Guide to Historic

Guide to Historic Sites in Florida Great American Places® FLORIDA’S Surprising Past ALABAMA 0 10 American Heritage editors pick favorite historic sites in the Sunshine State by Jeffrey Martin MILES 80 GEORGIA 95 NORTHWEST Pensacola Pensacola Bay 231 Tallahassee Panama City Jacksonville 10 295 NORTH CENTRAL 75 G St. Augustine Suwa nnee NORTHEAST Gainesville Lake George St. Johns River FL 2 reat swathes of white sandy beaches and citrus groves, along with the glitter of Disney and Miami, have often diverted the spotlight from Florida’s rich heritage: a history older than any other state’s, chock-full of historic homes, battlefields, lighthouses, ancient Indian mounds, and forts so long standing that they have flown the flags of five different nations. Whether it’s enjoying a living history Indian village at the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum in the Big Cypress Indian Reservation, wandering the streets of St. Augustine, America’s oldest continuously occupied city, admiring the writing studio where Ernest Hemingway wrote A Farewell to Arms, or climbing into a replica of an Apollo capsule at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida offers a breadth of history unrivalled anywhere else in North America. Visitors can tour the homes of Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, President Harry Truman, writer William Dean Howells, and the gardens where John James Audubon drew inspiration for his “Birds of America” folio. In creating this guide, the editors at American Heritage carefully sifted through hundreds of historic sites, finally narrowing it to our favorites. You’ll find a rich mix of the famous and Historic Homes obscure, the urban and rural, Forts each site offering a portal into our Battlefields nation’s extraordinary past. Museums We’ve—reluctantly—left out Lighthouses many worthy sites, but feel that Historic Districts the 61 we’ve identified represent the best cross-section of what Historic Buildings Archaeological Sites Florida has to offer. To help identify sites of partic, Living History ular interest to you, we’ve marked each with an icon indicating the type of site. (See the key on this page for details.) We recommend calling or checking a site’s website before visiting. Safe travels—and remember to shoot us an email at editor@americanheritage.com and tell us what you liked best about your trip. AMERICAN HERITAGE Daytona Beach ATLANTIC OCEAN Orlando CENTRAL WEST Tampa 275 4 Cape Canaveral CENTRAL 95 St. Petersburg Tampa Bay Bradenton CENTRAL EAST Port St. Lucie Sarasota 75 Lake Okeechobee Fort Myers SOUTHWEST SOUTHEAST 595 West Palm Beach Fort Lauderdale 95 Gu lf o f Me xico 75 Miami EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK 1 Dry Tortugas Key West d r i l o F a K e y s NORTHWEST BRISTOL The park is home of the Gregory House, a fully furnished antebellum plantation. Andrew Jackson’s armies crossed a river running through the park during the First Seminole War in 1818. The remains of a Confederate gun pit are visible. (850) 643-2674 or www.floridastateparks.org/torreya/ 1. Torreya State Park EGLIN VILLAGE The museum features an extensive collection of planes and aerial weapons, including a WWII-era B-17 bomber. It also houses a GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb, first tested in 2003, which is often referred to as the “Mother of All Bombs” for its unrivaled explosive power. (850) 651-1808 or www.afarmamentmuseum.com/ 2. Air Force Armament Museum PENSACOLA The site offers a glimpse into America’s Industrial Revolution, particularly how the nation satisfied its large-scale energy needs before the internal combustion engine. Once the location of a sizeable textile operation, the grounds now include a museum and an elevated boardwalk so that visitors can view the archaeological remains of cotton and lumber mills. The site is in Milton, to the north of Pensacola. (850) 626-3084 or www.historicpensacola.org/arcadia.cfm 3. Arcadia Mill Archaeological Site Historic Pensacola Village includes 22 historic homes and museums. This year Pensacola celebrates the 450th anniversary of the Luna Expedition–Europe’s first attempt to colonize North America. Remains of three Spanish ships of the time were recently found nearby. 