Lake County

Lake County may refer to:

It is the name of twelve counties in the United States of America:

See also

Lake County, California

Lake County is a county located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 64,665. The county seat is Lakeport. The county takes its name from Clear Lake, the dominant geographic feature in the county and the largest natural lake wholly within California (Lake Tahoe is partially in Nevada; Salton Sea was accidentally flooded).

Lake County forms the Clearlake, CA Micropolitan Statistical Area. It is directly north of the San Francisco Bay Area.

History

Lake County was formed in 1861 from parts of Napa and Mendocino counties, but the area had European-American settlers from at least the 1840s. Lake County has long been known as a farming community.

The 1911 California Blue Book lists the major crops as Bartlett pears and beans. Other crops include grain, alfalfa, hay, prunes, peaches, apples, grapes and walnuts. Stockraising included goats, hogs, turkeys and dairying.

Some vineyards were planted in the 1870s by European Americans but the first in the state were established in the 18th century by Spanish missionaries. By the early 20th century, the area was earning a reputation for producing some of the world's greatest wines. However, in 1920, national Prohibition essentially ended Lake County's wine production. With authorized cultivation limited to sacramental purposes, most of the vineyards were ripped out and replanted with walnut and pear farms.

Lake County, Florida

Coordinates: 28°46′N 81°43′W / 28.77°N 81.72°W / 28.77; -81.72

Lake County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2010 census, the population was 297,052. Its county seat is Tavares, and its largest city is Clermont.

Lake County is included in the Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History

Lake County was created in 1887 from portions of Sumter County and Orange County. It was named for the many lakes contained within its borders.

During the Great Depression, citrus became the leading industry in Lake County.

In 1949 the Groveland Four, Ernest Thomas, Charles Greenlee, Samuel Shepherd and Walter Irvin, were wrongly convicted of rape. The convictions were eventually overturned by the U. S. Supreme Court in a case argued by NAACP special counsel Thurgood Marshall. However, Ernest Thomas had already been killed by a posse. Samuel Shepard and Walter Irvin were shot by Lake County Sheriff Willis McCall while being transferred, in handcuffs, to the Lake County jail. The descendants of the Groveland Four petitioned Florida governor Rick Scott in 2012 for an apology from the State of Florida, citing new evidence from an FBI file on the case that no rape ever occurred. The 2012 book Devil in the Grove documents this episode.