Brooksville WAR rEENACTMENT

The artist, Antonio “Tony” Caparello, used sepia tones in the mural to give the illusion of an old photograph, adding some tones of blue and grey. If you look closely, you can see how skillfully the artist concealed the clear brick windows. Caparello used reenactors from the annual Brooksville Raid Civil War reenactment as models for the people in the mural. In the center of the mural, the blonde nurse and the soldier she is tending were modeled after Patricia’s Boutique owner and mural sponsor Patricia Lambright and her husband. 

The Brooksville Raid takes place on the third weekend each January at the Sand Hill Scout Reservation, west of Brooksville, 11210 Cortez Blvd., Brooksville, FL 34613. The reenactment, sponsored by the Historical Museum Association and the North Sertoma Boy Scouts since 1980, commemorates the Civil War battle that took place in Hernando County on June 3, 1864. At that time, Union ships landed at Bayport for a raid into the interior of Florida to break up Confederate supply and communication lines to the North. Most of the generals were in Tampa for a conference that day, which left the location vulnerable for an attack. Union ships brought 240 men, who marched inland, burning and destroying everything in a path of six miles wide and 20 miles long. The Union ships were sunk, and we sank one of our own so that the Union army could not benefit from our supplies.

The building itself houses Patricia's Boutique. Called Central Florida's and Hernando County's best kept secret, Patricia's Boutique has been in business and in the same location for more than 28 years and is stocked from floor to ceiling with unique and distinctively different attire and accessories from daywear to evening wear. Come inside and you may be able to meet Patricia herself, who is depicted as the nurse on the mural outside.