Masaryktown, FL

Masaryktown is a Hernando County census-designated place whose town plan began in New York City in 1924, when Joseph Joscak and other Czechoslovak immigrants formed the Hernando Plantation Company. It was named for Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, the first president of Czechoslovakia, and its street names still carry that origin: American presidents on some roads, Slovak and Czech figures on others. The company planted citrus, but frost killed the groves in successive winters; residents shifted toward truck farming and chicken raising. Masaryktown sits near the Hernando-Pasco border, with Spring Hill, Garden Grove, and Shady Hills on its surrounding map. It remains a Florida community with a very specific Slovak and Czech beginning.