Lake County history: Did you know?

A pair of episodes from the American science fiction television series seaQuest DSV were filmed in Lake County. The series originally aired on NBC between 1993 and 1996. In its final season, it was renamed seaQuest 2032.

Steven Spielberg served as one of the show's executive producers during the first two seasons.

The cast included stars Roy Scheider as Nathan Bridger, captain of the high-tech submarine seaQuest DSV 4600; Jonathan Brandis as Lucas Wolenczak, a teenage computer genius; and Stephanie Beacham as Kristin Westphalen, the chief medical officer and head of the seaQuest science department.

The first episode in 1994 utilized Lake County’s then-new judicial center with its futuristic glass-panels.

Hollywood stars included Peter DeLuise (Dagwood), Edward Kerr (Lt. James Brody), Don Franklin (Cmdr. Jonathan Ford) and Roy Scheider (Capt. Nathan Bridger) from the crew of the fictional 1,000-foot submarine. The script was about a courtroom drama set in the year 2021.

The show’s officials must have liked Lake County because they came back in October 1995 and transformed an old Howey orange grove into a domed underwater world of the future.

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Hattie Daggett Millholland was a special lady. Hattie had her brother build the famous and historic Log House that was located in south Lake County. More specifically, the unique wooden structure was located at Monte Vista, another of Hattie’s tireless projects.

Half the town visited Hattie during her first night at the Hotel Clermont, later the Lakeview Hotel. The year was 1888 and a throng of curious townfolk wanted to learn who had arrived in the city that day.

There were even folks that she’d known from the North, such as her attorney friend, William House.

A launch party for a little steamboat was arranged in her honor. The captain and engineer was Sam Sheppard. The party included House and his daughter Libbie, as well as J.C. Parson and his daughter.

This adventure and more was recorded by Hattie for a story in the Clermont Press in 1930. The trip began in Lake Winona.

“The first mill which was built there was still standing though unused,” continued the story in the Clermont Press. “A new one had been built on Lake Minneola.