Whiskey, Citrus, and Open Houses: Deeply Rooted at the Heritage Center

Will Tripson and Bobbie Secor, Vice President of Vero Heritage Inc. | Photo credit: Chris Cronin

Will Schlitt once set out to be a standup comic. It didn't stick. “I found out I wasn’t funny,” he said. “So I became an accountant, which is the next best thing.” The room, judging by the laughter, did not agree.

That was the tone of Deeply Rooted, the new annual spring event at the Heritage Center, where history felt loose and alive, but this time, squarely in the hands of the next generation. Five descendants of the county’s founding families took the stage with moderator Dan Richey, talking less about historic dates and more about what they’ve inherited.

Emily DuBose, a ninth-generation Floridian and sixth-generation member of DuBose & Sons Jewelers, chaired the event. The store, tracing its roots back to when the family sold pocket watches to railroad workers, exists to this day on Old Dixie, and if you haven't been, you should go. It is just as much a jewelry store as it is a living museum chronicling the best of Vero's history (read more). Bobbie Secor summed up Emily's role plainly: for six months, she told everyone what to do, and everyone said yes ma'am.

Deeply Rooted panelists: Will Tripson, Emily DuBose, T.P. Kennedy, Will Schlitt, Natalie Greenlaw, Dan Richey

Will Tripson, great‑grandson of Waldo Sexton, mentioned almost in passing that the Ocean Grill property was once acquired for a 30‑gallon barrel of whiskey during Prohibition. Just another Sexton story, now his to keep going.

From there, the circle widened. T.P. Kennedy talked about his grandfather, who never stopped telling him to get into real estate. He finally made the decision at his grandfather’s funeral and had his license in hand two weeks later, stepping into the business just as the previous chapter closed.

Baerbel O'Haire, T.P. Kennedy, Jonathan Buckley | Photo credit: Chris Cronin

Natalie Greenlaw, a double descendant of pioneer families, now grows specialty flowers on land her family farmed in the 1800s, her great‑great‑grandfather riding horseback to Fort Drum to collect the mail. Schlitt’s own line runs back to a great‑great‑grandfather digging ditches for citrus families in exchange for land, the first foothold in the county.

Executive Director Leslie McKenzie was clear about what she wants Deeply Rooted to be. It will be a standing spring event, open to the whole community and focused on historic protection and cultural heritage. Sixth‑generation pioneer families, local historians, and people who just moved here all count.

The point is that Vero’s pioneer history, citrus roots, and historic spaces belong to everyone, and the town’s identity comes straight out of that shared inheritance.

She drew a line from the stories on stage to the landscape outside the doors: groves that became neighborhoods, family land that now holds a business or still produces something, even if it's no longer citrus. Year after year, the community works to hold onto its small coastal feel in zoning meetings and code books. Deeply Rooted is the cultural side of that same work, a reminder of why people chose this place to begin with.

All photos courtesy of Chris Cronin Media