4. Archaeology Institute at the University of West Florida Besides functioning as an archaeological research facility, the institute features a large exhibit with displays ranging from Florida pre-history to the Victorian era, including a cannon from the 1698 Spanish To plan your Sunshine State vacation, go to VISITFLORIDA.com or call 1-800-334-7084 FL 3 and the Forts/Civil War Gallery. An interactive touch-screen kiosk displays 18th-century maps and focuses on the 1781 Spanish siege of Pensacola, as well as the history of nearby Fort George. (850) 433-1559 or www.pensacolahistory.org/Museum.html The plaza, named for a colonial-era king of Spain and located near the Port of Pensacola, served as the site where west Florida was transferred to the United States in 1821. Today a monument of Andrew Jackson, who accepted the territory from the Spanish, stands on the plaza grounds. (850) 433-1559 or ci.pensacola.fl.us/live/art.asp?pageid=6567 9. Plaza Ferdinand VII settlement at Presidio Santa Maria de Galve. (850) 474-3015 or www.uwf.edu/archaeology/about/ Over 150 beautifully restored aircraft are on display at the 300,000 square-foot National Naval Aviation Museum, along with exhibits on carrier aviation and interactive science displays for children. and Spanish had built fortifications atop the bluff on which Fort Barrancas now sits. The post-war Fort Pickens held Geronimo, the Chiricahua Apache warrior who surrendered to the federal authorities in 1886. (850) 455-5167, (850) 934-2600, www.nps.gov/guis/planyourvisit/ fort-barrancas.htm, or www.nps.gov/guis/ planyourvisit/fort-pickens.htm SANTA ROSA BEACH 10. Wesley Mansion and Eden Gardens State Park The 19th-century mansion contains an extensive assortment of original Louis XVI antiques, while the grounds feature the ornamental gardens once popular amongst wealthy Victorian-era elites. (850) 231-4214 or www.floridastateparks.org/EdenGardens/ 5. Fort Barrancas & Fort Pickens During the Civil War, the Confederacy held Fort Barrancas while the Union held Fort Pickens. Well before that, the British 6. Historic Pensacola Village The village includes the T.T. Wentworth, Jr. Florida State Museum, which covers nearly 450 years of history, while the Discovery Gallery inside the museum engages young visitors. The eight-and-a-half-acre village complex also contains the 1832 Old Christ Church, the 1871 Dorr House, and other museums, including the Pensacola Museum of Industry and the Pensacola Museum of Commerce. (850) 595-5985 or www.historicpensacola.org/ , NORTH CENTRAL GAINESVILLE 11. Dudley Farm Historic State Park The living history farm, located west of Gainesville in Newberry, is a plantation complex that consists of 18 buildings, including the house in which the Dudley family resided, complete with the original furniture. Living history actors re-enact the duties of the farmers who worked the fields between the 1850s and the 1940s, from cultivating crops to caring for livestock. (352) 472-1142 or www.floridastateparks.org/DudleyFarm/ , In this fast-paced world, step back to Gainesville, Florida—the perfect primer for returning to an old-fashioned (and relaxing) school of thought. where nature and culture meet 7. National Naval Aviation Museum The museum’s 300,000-square-foot building houses 150 Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard aircraft, including a number of A-4F Skyhawk jets that served in Vietnam. The most visited museum in Florida also contains a flight simulator and an IMAX theatre. (850) 453-2389 or www.navalaviationmuseum.org/ 12. Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings House and Farm Yard The museum contains the Army/Navy Gallery, the Maritime Gallery, the Multicultural Gallery, the Native American Gallery, 4 AMERICAN HERITAGE 8. Pensacola Historical Museum www.visitgainesville.com (866) 778-5002 The former home of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings offers an example of the Cracker architectural style, mostly associated with pioneer houses though still used today as a stylistic device. Tour guides dressed in rural, period attire evoke the era in which Rawlings lived and wrote such classics as Reader Service Listing For more information on places, products, and services you see advertised in American Heritage, please complete the post-paid card and mail it today! 