Episode 31: Professor Paul W. Wehr Day at the Pioneer Days Pine Castle Historical Society History Tent Event

(Originally published by Sebastian Garcia on March 3rd, 2023) The Department of History’s Sebastian Garcia talked with Mr. Richard Lee Cronin, author, historian, and event coordinator of the Pine Castle Historical Society HISTORY TENT, at the Annual Pine Castle Pioneer Days Event.

This episode is dedicated to and is in honor of Professor Paul W. Wehr.

A Professor of History at UCF since the Department’s inception in 1969, Professor Wehr retired in 1995 after 25 years of teaching his passion for history—inspiring countless students and faculty. Professor Wehr devoted much of his time to documenting the history of Orange County, specifically Pine Castle. This naturally led to a close relationship with the Pine Castle Historical Society, which dedicated Day 1 of the 2-day event at Pioneer Days to Professor Wehr for the first time this year. Sebastian decided to pay tribute to one of UCF’s original history professors by going to the Pine Castle Pioneer Days HISTORY TENT event dedicated to him and produced a podcast on location with Mr. Richard Lee Cronin, who knew Professor Wehr personally.

Below are links to an Orlando Memory interview featuring Professor Wehr himself that Sebastian mentioned in the introduction of this podcast, the page to know more about his books and association with Pine Castle, and a UCF CAH article written about Professor Wehr shortly after his passing in 2021.

• https://orlandomemory.info/topics/oral-history-interview-with-dr-paul-w-wehr/
• https://www.pinecastlehistory.org/publications-books-pamphlets/
• https://news.cah.ucf.edu/news/remembering-paul-w-wehr/