DEL.ICIO.USPalm Beach [Fla.] Post
Published on: 01/06/05
Sebring, Fla. — We've been known to take the back roads on some family trips.
That's not to say we haven't spent our share of time on I-95, Florida's Turnpike and I-75, but if you want to find unusual antiques without paying a fortune, you have to travel the roads that the snowbirds don't.
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Which brings us to a recent trip through what we call the Antiques Triangle or Antiques Loop. Roughly trace U.S. 27 and 17 and Fla. 70 through Central Florida, and you'll be taken to a lot of towns that don't have exits named for them. Lake Placid, Sebring, Avon Park, Lake Wales, Winter Haven, Lake Alfred, Bartow and Arcadia complete the triangle.
Besides antique furniture and other items at sometimes half or less than what you would pay in more populated areas, bargain hotel and restaurant rates abound. All-you-can-eat Chinese buffet dinners for $7.95 and deluxe rooms at posh hotels for $89 a night are common.
We've completed the triangle in two days' time, but that's pushing it. The antiques shops in Arcadia alone, the highlight of the route, could fill a day or more easily.
Best of all, shops on this route offer a variety of antiques and collectibles. There are lots of great furniture, glassware, china, antique tools, radios, linens and advertising items. Collectibles such as coins, Coke memorabilia, dolls, toys and clothing buttons are common at the flea markets and many other shops.
On our trip, it wasn't unusual for my wife to find her Fostoria American pattern glassware she collects in the same shop where I would find something for my political memorabilia collection. The list below traces our favorite Antiques Loop route, one which we've taken for many of our collecting years, highlighting some of our favorite antiques shops and flea markets and what makes them stand out.
Arcadia
TOWNSEND ANTIQUES
(Open November through July)
5 E. Oak St.; 863-494-2137
Description: This place is small, but you won't want to miss it. Great variety of items.
What it has: Glassware, old clothing buttons, old typewriters and lots of antique kitchen utensils.
MARY'S ATTIC
12 W. Oak St.; 863-993-2533
Description: Don't miss this great antiques mall. All antiques, no flea market junk.
What it has: Wonderful old furniture, barber chair, fishing lures, old kitchen bowls and pans, room full of tools and fishing rods and reels, rolling pins and cookie cutters, radios and crank wall phone.
ABIGAIL'S ANTIQUES
& COLLECTIBLES
24 W. Oak St.; 863-494-1434
Description: Nice selection of glassware.
What it has: Nice furniture, milk glass, Depression glass, perfume bottles, Fostoria glassware, cookie cutters, silver and cookbooks.
OAKLEAF ANTIQUES
30 W. Oak St.; 863-491-5044
Description: Two-story former bank building. You can get lost in this place. There are dozens of small rooms (former bank offices), and they are all filled. It's like an antiques maze of at least 35 dealers. Even the old bank vault is filled.
What they have: Old pottery, wooden sled, many wooden straight chairs, large wicker wheelchair, musical instruments and tons more.
THE OLD OPERA HOUSE
106 W. Oak St.; 863-494-3006
Description: The displays are as good as the antiques for sale. Inside is the 850-pound Black Mariah, the largest 35 mm projector, made for the Paramount Theater in New York in the mid-1930s. Check out the barbed-wire collection, Chaplin and Bogart movie posters, and silent film projector while walking around on the old, creaky wooden floors.
What it has: Lots of small items in several rooms, including war ration books, Oriental rugs and African-American collectibles.
PAYNE'S ANTIQUES
15 S. Polk Ave.; 863-494-1178
Description: High-quality antiques at great prices.
What it has: Marbles, oak/wicker church kneeler that folds to a chair, Depression glass, oak high-back wheelchair, sheet music, tools and beautiful oak furniture.
Lake Placid
POOR RICHARD'S
ANTIQUE MALL
5 N. Main St.; 863-699-5480
Description: A mix of some flea market-type items with some collectibles and genuine antiques.
What they have: Lots of glassware, Coke collectibles, tools, old Thermos bottles, and plenty of kitchen items including red-handled kitchen utensils.
LAKE PLACID MALL
AND MUSEUM
105 Commerce St.; 863-441-4681
Description: Part antiques shop and part antique car museum. Check out the 1955, 1960, 1966 Ford T-Birds; 1931 Ford Coupe Roadster; 1931 Model A Ford; 1951 Studebaker pickup; and 1915 and 1916 Model T Fords.
What they have: Besides the museum displays, there are lots of Beatles and Betty Boop items, Coke and Pepsi collectibles, Coke cooler, advertising signs, barber pole, collectible dolls. There are several gift shops upstairs and a die-cast car shop.
Sebring
GRANDMA'S DAZE
4694 U.S. 27 S.; 863-381-1464
Description: A small shop with a lot of charm.
What it has: Lots of old linens, Depression glass, Vaseline glass and Blue Ridge Pottery.
