For Jamie Harrison, mapping is part of the job.
As engineering and mapping supervisor at Peace River Electric Cooperative, Jamie helps oversee work tied to the system that carries electricity across the rural communities PRECO serves. But these days, the Harrison family has another connection to the Florida landscape, one that will soon reach television screens.
Jamie’s 12-year-old son, Colby Harrison, of Hardee County, has been cast as young Zechariah MacIvey in the television adaptation of Patrick D. Smith’s bestselling historical novel “A Land Remembered.”
For generations of Florida readers, the book has offered an unforgettable look at the state before highways, subdivisions and theme parks transformed its landscape. Through the fictional MacIvey family, the story follows three generations carving out lives in the Florida wilderness, beginning in the years following the Civil War.
Now, a young man raised among the ranches, pastures and traditions of rural Florida is helping bring that story to life.
Colby was selected from more than 2,000 hopefuls who auditioned for the role. Producers were looking for more than acting ability. They wanted someone who could authentically portray a young Florida cattleman. Colby brought something to the role that couldn’t simply be learned for an audition.
Ranching and rodeo are already part of his world.
Colby has shown pigs and competes in rodeo, even advancing to national competition in Oklahoma. Those experiences helped prepare him for a role rooted in the rugged cattle culture of early Florida.
His connection to the state runs even deeper. Colby is a sixth- generation Floridian on both sides of his family and has grown up in Fort Green, surrounded by the rural way of life that remains an important part of Hardee County’s identity.
The Florida portrayed in “A Land Remembered” may look very different from the state people know today, but remnants of it can still be found throughout PRECO’s service territory, in cattle pastures stretching toward the horizon, agriculture lining country roads and families whose ties to the land span generations.
It is also the Florida where Jamie built his career.
While Colby is stepping back in time to portray a young Zechariah MacIvey, his dad plays an important role in the modern infrastructure that keeps today’s rural Florida moving forward.
Jamie’s work in PRECO’s Engineering and Mapping Department supports the electric system serving homes, ranches, farms and businesses across the cooperative’s service area.
Father and son may have different roles, but both have a unique connection to the same place.
For Jamie, it is helping serve the communities of rural Florida. For Colby, it is helping tell their stories.
The production is staying true to those roots. Rather than recreating Florida somewhere else, “A Land Remembered” is being filmed in the Sunshine State, allowing the landscape that inspired Patrick’s novel to become part of the story on screen.
For a Hardee County family, seeing Colby take on such a significant role is an extraordinary opportunity. For the PRECO family, it gives us another reason to celebrate one of our own.
Soon, audiences far beyond Hardee County will meet young Zechariah MacIvey and experience a story about perseverance, family, cattle, wilderness and a changing Florida.
And when they do, PRECO employees and members have a special reason to watch.
The young man helping bring one of Florida’s most treasured stories to life comes from right here at home.