1. Collier County Museum: Southwest Florida history is on display at the Museum’s four locations—the main museum in Naples, Museum of the Everglades in Everglades City, Immokalee Pioneer Museum at Roberts Ranch, and the historic Naples Depot. 1-239-252-8476, www.CollierMuseum.com 5. Seminole County Convention & Visitors Bureau: Florida’s Natural Choice. Discover central Florida’s art and culture and get your third night free. 1-800-800-7832, www.AFreeNight.com 6. Florida’s Space Coast: Explore Florida’s Space Coast, where outdoor adventure, natural beauty, eclectic shopping and space-age attractions await on 72 miles of beaches. 1-800-936-2326, www.space-coast.com 7. VisitGainesville: Palm Beach County, Florida: 47 miles of beaches, history, culture, sports and Everglades natural settings. Truly The Best of Everything. 1-800-554-PALM (7256), www.palmbeachfl.com 2. Palm Beach County Convention & Visitors Bureau: VisitGainesville is the official sales and marketing agency representing pristine North Central Florida, where nature and culture meet. 1-866-778-5002, www.VisitGainesville.com 8. VISIT FLORIDA: 3. Pensacola Bay Area Convention & Visitors Bureau: Pensacola is Florida as it used to be with miles of uncluttered white-sand beaches and genuine Southern hospitality. 1-800-874-1234, www.CelebratePensacola.com Sun, sand, ancient history, modern marvels and nonstop thrills await you in Florida. Plan your Sunshine State vacation today. 1-800-334-7084, VISITFLORIDA.com 9. Hannibal Square Heritage Center: 4. Saint Augustine, Ponte Vedra & The Beaches: Where old world charms of architecture and history of the nation’s oldest city meet the new world amenities of fine dining, spas, golf and a variety of art galleries along 42 miles of pristine beaches. 1-800-653-2489, www.GetAway4Florida.com Hannibal Square Heritage Center features awardwinning exhibition of photographs, oral histories, and traveling exhibitions that pay tribute to Winter Park’s historic African American community. www.hannibalsquareheritagecenter.org If the card is missing, send your request to American Heritage Magazine, 416 Hungerford Drive, Suite 216, Rockville, MD 20850-4127. To plan your Sunshine State vacation, go to VISITFLORIDA.com or call 1-800-334-7084 bers of the Weedon Island Culture, is the tallest surviving Indian ceremonial mound in Florida. Interpretive signs and guided tours lead visitors through the mound’s history. The park is in Monticello, to the east of Tallahassee. (850) 922-6007 or www.floridastateparks.org/letchworthmounds/ San Luis is Florida’s only reconstructed colonial Spanish mission. Living history presentations and hands-on exhibits illustrate the strong influence of Spain on the state’s colonial history. A council house and periodic reenactments of native ball games bring Apalachee Indian culture alive. (850) 487-3711 or www.missionsanluis.org/ 15. Mission San Luis , 16. Museum of Florida History The museum analyzes and interprets the state’s history through portraits of Seminole Indians, World War II uniforms and weapons, and exhibits about the first Native American inhabitants of the Tallahassee region, Spanish shipwrecks, and the use of the steamboat as a 19th-century means of transportation. (850) 245-6400 or www.flheritage.com/museum/ 17. Natural Bridge Battlefield Historic State Park Because of the Confederate soldiers’ courageous stand at Natural Bridge Battlefield in 1865, Tallahassee remained the only Southern capital east of the Mississippi that was never captured. Reenactors refight the battle on the first weekend in March. (850) 922-6007 or www.floridastateparks.org/naturalbridge/ In 1540, the Spanish built Mission San Luis in what is now downtown Tallahassee, one of 100 missions in Florida during the Colonial era. Parts of the mission have been reconstructed, as well as the nearby six-story-high Council House (above), where the chief of the powerful Appalachee tribe once held court. The Yearling. The house is in Hawthorne, to the southeast of Gainesville. (352) 466-3672 or www.floridastateparks.org/ marjoriekinnanrawlings/ NORTHEAST JACKSONVILLE 18. Beaches Museum and History Center The center contains a number of railroad buildings built when 19th-century oil tycoon and