Driving along Lithia Pinecrest Road in Valrico, just south of Bloomingdale Avenue, most people only see a modern church building with a sign reading “Creekside Church of Christ.” But long before the church stood there, this land was part of a working farm owned by the Manley family, whose roots run deep through the Valrico and Brandon communities.
The property, located at 3949 Lithia Pinecrest Rd., was once part of a sprawling family farm that belonged to John Leslie Manley, born in 1904, and his wife, Eva Barna Manley. The couple raised their family there, including their daughter, Evelyn Manley Smith, who still lives nearby at 96 years old. In 1999, the Manley family sold the land to what was then Bell Shoals Church of Christ. The church, landlocked at its previous location, needed space to grow. After the move, it was renamed Creekside Church of Christ.
Ken Smith, grandson of John and Eva, remembers the land well.
“My grandfather bought little pieces of land out here,” he said. “He would buy them from the neighbors. He eventually had where the church is, where the school is, where Lithia Ridge is and even the 80 acres where Bloomingdale High School sits.”
It is estimated that John and his family owned over 300 acres locally.
The land was once used for crops, then cattle.
“It was open range,” Ken said. “The cows didn’t go far. All they had to do was put a bell on the cow, and that was it. They’d all stay together.”
Ken’s mother moved to the area as a child.
“Mom moved out there around 1935/36 when she was about 7 or 8 years old,” he said. “The roads were all dirt back then. The bridge over the Alafia was still wood. I remember riding across it when I was little.”
The family farmed a variety of produce.
“My grandfather had sugar cane, peas, watermelons, he had everything,” Ken said. “We used to take stuff to the farmer’s market over on Hillsborough Avenue.”
Across the road from where the church now stands, the family once raised miniature horses on the 26 acres now known as Shetland Ridge.
“My grandfather gave it to my mom (Evelyn) and dad (Carl, retired Air Force), as long as they built a house on it. She had a miniature horse farm there for years,” Ken said. “You ask anybody who’s lived out here long enough; they remember the miniature horses on Lithia.”
He recalled his mother wasn’t thrilled when they named it ‘Shetland Ridge,’ explaining, “They weren’t ponies, they were miniature horses!”
Ken also noted, “The retention pond was not there when we were there, but what happened when they started to build the houses, they hit a spring, and they couldn’t shut it off, so they had to convert it into a retention pond.”
Ken also recalled a surprising childhood memory that took place on land somewhere south of Adelaide Road near the Alafia River: “One time, my grandfather told me and my brother we were going elephant hunting. My grandmother made a lunch for us. … We get on the tractor and head toward the river, and we saw real elephants! When the circus was off season, [the owners] would take the elephants and let them run loose there in the swamp area.”
The family also ran a popular hangout spot called the ‘Sip n Smack.’
“It was like Happy Days, you know?” Ken said. “It was near where the McDonald’s and Jesse’s are now on S.R. 60.”
By the 1990s, most of the land had been sold, but the piece where Creekside now sits remained in the family.
“Well, my uncle got the property, and he passed away. Somewhere along the line, there was no will, so the family had to do everything,” Ken said. “At the time, there were some developers that wanted that property. All that was left at that time, because Lithia Ridge had already sold, was the church. These developers wanted to take years to [develop] it. And the church was Bell Shoals Church of Christ. They were landlocked and couldn’t grow. They made an offer, which was a lot less than the developers. But we said, ‘You know, we don’t have to wait.’ And we wound up selling it to the church. I guess it was 1999 when that happened. Since they weren’t on Bell Shoals anymore, they renamed it Creekside.”
On June 1, Creekside Church of Christ honored that legacy by dedicating its playground in memory of John. The dedication followed morning services and a potluck luncheon. Church elder and Family Life Minister Dwight Eppler said the church had long hoped to honor the Manley family.
“The church has long intended to dedicate something in John Manley’s memory,” Eppler said, “and hopes the ceremony will serve as a meaningful gesture to the Manley family.”
The event included a short program in the church auditorium, followed by a gathering near the playground sign where family members took photos and shared stories. Though the church has not yet completed all of its building plans for the property, the dedication marked a heartfelt moment of remembrance.
Thanks to the Manley family, and their choice to sell to the church rather than developers, the history of this land continues to be part of Valrico’s story.
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