Geneva, we were greeted by two somewhat large, beautiful pit bulls, Buster and Gussie, and their owner, Ben Cooper. As a side note, Barbara did not think they were as beautiful as Ginny did, especially when they tried to crawl up in her lap!
When you drive by this yard to look at it, you may not recognize it as the same yard from three years ago. Ben has been working tirelessly, designing a yard most deserving of the Yard of the Month award. One would have thought we had given him a bunch of money, the way he is so excited and proud of this award. As you ride by, you will see why Ben describes himself as having a creative mind with a good imagination.
Watched aunts and uncles plant large areas of Speedville
Using river rocks, pavers, and stones, Ben laid out the design. Then he planted impatiens, azaleas, peace lilies, succulents, mums, Gerbera daisies, petunias, aloe, boxwoods, and cordyline. Because Ben buys plants just because he likes them, he does not know the names of many of them. Ginny used her handy PictureThis app and found the names of most of them. It is quite obvious that Ben loves plants and working with them.
His love of gardening started when he was very young, watching his aunts and uncles work in and enjoy planting large areas of land in Speedville. It appears that Ben inherited his family’s work ethic and their love of the outdoors and gardening.
Because no one would do the work the way Ben wanted, he did all the work by himself and all by hand, and a lot of work he did and still does. The only part about his beautiful yard he does not like is its high maintenance, but it is well worth it to Ben because being in it gives him great peace.
As we were sitting, enjoying this beautiful yard and weather, people would drive by, blow their horns, and wave. We thought there for a minute that we were famous, until Ben said, “That’s the way they do. I know a lot of people around here, and they always do that”. So much for us being famous.
Ancestor built first state road
Yes, Ben does know a lot of people from all that he has done around this area. Even though we could not see Ben ever slowing down and “retiring,” as hard and fast as he goes, he actually did retire from Clay Electric 20 years ago. They hired Ben when he was just 19, and he was a faithful employee for 11 years.
“Historian” is a word Ben correctly used to describe himself. We had a most fascinating time hearing some of his many stories about the area we call “home”, Melrose and Keystone Heights. Ben was asked to be on the Centennial Committee to share his knowledge, especially since he has been studying this area for 15 years.
Here are a few of the many things we learned from him. We encourage you to look them up. We did and found it all really fascinating.
How about the name of “Speedville”? We have always heard that the name referred to the speed at which people drove through there. Actually, the area was named after Ben’s relatives, the Speeds, from that area.
One of his “great” grandfathers, John “Jack” Bellamy, through his hard work, determination, and money, had a considerable impact on this part of Florida, particularly in Clay, Duval, and Jefferson counties. He founded Jacksonville with two other settlers and was commissioned to build the first state road, using slaves. It ran from Pensacola to St. Augustine. What was once called Bellamy Road is now State Road 26, which runs through downtown Melrose. John “Jack” Bellamy was quite a man. You may want to Google him, but we did.
Yes, Ben is an amazing historian who summarizes his life’s passions as Love of God, people, history, and plants.
It must be clear by now that Ben has led a most interesting life of 65 years, and we didn’t even cover the surface, living almost all of it here. If you have questions about this area and its history, don’t just blow your horn and wave. Stop by his house or drop by his car detailing business in Melrose and ask him – we did.
