Local history: Fenton Street

Fenton Street is a short double-ended dead end running east and west from Apopka-Vineland Road along a section line between Vineland and Dr. Phillips. It was most likely named after an early resident of the area (just like nearby Smith-Bennett Road, Darlene Drive, and Kilgore Road). To the west, it is paved in chipseal, and provides access to Progress Energy's Vineland Substation and several houses. To the east, the only developed properties along the road are the two-grave Vineland Cemetery and a BellSouth cell tower. It is this section that I will discuss.



Until 2004, Fenton east of Apopka-Vineland was a dirt road. When Hurricane Charley came through, Orange County put down a low-quality coat of asphalt and used the current site of the Dr. P. Phillips Community Park (bought from Dr. Phillips, Inc. in 2000 for future park use) for residential yard waste dropoff. However, when the park opened in 2007, access was off BuenaVista Woods Boulevard, and Fenton was left to deteriorate just outside the park fence. Other than filling of the largest potholes, it has received no maintenance in over ten years, and is to be abandoned in the future.

The Vineland Cemetery (named for the small community to the south with a prominent mosque) has two gravestones for Union Civil War veterans. Boy Scout Marshall Polston restored the cemetery in 2010 for his Eagle Scout project.

plan from 2005 agreement (note the earlier alignment, running northwest-southeast in the southeast corner)

Plans have existed for years to build an east-west connection between Apopka-Vineland and Palm Parkway along or near Fenton. In 2005 an agreement was made to shift the road farther south and abandon Fenton east of Apopka-Vineland (the portion east of Palm Parkway, opened in early 2014, was initially posted as Fenton, but was changed several months later to Daryl Carter Parkway, named for the current landowner). The cemetery will become part of a small community park when the surrounding area is developed.