transportation pioneer Henry Flager ran the Florida East Coast railroad company, a steam locomotive dating from 1911, and the 1903 Pablo Beach post office. The museum contains traveling exhibits, an archives reading room, and the “Shore Stories” permanent exhibit, which explores the history of the TALLAHASSEE 13. Goodwood Museum & Gardens The museum, once one of the area’s finest antebellum plantation houses and then a FL 6 AMERICAN HERITAGE stately late 19th-century residence, features some of the state’s earliest frescoed ceilings. The garden has been restored to the way it looked in the early 1900s. (850) 8774202 or www.goodwoodmuseum.org/ 14. Letchworth-Love Mounds State Park The 46-foot-tall Letchworth-Love Mound, built between 100 and 900 A.D. by mem- The strong walls of 17th-century Castillo de San Marcos helped protect St. Augustine, one of Spain’s key footholds in North America and now America’s oldest continuously inhabited city. six beach communities in the area. The museum is in Jacksonville Beach, to the east of Jacksonville. (904) 241-5657 or www.bm-hc.com The French established their first permanent North American colony here in 1564 19. Fort Caroline National Memorial at St. Johns Bluff. A visitor center provides background about the Timucuan Indians who inhabited the area for 1,000 years before the arrival of the French, the religious persecution that led the French to consider establishing Fort Caroline as a retreat for Huguenots, and the Spanish onslaught that destroyed the settlement only a year after its founding. (904) 641-7155 or www.nps.gov/timu/historyculture/foca.htm today it remains the only intact 17th-century fort left standing in the United States. Reenactors in dress dating from the colonial period and a museum help visitors learn about the Indians, African Americans, English, Spanish, and Americans who have interacted here over five centuries. (904) 829-6506 or www.nps.gov/casa 22. Colonial Spanish Quarter OLUSTEE 20. Olustee Battlefield Historic State Park On February 20, 1864, the rolling fields of Olustee Battlefield Historic State Park served as the site of Florida’s largest Civil War battle. Interpretive signs recount the battle, which resulted in a Confederate victory, and a monument pays tribute to the 2,807 casualties. (386) 758-0400 or www.floridastateparks.org/Olustee/ Now a living history museum, the quarter offers a glimpse of St. Augustine when it was a remote Spanish outpost in the early 18th century. Costumed interpreters perform blacksmithing, carpentry, and other trades common in 1740. Also open is the Taberna del Gallo, a reconstructed tavern dating from the 1740s. (904) 825-6830 or www.historicstaugustine.com , 23. Dow Museum of , Historic Homes ST. AUGUSTINE 21. Castillo de San Marcos National Monument An 18th-century Spanish cannon, St. Augustine FL 8 AMERICAN HERITAGE Since 1672, the Castillo de San Marcos has guarded the northern gateway to St. Augustine along the Matanzas River; , The nine houses in the museum, which date from 1790 to 1910 and include the William Dean Howells House, where the famous author and pioneer of literary realism lived in 1916, are accompanied by five exhibit galleries that delve into the local history of America’s oldest continuously occupied city. (904) 823-9722 or www.old-staug-village.com The Spanish erected the fort on a small marsh island in the early 1740s to protect Matanzas Inlet, which offered a rear entrance to English and French warships wishing to attack St. Augustine. It is accessible today by guided boat tours. (904) 471-0116 or www.nps.gov/foma 24. Fort Matanzas National Monument 25. Government House Museum First built in 1598 by the Spanish, the House served as the residence of several Spanish governors, then as a courthouse and post office under the U.S. government through the 19th century. Today it hosts a Florida history museum containing coins from shipwrecks, archaeological materials, and other exhibits depicting life in St. Augustine from the first settlement in 1565 through the colonial period and to the beginning of the 20th century. (904) 825-5033 or www.staugustine.com/visit/ history/govt_hse.shtml 26. Mission of Nombre de Dios and Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche During World War II, the Coast