LIVING HISTORY
“Bud” Adams Jr. has lived in the same cypress house he built
for his new bride, Dorothy “Dot” Snively, a former Cypress
Gardens belle from Winter Haven. The young couple married
14
the year after Bud began managing the family ranch.
Nearly 66 years later, much about their house ― so beautiful
in its simplicity ― still speaks of Florida in the olden days,
including the home’s absence of air conditioning in all but
the bedrooms. Bud’s love of his native state is tried and true,
right down to the genuine swelter that comes with a summer
day. Fern-clad oaks Bud planted over a half-century ago
tower above the house. The blanket of shade they offer cools
a back porch that looks out into a cavern of inviting greenery.
NATURAL INCLINATION
Bud was born on April 4, 1926 ― Easter Sunday ― in Fort
Pierce. He must have known early on that ranching was in
his blood. His maternal grandfather, Silas Lee Williams, was a
cattleman up in the panhandle, where Bud’s father and mother
were raised. Bud’s father, Alto Adams Sr., was a Fort Pierce
attorney who gained local fame taking on controversial cases.
For instance, he represented family members of the Ashley
Gang against lawmen who gunned their loved ones down.
Alto Sr. enjoyed a great deal of success in the legal business,
and it wasn’t long before he looked for sideline ventures.
In 1935, Bud’s father bought some horses and teamed up
with Thad Carlton, another local lawyer, to invest in a herd
of cattle. Thad was a member of the famous Carlton family,
whose ranching roots in Florida reach back to the Second
Seminole War in the early 1800s, if not beyond. At that time,
western St. Lucie County, like the rest of Florida, was all open
range. That meant you didn’t have to own the land to use it
for grazing cattle. Fencing wasn’t required by law until 1949,
so every cattleman and his cows were free to roam at will,
just like the Seminoles, who still had chickees in the area.
Bud was a boy when the back country he loves first got into
his soul. Although he lived in town growing up, the countryside
captured his imagination. By the time he was 11, his father
had purchased thousands of acres of open range for next
to nothing from a
man whose taxes
were in arrears.
Other boys only
played cowboy,
but Bud seized his
opportunity to live
the dream. Before
he was a teenager,
he was making
cattle drives to the
middle of the state.
He witnessed the
thrill of longhorn
steers charging
over the banks of
the Kissimmee
River, swimming
with their big horns
bobbing. Cowhands
working for Lykes
Brothers received
his father’s herd on
the other side. >>
FLORIDA PHOTOGRAPHIC COLLECTION
Bud Adams, top left, in 1948 with sister Elaine, mother Carra Adams, and
father Alto Adams Sr., a Florida Supreme Court justice.
ADAMS RANCH COLLECTION
In the 1930s, lawyers Thad Carlton and Alto Adams Sr. shared office space
and a cattle herd.
ADAMS RANCH COLLECTION
Bud’s interests in raising cattle evolved early.