Walk into Walk in the Woods in downtown Mount Dora and you’ll find a local favorite among the shop’s Mount Dora merchandise: the “I Climbed Mount Dora” T-shirt.

It’s a playful nod to something that’s actually a defining part of the city.

Mount Dora is known for its lakefront, historic downtown and tree-lined streets, but one of the first things many visitors notice when they start exploring on foot is something a little less expected in Central Florida: the hills.

And they have a lot to do with how Mount Dora got its name.

So, Where Is the “Mount”?

Mount Dora is commonly listed at 184 feet above sea level, giving the city a noticeably different landscape from much of the surrounding area.

You can see it throughout downtown. Streets rise away from Lake Dora, buildings sit at different elevations, and a walk from the waterfront into the heart of town takes you steadily uphill.

It may be subtle compared with what you’d find in a true mountain town, but here in Central Florida, the difference is easy to notice.

Those hills were also significant enough to become part of the community’s identity more than 140 years ago.

Before Mount Dora, There Was Royellou

Mount Dora hasn’t always had its current name.

In 1880, the growing settlement was known as Royellou, a name created from the first names of postmaster Ross C. Tremain’s children: Roy, Ella and Louis.

Three years later, the community became Mount Dora.

The “Dora” came from nearby Lake Dora, which had been named decades earlier for Dora Ann Drawdy, an early settler who lived with her husband south of what would become the city.

The “Mount” reflected the area’s elevated, hilly landscape.

Suddenly, the name makes a little more sense.

Is There a Top of Mount Dora?

Mount Dora doesn’t have an officially designated downtown summit, but there is a fitting place to think of as the symbolic top of the hill.

Mount Dora City Hall sits at 5th Avenue and Baker Street, in a location the Chamber’s own historical account describes as being “at the top of the hill” overlooking downtown.

That doesn’t mean City Hall is officially the highest geographic point within Mount Dora. But for all intents and purposes, it serves as a natural landmark for understanding the rise from the Lake Dora waterfront into downtown.

Start near the lake, look toward the streets above you, and the geography behind the name becomes much easier to see.

A Local Joke With Some History Behind It

That brings us back to Walk in the Woods.

For nearly 20 years, the downtown shop has celebrated this little piece of Mount Dora personality with its “I Climbed Mount Dora” shirts.

What looks at first like a fun Florida souvenir actually has a story behind it.

The hills helped shape the city, influenced its name and remain part of the experience of exploring downtown today.

So next time you’re wandering the streets around Lake Dora and downtown, pay a little more attention to the landscape around you.

You may realize you’ve been exploring the “Mount” in Mount Dora all along.

And if you want the shirt to remember it by, you know where to find it.