Rod Reeves is a lifelong resident and popular ambassador of Winter Garden who has earned the respect and love of many residents in the area. This exhibit, featuring his pen-and-ink drawings of historic buildings in the area, along with a description and history of the buildings, the people who occupied them, and the general architectural styles, is only a small part of his vast collection of over 160 filled sketchbooks.

Born in Orange General Hospital in Orlando in 1940, Rod grew up hanging around his father and uncle´s barber shop in downtown Winter Garden. He attended Winter Garden Elementary and Lakeview Junior-Senior High School before studying art history and illustration at Florida State University. He returned to Winter Garden to teach art and humanities at Lakeview from 1962-75 and at West Orange High from 1976-1994. In addition, Rod taught evenings at Valencia Community College and the University of Central Florida, illustrated automobiles for the Veteran Motor Car Club of America, and wrote and illustrated for various magazines and newspapers. After retiring from teahing, Rod worked as a studio scenic designer and taught art to senior citizens before taking the job of executive director and curator of the Winter Garden Heritage Museum. Under his leadership, the museum opened in 1998 and began amassing a large collection of items pertaining to the history of the West Orange area. Aside from his artwork, Rod might be best known for his wonderful stories of early Winter Garden.

Since his retirement form the Heritage Museum, Rod is working to catalog and prepare his vast collection of architectural sketches for a future touring map of the West Orange county area. According to Rod, "All my life I´ve liked architecture . . . and loved my howetown´s folk, who lived, worked, worshipped and recreated in these structures. The buildings are to me more than lumber, brick and mortar. They are the repositories of memories of these lives. I hope that people can use these sketches as a reference when refurbishing some of the older homes and buildings, while also creating an awareness of the value of this area´s architectural history."

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