OVIEDO, Fla. – Road crews in Seminole County made a discovery after they unearthed a historic brick road and drainage structure while working to repair a hole that had opened up.
State Road 434 between Artesia Street and Hammock Lane in Oviedo remains closed while crews continue to make emergency repairs after a hole opened up on Sunday.
But once crews started digging, they uncovered some hidden history.
"And then suddenly they discovered this and turned it up and we all said, 'Woah,'" Vice President at the Oviedo Historical Society Desta Horner said.
Underneath the road, crews found a buried brick road and double-layered drainage structure, that predated any local records or any maps from the Florida Department of Transportation. FDOT officials say they didn't manage the roadway until the 1950s.
What a find - after a hole opened up on SR 434 in Oveido, crews found a hidden brick road and drainage structure buried underneath. pic.twitter.com/RBVZWLenx1
— Clay LePard (@ClayLePard) June 7, 2018
Pictures from the Oviedo Historical Society show the road in the late 1800's as a dirt road between Sanford and Oviedo used by farmers. Horner said they think the brick was used sometime in the early 1920s.
"Now, whether the layer of brick went through all the way to Sanford, there's some proof that it did," she said. "There's some proof of other brick like this, by Layer Elementary and farther down SR 419."
Crews still hope to reopen the roadway by Saturday morning, while the Oviedo Historical Society continues to collect bricks and other artifacts from the drainage structure. The items will be on display in the near future at the Thomas Willingham Lawton House on West Broadway Street in Oviedo.