Often stationed in the back of the museum next to the diorama of what the Town of Lady Lake looked like in the 1940s and 1950s, the model train built by The Villages Model Train Club is a great visual aid to help explain the town’s history, Lonergan said.
“There is a wealth of history here at the Lady Lake Historical Museum,” he said. “People had to get what they needed or travel by train. There was no Best Buy, no UPS or Amazon. The model train shows how Lady Lake was connected to the world.”
Housed inside of the original Lady Lake Train Depot where trains ran from 1884 to 1967, the museum features exhibits including the First Inhabitants, the Timucuan and Seminole tribes; the General Store, which highlights items that could be found in a general store from the 1930s to 1940s; and the HO Train Room, with its diorama and train memorabilia.
Tucked behind a field off trees off U.S. Highway 441, the building was moved twice before arriving at its current location, 107 S Old Dixie Highway, Lady Lake.
Lonergan, who moved to The Villages from Wisconsin, said he didn’t know anything about Lady Lake before he started volunteering at the museum three years ago.
He said his favorite thing to point out to visitors is the lasting impacts of the Lady Lake Train Depot, such as the two ticket windows in two separate waiting rooms.
“I ask everyone why they think there were two waiting rooms,” he said. “Half of the people know and the other half look at me with a blank expression. When I tell them that it’s because of segregation, many people are shocked.”
Maggie Geraghty, executive director of the Lady Lake Historical Museum, said members of the Villages Model Train Club are a part of the museum’s foundation. Lonergan and four other members of the club spend at least one day a month volunteering at the museum, sharing local history and running the model railroad display, which was built by members of the Villages Model Train Club in 2009.
From the Lady Lake cemetery to Clermont Clervue Drive-In Theatre, the diorama engulfs the entire back half of the room and is complemented by various artifacts on the walls, including a map showing how the train traveled south from Jacksonville through Ocala and Belleview before arriving at Lady Lake.
Lonergan, who has been a model train enthusiast since he was 4-years-old, said he gets a kick out of seeing a young person fall in love with model trains in real time. He said whether it’s by how their faces light up or by the questions they ask, he can just tell when there’s a spark.
“For me, this is something that I’ve enjoyed my whole life,” he said, adding that he has several models at home that he’s put together.
Pointing to the lights inside a warehouse building, the flashing lights on a small police car and the remote-controlled trains on the model of the Town of Lady Lake, Lonergan said assembling models requires a combination of skills.
“The thing about putting together these models is that you have to become a carpenter, an electrician, a designer, a troubleshooter,” he said. “There is also trial and error, because everything might not work the first time. There’s plenty of times I’ve had to put tracks together, then take them apart and put them back together. When you learn from things is how your work gets better over time.”
Geraghty, who grew up going to the museum back when it was a library, said there is something that will interest everyone at the museum.
“It’s a free museum that is open to everyone who wants to learn about history,” she said. “It’s also a nice place to meet other locals. Some of the kids that come here are obsessed with model trains. They will come in and run straight to the back room, leaving their families in the front. We’ve even had some families bring their kids twice a week.”
The Lady Lake Historical Museum is open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesdays and Saturdays. For more information, visit ladylakemuseum.org or search Lady Lake Historical Society Museum on Facebook.
Staff writer Brea Jones can be reached at 352-753-1119, ext. 5414, or brea.jones@thevillagesmedia.com.
