In 1882, two Irish explorers walked up a hill in southern Hernando County and from the hilltop they saw and large, clear uninhabited lake.  Since this lake had never been touched, they determined that they had discovered it and began plans to make this a thriving community.  Edmund F. Dunne and his cousin Capt. Hugh Dunne named the lake St. Jovita after an early Christian martyr.  The dream city that was to built around the lake was to be named San Antonio in honor of St. Anthony of Padua. By 1883 San Antonio became a well established community, with a church, a school and many general stores, however like most of Hernando County, the community remained quite isolated.  In 1887 when the railroad began passing through Dade City, things began to change quickly.  The southern end of Hernando County was changed to Pasco County and the Orange Belt Railroad began passing through San Antonio to get to St. Petersburg.  These two major transitions created a gateway for crops to be shipped quickly to the northern markets.  In 1926, during the Florida land boom, San Antonio was reorganized as the "City of Lake Jovita" and its boundries were extended.  The land boom ended as quickly as it started and when the Great Depression made it abundantly clear the land boom would not return, the City of Lake Jovita changed its name back to San Antonio and withdrew its city limits.

Today, San Antonio is a small, thriving community of less than 1,000 residents.  Every year, in the 3rd week of October, these thousand residents get together to celebrate the Annual Rattlesnake Festival!  This festival comes complete with a live rattlesnake show, gopher turtle races, western wear contest, foot races, vendors and everything else this small community has to offer.

Rich in history and still living that time in life that we've only dreamed about, San Antonio residents have what most of us envy!

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