Venice, FL

Downtown Venice (Venice Avenue West)

Venice is a city in Sarasota County, Florida, United States. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2007 estimates, the city had a population of 21,015. It is noted for its large snowbird population. Its newspaper is the Venice Gondolier Sun. Tampa Bay's Univision affiliate WVEA-TV is licensed to Venice, though it is based in Tampa, and broadcasts from Riverview.


Cadillac Motel

Venice is a principal city of the Bradenton-Sarasota-Venice, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Shark's Tooth Capital of the World


Divers hunting shark teeth at Venice


Fish, shells and shark teeth at Venice

Venice, Florida has been listed in many publications as being the "Shark's Tooth Capital of The World". It hosts an annual festival, the Shark's Tooth Festival, every year to celebrate the abundance of fossilized shark's teeth that can be found on its shores. In addition to finding shark's teeth on beach shores, many large sized teeth can be found freediving off of the coast or by excavating in the many shell deposits that are left over from the dredging of the Intracoastal Waterway. Beach renourishment efforts also brought new sand from a few thousand yards off the coast, yielding new, but fewer, fossilized shark's teeth. The teeth in the area can vary in size from an eighth of an inch to 3 inches and, on occasion, even bigger. A good place to look is on the very south end of the island part of Venice, known as Caspersen's Beach.


Business district : Venice, Florida, 1958

Robert Hanssen connection

After Robert Hanssen was arrested on February 18, 2001, on charges of spying for the KGB, the media came to Venice when it was discovered that his mother lived there.


Venice street scene,1950

Notable Residents

Scott Palguta - Professional soccer player

9/11 Affiliation

On September 12, 2001, national news and the FBI descended on Venice as it was discovered that three of the WTC 9/11 terrorists, Mohamed Atta, Marwan Al-Shehhi, and Ziad Jarrah, had all lived in Venice for the purpose of taking flight training lessons at the Venice Municipal Airport. The trio had all enrolled in Huffman Aviation.

Atta's time in Venice has been chronicled by Daniel Hopsicker in his book, Welcome to Terrorland.


Street view with the Westinghouse hardware and electric store at the left : Venice, Florida




San Marcos Hotel : Venice, Florida


Interior view of a fine store : Venice, Florida


"Venice delux coach" parked on roadside : Venice, Florida


View down east end of Venice Avenue : Venice, Florida


Construction workers planting palms on Venice Avenue : Venice, Florida


Fisherman's wharf : Venice, Florida


Smack McDonald's restaurant : Venice, Florida




Venezia Motor Inn : Venice, Florida






Palm lined business area : Venice, Florida


Aerial view of the Venice Centre Mall


Venice street scene


Florida Medical Center with Spanish courtyard in front : Venice, Florida

External links:

City of Venice official site

Venice Florida! dot com unofficial site

VeniceFla.US Venice events, on-line community

Venice Florida.org Information about Venice

Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice

The Venice Gondolier newspaper

Cedar Key, FL

Aerial view of Cedar Key and its outlying islands, illustrating the extremely small size of the city. The fork at State Roads 24 and 347 (the only two access roads) can be seen in the upper left.


View of the Cedar Keys Lighthouse on Seahorse Key

Cedar Key is a city in Levy County, Florida, United States. The population was 790 at the 2000 census. According to the U.S Census estimates of 2005, the city had a population of 958. The Cedar Keys are a cluster of islands close to the mainland. Most of the developed area of the city has been on Way Key since the end of the 19th century. The Cedar Keys are named for the Eastern Red Cedar, Juniperus virginiana, which once grew abundantly in the area.


George H. Reynolds' home : Cedar Key, Florida, 1880

History

Early

While evidence suggests human occupation as far back as 500 B.C., the first maps of the area date to 1542, at which point it was labeled "Las Islas Sabines" by a Spanish cartographer. An archaeological dig at Shell Mound, nine miles north of Cedar Key, found artifacts dating back to 500 B.C. in the top ten feet of the twenty-eight foot tall mound. The only ancient burial found in Cedar Key was a 2,000 year old skeleton found in 1999.


The "Three States" at Cedar Keys

Arrow heads and spear points dating from the Paleo period (12000 years old) were collected by Cedar Key historian St. Clair Whitman and were displayed at the Cedar Key State Museum prior to its closing.

The Cedar Keys were used by Seminole Indians, by the Spanish as a watering stop for ships returning to Spain from Mexico and by pirates, such as Jean Lafitte and Captain Kidd.

Followers of William Augustus Bowles, self-declared "Director General of the State of Muskogee," built a watchtower in the vicinity of Cedar Key in 1801. The tower was destroyed by a Spanish force in 1802.

Indian War

Permanent historic occupation of the islands began in 1839, when the United States Army, led by General Zachary Taylor, established "Fort No. 4", which served as a depot and included a hospital, on Depot Key (later known as Atsena Otie Key) during the Second Seminole War. This became the headquarters of the Army of the South. Cantonment Morgan was established on nearby Seahorse Key late in the war and used as a troop deployment station and as a holding station for Seminoles who had been captured or who had surrendered until they could be sent to the West. A hurricane with a twenty-seven foot storm surge struck the Cedar Keys on October 4, 1842, destroying Cantonment Morgan and causing much damage on Depot Key. Some Seminole leaders had been meeting with Army officers at Depot Key to negotiate their surrender or a retreat to a reservation in the Everglades. After the hurricane, the Seminoles refused to return to the area. Colonel William J. Worth had declared the war to be over in August 1842, and Depot Key was abandoned by the Army after the hurricane.