Guard used the St. Augustine Lighthouse as a lookout post for enemy ships and submarines. After landing here in 1565, Spanish explorer Pedro Menendez de Aviles kissed a wooden cross and named the location, “Nombre de Dios,” or “Name of God.” The Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche, a 208-foot-tall cross, and an outdoor altar stand on the site of America’s first mission. (904) 824-2809 or www.missionandshrine.org/ The “hands-on” museum gives visitors the opportunity to explore the history and ways of life of Florida residents from early Indians to the early European settlers through games, food, weapons, and tools. (904) 824-8874 or www.oldfloridamuseum.com 29. St. Augustine Lighthouse and Museum The 165-foot-tall lighthouse boasts beautiful views of the St. Augustine area, while the museum presents artifacts and exhibits on northeast Florida’s maritime history, including displays on the Coast Guard and shipwrecks. (904) 829-0745 or www.staugustinelighthouse.com/ CENTRAL WEST CRYSTAL RIVER 31. Crystal River Archaeological State Park Anthropologists theorize that the park served 7,500 Native American visitors annually for 1,600 years before the first Europeans arrived. The complex contains burial mounds, temple mounds, and a plaza area. Stairs lead to the top of the largest mound for scenic views of the surrounding area. (352) 795-3817 or www.floridastateparks.org/CrystalRiver/ 27. Old Florida Museum 30. St. Photios Greek Orthodox National Shrine The Shrine’s museum tells the story of the first Greek migration to America in 1768 and the life of these pioneers in the New World through artifacts, photographs, and other documents. (904) 829-8205 or www.stphotios.com/ 28. Oldest House Museum Complex TAMPA 32. Florida Holocaust Museum The museum honors the millions of people who died in the Holocaust with a series of temporary exhibits and permanent displays, including a box car used by the Nazis to transport Jews to Polish concentration camps. The museum is in St. Petersburg, to the southwest of Tampa. (727) 820-0100 or www.flhm2.org/ FL 9 Seven buildings and a historic garden crowd the complex, which includes the Manucy Museum and the Museum of Florida's Military, devoted to local history. The Gonzalez-Alvarez House, built in the early 1700s, is the oldest standing Spanish colonial residence in the state. (904) 8242872 or www.oldesthouse.org To plan your Sunshine State vacation, go to VISITFLORIDA.com or call 1-800-334-7084 will feature displays covering the past 12,500 years of regional history, from the Native Americans who flourished here for thousands of years through the explorations of Europeans and beyond. An exhibit on the early cigar industry in the Tampa Bay region will showcase original advertising posters and cigar boxes. (813) 228-0097 or www.tampabayhistorycenter.org/ CENTRAL BUSHNELL In 1835, Seminole warriors killed 105 U.S. soldiers on the park’s grounds, including Major Francis Dade, for whom Florida’s most populous county, Miami-Dade County, is named. The visitor center contains displays about the battle, which kicked off the bloody Second Seminole War. Battle reenactments occur every January. (352) 793-4781 or www.floridastateparks.org/ dadebattlefield/default.cfm 35. Dade Battlefield Historic State Park Only two of more than 100 U.S. soldiers survived an attack by Seminole Indians in 1835 on the site of the Dade Battlefield Historic State Park in Bushnell. The village, located to the west of Tampa in Largo, offers hands-on demonstrations of activities such as blacksmithing and basket-weaving that bring 19th-century 33. Heritage Village , Pinellas County alive. (727) 582-2123 or www.pinellascounty.org/heritage/ 34. Tampa Bay History Center Opening in December 2008, the center LAKE WALES 36. Bok Tower & Gardens The late 19th-century publisher Edward Bok, whose women’s magazines helped bridge the gender gap, commissioned architect Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. to design these gardens. Philadelphia architect Milton B. Medary designed and built the Gothic-inspired tower and bells. (863) 676-1408 or boksanctuary.org/ ORLANDO 37. Hannibal Square Heritage Center The center, located to the north of Orlando in Winter Park, contains thousands of photographs and oral history