Lake Wales
SUNSHINE FLEA MARKET
24200 U.S. 27 (half-mile north of Eagle Ridge Mall, north of Lake Wales); 863-679-1015
Description: A cut above many flea markets, this one has some antiques mixed in with the produce stands and junk booths.
What they have: Barbies, glassware, Disney pins, new and used tools, baseball and football cards, ruby glass, kitchen utensils, cast-iron kettles, collectible toys, old golf clubs and Matchbox cars.
BERRY'S ANTIQUES
224 E. Stuart Ave.; 863-679-8892 or 863-678-0142
Description: Cluttered, but interesting.
What it has: Cruets, furniture of many types, milk glass, glassware, china, linens and dolls.
ONCE UPON A TYME
245 E. Park Ave.; 863-676-0910
Description: Always our favorite in Lake Wales. Good variety of small collectibles.
What it has: Beautiful furniture, glassware of many varieties, china, books and huge mirror-front armoire.
BITTERSWEET MEMORIES
247 E. Park Ave.; 863-676-4778
Description: An old-Florida treasure-trove.
What it has: Old Bibles, hats, wooden rocker, fishing lures, lead soldiers, old bottle openers with advertising on them, maps, old Central Florida citrus labels and old metal gas cans.
Winter Haven
CLASSIC COLLECTABLES AND ANTIQUES
279 W. Central Ave.; 863-294-6866 or 1-800-287-6866
Description: One of the best antiques malls in the Antiques Triangle. Don't miss it.
What they have: African-American collectibles, glassware, rolling pins, Depression glass, china teacups, cranberry glass, flow blue china, carnival glass, Matchbox cars in original boxes, Hull pottery, art deco furniture, roll-top china closet, lines and jadeite dinnerware.
ANTIQUE CONNECTION
270 W. Central Ave.; 863-299-5959
Description: Mixture of items in booths.
What they have: Ruby glass, barber chair, leather-top desk, old gas pump (5 cents a gallon!), Christmas balls, Disney and "Star Wars" collectibles, and 1941 Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.
MAMA'S ATTIC
2 Sixth St. S.W.; 863-299-3144
Description: Furniture, furniture and more furniture. Cluttered, but worth the wading.
What it has: Beautiful oak dressers, lots of wooden chairs, glassware, china, Shell-pink glassware, old cash register, milk glass and gold-rim glasses.
Lake Alfred
POTPOURRI ANTIQUES
144 W. Haines Blvd.; 863-956-5535
Description: Part gift shop, part antiques shop.
What it has: Glassware, old primitive cabinets, potpourri and gifts.
BIGGAR ANTIQUES
140 W. Haines Blvd.; 863-956-4853
Description: One of the best antiques shops in Central Florida. Don't miss this one. Collectors of old advertising items will be in heaven.
What it has: Incredible old oak drawing table, lots of large furniture, many old advertising signs, pine cupboard, wooden orange and soap crates, wooden soda bottle carriers, Coke signs, old letter sweaters, medicine/ad bottles, Dad's Root Beer and Wonder Bread signs.
Bartow
YESTERDAY AND TODAY
COLLECTIBLES
105 E. Main St.; 863-533-0290
Description: Very nice items, no junk.
What it has: Oak chairs, wooden highchair, drop-leaf table, Fostoria and Depression glass, Bavarian and flow blue china, large china closets, and several cabinets with faceted glass doors.
CHINOISERIE ANTIQUES
AND GIFTS
125 S. Central Ave.; 863-534-8534
Description: Small shop with lots of Oriental furniture.
What it has: Fancy Oriental furniture of all types, including a pair of five-legged straight chairs.
MR. AND MRS. MAC'S
FARM ANTIQUES
365 Main St.; 863-534-5735
Description: This is the home of very reasonably priced furniture. Half the price of what you'd pay in Palm Beach County or Treasure Coast.
What it has: Tobacco baskets, newspaper print type trays, old radios and record players, Edison cylinder record cabinet, huge oak card catalog from library and large wicker and wood sofas.
PHILIPS ANTIQUES
330 E. Main St.; 863-533-2365
Description: What a mixture! I always think there's nothing here when I go in, but nearly always end up walking out with a bag in hand.
What it has: Old Christmas light bulbs, china, glassware, huge collection of Rotary pins, old magazines, records and paper collectibles and glass telephone insulators.
SMITH AND JONES ANTIQUES
875 E. Main St.; 863-533-7635
Description: Another great spot for reasonable furniture.
What it has: Large furniture of all types, swinging cradle, lawyer's cabinet, carnival glass and marble-top table.
Avon Park
FILLMORE'S OLDTIQUES
11 S. Lake Ave.; 863-452-6656
Description: Small shop with lots of small items.
What it has: Dolls, china closets, curio cabinets, glassware and china.
BROKEN SPOKE INDOOR FLEA MARKET
2 E. Main St.; 863-453-0078
Description: Yep, that's what it is. An indoor flea market.
What they have: Fenton glass, dolls, old tools, lots of comic books, old pens including large selection of bullet pens, jars of marbles, salts and collectibles.
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