Walinwa was a community by

Lake Weohyakapka Lake Weohyakapka is a lake in Polk County, Florida, in the United States. The name is derived from the Creek language, most likely meaning "walking on water". The turpentine settlement of Walinwa (Walk In Water) was once located by the lake and w ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. The lake's name is translated as walk-in-water, and the settlement's name is a condensed form of those English words.

Turpentine Turpentine (which is also called spirit of turpentine, oil of turpentine, terebenthine, terebenthene, terebinthine and, colloquially, turps) is a fluid obtainable by the distillation of resin harvested from living trees, mainly pines. Principall ...

was produced in the area. In 1910, a

Seaboard Air Line Railroad The Seaboard Air Line Railroad , known colloquially as the Seaboard Railroad during its time, was an American railroad that existed from April 14, 1900, until July 1, 1967, when it merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, its longtime ri ...

connection was built to the town. In 1918, the community was also served by the Kissimmee River Railway, a steam rail line in Polk County,

stretching 7.26 miles from Walinwa to Nalaca in an area that developed with logging, sawmill, and turpentine industries. A Seaboard subsidiary it ran from Walinwa to Nalaca. The rail line extended from the Seaboard branch line connecting

Plant City Plant City is an incorporated city in Hillsborough County, Florida, United States, approximately midway between Brandon and Lakeland along Interstate 4. It is part of the Tampa Bay area. The population was 39,764 at the 2020 census. Despite ma ...

and Walinwa. It also served the logging and mill town of Sumica and the turpentine settlement of Nalaka, Florida. Kissimmee River Railway was incorporated December 3, 1917. It was operated by the

United States Railroad Administration The United States Railroad Administration (USRA) was the name of the nationalisation, nationalized railroad system of the United States between December 28, 1917, and March 1, 1920. It was the largest American experiment with nationalization, and ...

. The turpentine town is mentioned glancingly in a historical marker for SUMICA.

References

Unincorporated communities in Polk County, Florida {{PolkCountyFL-geo-stub