accounts of the African-American community of West Winter Park. Also on To plan your Sunshine State vacation, go to VISITFLORIDA.com or call 1-800-334-7084 FL 10 AMERICAN HERITAGE site are two art galleries, a digital photography studio, and the Family History Research Library. (407) 539-2680 or www.hannibalsquareheritagecenter.org/ The center’s many exhibits look at Florida’s past, from Indian prehistory, through pioneer times and the turbulent Seminole Wars that rocked the state in the first half of the 19th century, to 20thcentury history. Close by is the Orlando Fire Museum, featuring a number of antique fire engines. (407) 836-8500 or www.thehistorycenter.org/ 38. Orange County Regional History Center SANFORD The museum’s 22 galleries draw from a large collection of artifacts, including photographs, documents, 19th- and 20thcentury furniture, and the archaeological remains of Indian civilizations, to help illustrate the history of Seminole County, the longtime gateway to Florida. (407) 6652489 or www.seminolecountyfl.gov/museum/ 39. Museum of Seminole County History Kennedy Space Center’s Rocket Garden at Cape Canaveral features ten-story-tall rockets from all eras of space exploration. The museum covers the history of Sanford, a small town just outside of Orlando. It features exhibits that include a 40. Sanford Museum look at General Henry Shelton Sanford's late 19th-century experiments with fruits and flowers, as well as the important influence of Swedish immigrants on the Discover Central Florida’s art & culture and get your third night free. Seminole county offers a distinct way to discover some of Florida’s most fascinating history and spellbinding arts and culture. Bask in rich, restored historic districts. Choose from dozens of galleries, art centers and museums. And thrill to live theater in magnificent historic venues. Book prior to December 14, 2008 and get your third night free. Call 1-800-800-7832 or visit us online at www.AFreeNight.com Offer valid from April 12 to December 14, 2008, subject to availability. Valid for Saturday or Sunday nights only. Advance reservations required. Blackout dates and additional restrictions may apply. FL 11 Florida’s Space Coast congratulates NASA on 50 years of exploring our universe. In celebration, we invite you to explore the Your Mission: take the scenic route. area that NASA calls home. Shop on historic downtown streets. Take art classes with the Brevard Watercolor Society. Visit the Brevard Museum of History and Science. Or, simply relax along 72 miles of Atlantic beaches. For special offers, visit space-coast.com or call 800-93-OCEAN (800-936-2326). C O C O A B E A C H M E L B O U R N E P A L M B A Y T I T U S V I L L E community. (407) 302-1000 or www.visitseminole.com/tourism-cvb/ things/history.asp The museum contains an interpretive center and teaching museum. The Romanesque-Revival-style architecture of the former school dates to the turn of the century. (407) 320-0520 or www.scps.k12.fl.us/ curriculum/StudentMuseum/smuseum.cfm 41. Student Museum The center offers a glimpse into the history of America’s space program. Visitors can see—and sit in—replicas of Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo capsules in the Rocket Garden. A Saturn V rocket, the kind used to send 12 Apollo missions into space between 1967 and 1973, is also on display. There are guided tours out to the Mercury and Gemini launch sites from which America experienced some of its first successes in space. (321) 449-4444 or www.kennedyspacecenter.com/visitKSC/ NASAtours/index.asp 43. Kennedy Space Center century, spent much of it here in her east Florida home, which today serves as a museum of her life and times. (772) 569-6718 or www.lauraridingjackson.com/ programs.html#renovations SOUTHWEST BIG CYPRESS INDIAN RESERVATION 46. Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum , The museum, dedicated to preserving the traditions of the Seminole Indians of southwest Florida, contains exhibits in its main building as well as a living history Indian village at the end of a scenic nature trail on the reservation. (877) 902-1113 or www.ahtahthiki.com/# CENTRAL EAST CAPE CANAVERAL Located in Cocoa near the Kennedy Space Center, the museum features exhibits and dioramas addressing subjects ranging from pre-history, including the nearby excavation of 6,000-year-old skeletons, to NASA’s exploration of space. (321) 632-1830 or www.nbbd.com/godo/BrevardMuseum/ DAYTONA BEACH 44. Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse Built in 1887, the 175-foot lighthouse is the tallest in the state and contains a museum that explores Florida history, lighthouse life, and shipwrecks. The lighthouse is in Ponce Inlet, to the south of Daytona Beach. (386) 761-1821 or www.ponceinlet.org/ 42. Brevard Museum of History and Natural Science VERO BEACH 45. Laura (Riding) Jackson Home Poet and writer Laura (Riding) Jackson, whose life spanned nearly the entire 20th BRADENTON 47. De Soto National Memorial The monument marks the probable spot where Spanish explorer Hernando de , 12 AMERICAN HERITAGE Experience the American Heritage Tradition of Excellence! 50 Years of Brilliant Writing! Respected authors such as: Stephen E. Ambrose Jean H. Baker Richard Brookhiser James MacGregor Burns Ken Burns Bruce Catton Henry Steele Commager Malcolm Cowley Joseph J. Ellis Harold Evans Thomas Fleming James Thomas Flexner John A. 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(941) 792-0458 or www.nps.gov/deso/ FORT MYERS Standing along with nine National Register Historic buildings on the grounds of the former winter estates of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford is a 15,000square-foot museum with changing special exhibits, such as a display on Edison’s invention of the phonograph in 1878. (239) 334-7419 or www.efwefla.org/ 50. The Edison and Ford Winter Estates SOUTHEAST KEY WEST During his 1832 visit to the Florida Keys and Dry Tortugas, famed ornithologist John James Audubon lived in the house, walked its gardens, and produced 18 new drawings for his “Birds of America” folio. Visitors can wander the same pathways he did, as well as view the collection of 19thcentury European antiques and 28 firstedition Audubon works. (305) 294-2116 or www.audubonhouse.com/ The largest remaining Indian mound in the Tampa Bay region, Manatee County Emerson Point Mound, offers a rare look back into the ceremonial practices of the Native Americans before the arrival of Europeans. A boardwalk takes visitors to the top of the mound for a panoramic view of the surrounding area. (941) 721-6885 48. Manatee County Emerson Point Mound 52. Audubon House & Tropical Gardens NAPLES 49. South Florida Museum The Museum’s dioramas include threedimensional reproductions of Ice Age mammals, artifacts from the first Spanish explorers who brought the state’s native peoples in contact with Europeans, and a replica of a 16th-century Spanish chapel. (941) 746-4131 or www.southfloridamuseum.org/ The museum’s extensive collection includes a 1910 Baldwin steam locomotive used in the cypress industry, Jazz Age swamp buggies unique to southwest Florida, and a WWII-era Sherman tank. Three historic structures are located on the grounds, including the field laboratory of pioneer environmentalist Frank C. Craighead, deemed the “scholar of the Everglades” by Governor Reubin Askew in 1976. (239) 252-8476 or www.colliermuseum.com/ 51. Collier County Museum 53. Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum Ernest Hemingway finished the final draft of A Farewell to Arms and composed “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” and “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” during his eight-year stay in this Key West house. Visitors can tour his writing studio and the grounds. (305) 294-1136 or www.hemingwayhome.com 54. Fort Jefferson From Calusa Indians and conquistadores, to millionaires and movie stars, Southwest Florida’s history is a tapestry of intriguing people and events. And there’s no better way to tap into it all than with a visit to the Collier County Museums. Four unique museums provide a fascinating glimpse into the area’s colorful past. The remote, Civil War-era island fort held prisoner Samuel A. Mudd, the doctor who provided medical treatment for Abraham Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth. Visitors can tour the fort, scuba dive, snorkel, and learn about the many shipwrecks in the surrounding area, including the 1622 wreck of vessels in a Spanish treasure fleet. The fort is on the Dry Tortugas, to