I Am Proud To Be A "Carrollwoodian"

On most Sundays, I join my grandparents for dinner, and occasionally I go to my grandmothers church.

Last Sunday, over a delicious dinner of grouper that my grandmother created, I began asking my grandfather about Carrollwood and if he remembered facts about the area. He is permanently a witness to Carrollwood history! It is a little amusing to me at least, because even if we are in the boat or eating dinner I begin to question him for information. He loves telling stories, but I am unsure if knew he was going to be my personal encyclopedia. He has a God-given talent of remembering images, or it is called a photographic memory?

Because he grew up in Carrollwood and his family owned Lake Carroll when he was a child, I thought he would be a great subject to question. His grandfather or my great-great-great grandfather, John Jackson, was the first mayor of Tampa before the civil war and really, because of some of those facts has given me the urge to know more about history in Carrollwood and Tampa.

We have talked about his childhood previously, but now, I work in Carrollwood and write about the wonderful area.

He began telling me stories of trips to tampa that took over an hour, skiing tournaments on Lake Carroll , and how his parents met and were married in Carrollwood.  A "Carrollwoodian" is a person who is born and raised at carrollwood. I told my grandfather that I think the word nickname for someone that is from carrollwood should come back into style. In spirit of the history lesson I received about Carrollwood,  I thought I would put up a couple of  facts that you most certainly will need to know on your next guest appearance on Jeopardy, "Carrollwood Edition":

Education City stats Colleges, universities andprofessional schools (within 30 miles) 17 

Junior colleges andtechnical institutes (within 30 miles) 11

Test scores reading (percent above/below state average)0.9 percent

 Test scores math(percent above/below average)2.4 percent

Percentage of students attending public/privateschools (located within town limits)83.1/16.9

 Quality of lifeCity stats Air quality index*(% of days AQI ranked as good)78.6 percent

 Personal crime incidents (per 1,000)43 

Movie theaters(within 15 miles)21 

Restaurants(within 15 miles)2,851

 Bars(within 15 miles)289

 Public golf courses(within 30 miles)263 

Libraries(within 15 miles)48

 Museums(accredited by AAM;within 30 miles)8

 Arts funding (Dollars per person of state funds spent on arts)0.9

WeatherCity stats Annual rainfall(inches)47.01 %

 Clear days in the area 28 

High temp in July is 90 degrees

Low temp in January is about 52 degrees

Has health plan(percentage of residents)84.2 percent

 Body mass index (average for residents)27 

Diabetes rates(percentage of residents diagnosed)14.3 percent

Hypertension rates(percent of residents diagnosed)31.1 percent

 Meet the neighbors:

City stats Median age 38.9 

Completed at least some college(percent of residents)72.1 percent

Married 54.5 percent 

Divorced 13.4 percent

Racial diversity index(100 is national average; higher numbers indicate greater diversity)71.1 

Amount spent on vacations (domestic and foreign, household avg. per year)$8,446