the west of Key West. (888) 382-7864 or www.fortjefferson.com/home.htm 55. Harry S. Truman Little White House Museum Between 1946 and 1952, President Truman spent his winters at the Little White House, which has now become a museum with exhibits ranging from a look To plan your Sunshine State vacation, go to VISITFLORIDA.com or call 1-800-334-7084 14 AMERICAN HERITAGE Kravis Center, West Palm Beach Richard and Pat Johnson Palm Beach County History Museum, West Palm Beach ou Are Cordially Invited to discover history, culture and nature in stunning Y Palm Beach County, Florida Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Center, Boynton Beach The rich and famous discovered us years ago. Now it’s your turn. We’re surprisingly affordable. All of this plus 47 miles of beaches. Jupiter Lighthouse Consider this your engraved invitation. R S V P palmbeachfl.com palmbeachculture.com 1.800.554.PALM (7256) Lake Okeechobee Morikami Museum, Delray Beach Flagler Museum, Palm Beach Boca Raton Museum of Art, Juried Art Festival, Mizner Park 1925. Visitors can tour 34 decorated rooms with 15th- through 19th-century antiques and walk in the 10 acres of formal gardens. Recently, Vizcaya hosted Pope John Paul II, Queen Elizabeth II of England, and the Summit of the Americas. (305) 250-9133 or www.vizcayamuseum.org/ PALM BEACH 60. Henry M. Flagler Museum The Whitehall Mansion, originally built in 1902 by Henry Flagler as a winter home, today serves as a museum that chronicles the life of the co-founder of Standard Oil. The 22 rooms that are open to the public are ornately decorated in the same Gilded Age style as when Flagler lived there. Docents lead daily tours through the first floor of the mansion, including the Grand Hall, which features a double staircase and paintings on the ceilings. The museum's collection includes the railway car in which the Flaglers traveled to the site every winter. (561) 655-2833 or www.flaglermuseum.us/ at the 1948 election to the state of the world at the close of the 1940s. (305) 2949911 or www.trumanlittlewhitehouse.com/ Bahia Honda Bridge replaced part of Henry Flagler's historic 128-mile railway to Key West. Completed in 1912, the “Eighth Wonder of the World” opened the Keys to development. species into the United States in his lifetime. His former home, The Kampong, is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and still contains many of Fairchild’s favorite tropical plants and fruits including massive Banyan, Boabob, and African Sausage trees, rambutan, cherimoya, guava, and betel nut. His former home laboratory is located here, as is a fresh water distilling apparatus designed by his father-in-law, inventor Alexander Graham Bell. (305) 442-7169 or MIAMI The lighthouse overlooking Biscayne Bay was first built to a height of 65 feet in 1825. It was burned down during the 1836 Seminole War and rebuilt in 1856 to its present height of 95 feet. The lighthouse is in Key Biscayne, to the east of Miami. (305) 361-6016 or www.key-biscayne.com/about/light.html 56. Cape Florida Lighthouse 61. Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse and Museum www.ntbg.org/gardens/kampong.php The museum houses an extensive collection of train cars, including the “Ferdinand Magellan,” a Pullman railcar commissioned for use by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. (305) 253-0063 or www.goldcoast-railroad.org/ 57. Gold Coast Railroad Museum Agricultural industrialist James Deering built this Italianate mansion in 1916, living here during the winters until his death in 59. Vizcaya Museum & Gardens The 105-foot-tall lighthouse, which dates from 1860, now serves as a museum offering exhibits that deal with Florida pioneers, maritime history, and Native American culture. The lighthouse is in Jupiter, to the north of Palm Beach. (561) 747-8380 or www.jupiterlighthouse.org/ 58. The Kampong Famed horticulturalist and explorer David Fairchild introduced over 30,000 plant Special section produced by American Heritage. For subscriptions write to American Heritage Subscription Dept., P.O. Box 5022, Harlan, IA 51593-0522, or call (800) 777-1222. Email us your comments at editor@americanheritage.com. AMERICAN HERITAGE To plan your Sunshine State vacation, go to VISITFLORIDA.com or call 1-800-334-7084