Pre-Civil War

In 1842 the United States Congress had enacted the Armed Occupation Act, a precursor of the Homestead Act, to increase white settlement in Florida as a way of forcing the Seminoles to leave the territory. With the abandonment of the Army base on Depot Key, the Cedar Keys became available for settlement under the act. Under the terms of the act, several people received permits for settlement on Depot Key, Way Key and Scale Key. Augustus Steele, U.S. Customs House Officer for Hillsborough County, Florida and postmaster for Tampa Bay, received the permit for Depot Key, which he then renamed Atsena Otie Key. In 1843 he bought the buildings on the island, and built some cottages for wealthy guests. In 1844 he became the Collector of Customs for the port of Cedar Key as well as for Tampa, Florida. A post office named "Cedar Key" was established on Atsena Otie Key in 1845. The Florida legislature chartered the "City of Atseena Otie" in 1859.

Cedar Key quickly became an important port, shipping lumber and naval stores harvested on the mainland. By 1860 two mills on Atsena Otie Key were producing 'cedar' slats for shipment to northern pencil factories. As a result of the growth, the U.S. Congress appropriated money for a lighthouse on Seahorse Key in 1850. The Cedar Key Light was completed in 1854. The lighthouse lantern is 28 feet above the ground, but the lighthouse sits on a 47 foot high hill, putting the light 75 feet above sea level. The light was visible for 16 miles. Wood-frame residences were added to each side of the lighthouse several years later.

In 1860 Cedar Key became the western terminus of the Florida Railroad, connecting it to Fernandina on the east coast of Florida. David Levy Yulee, U.S. Senator and President of the Florida Railroad, had acquired most of Way Key to house the railroad's terminal facilities. A town was platted on Way Key in 1859, and Parsons and Hale's General Store, which is now the Island Hotel, was built there in the same year. On March 1, 1861, the first train arrived in Cedar Key, just weeks before the beginning of the Civil War.

Civil War years

With the advent of the American Civil War in 1861, Confederate agents extinguished the light at Seahorse Key and removed its supply of sperm oil. The USS Hatteras raided Cedar Key in January 1862, burning several ships loaded with cotton and turpentine and destroying the railroad's rolling stock and buildings on Way Key. Most of the Confederate troops guarding Cedar Key had been sent to Fernandina in anticipation of a Federal attack there. Cedar Key was an important source of salt for the Confederacy during the early part of the war. In October 1862 a Union raid destroyed sixty kettles on Salt Key (Spanish: Placer de los Roques) capable of producing 150 bushels of salt a day. The Union occupied the Cedar Keys in early 1864, staying for the remainder of the war.

Post Civil War


Historical 1884 map of Cedar Key.

In 1865 the Eberhard Faber mill was built on Atsena Otie Key. The Eagle Pencil Company mill was built on Way Key, and Way Key, with its railroad terminal, passed Atsena Otie Key in population. Repairs to the Florida Railroad were completed in 1868 and freight and passenger traffic again flowed into Cedar Key. The "Town of Cedar Keys" was incorporated in 1869, and had a population of 400 in 1870.

Early in his career as a naturalist, John Muir walked 1,000 miles (1,609 km) from Louisville, Kentucky to Cedar Key in just two months in 1867. Muir contracted malaria while working in a sawmill in Cedar Key, and was nursed back to health in the house of the mill's superintendent. Muir recovered enough to sail from Cedar Key to Cuba in January 1868. He recorded his impressions of Cedar Key in his memoir, A thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf, which was published in 1916, after his death.

When Henry Plant's railroad to Tampa began service in 1886, Tampa took shipping away from Cedar Key, causing an economic decline in the area. The fourth storm of the 1896Atlantic hurricane season was the final blow. At approximately 4 a.m. on September 29, 1896, a 10-foot storm surge swept over the town, killing more than 100 people. Winds north of town were estimated at 125 mph, which would classify it as a category 3. The hurricane wiped out the juniper trees still standing and destroyed all the mills. A fire on December 2, 1896 further damaged the town. In following years, structures were rebuilt on Way Key, a more protected island inland, but the damage was done. Today, there are a few remnants of the original town on Atsena Otie Key, including stone water cisterns, and a graveyard whose headstones conspicuously date prior to 1896. There are also many of the juniper (Juniperus virginiana subsp. silicicola) trees that originally attracted the pencil company. These were misidentified as cedars by early settlers, hence the name 'Cedar Key'.

At the start of the twentieth century, fishing, sponge hooking and oystering had become the major industries, but around 1909, the oyster beds were exhausted. President Herbert Hoover established the Cedar Key National Wildlife Refuge in 1929 by naming three of the islands as a breeding ground for colonial birds. The lighthouse was abandoned in 1952, just as the tourism industry began to grow as a result of interest in the historic community, but it remains in use as a marine biology research center by the University of Florida in Gainesville.

Present

The old-fashioned fishing village is now a tourist center with several regionally famous seafood restaurants. The village holds two festivals a year, the Spring Sidewalk Art Festival and the Fall Seafood Festival, that each attract thousands of visitors to the area.

In 1950, Hurricane Easy, a category 3 storm with 125 mph winds, looped around Cedar Key three times before finally making landfall, dumping 38 inches of rain and destroying two thirds of the homes. Luckily, the storm came ashore at low tide, so the surge was only 5 feet.

Hurricane Elena followed a similar path in 1985, but did not make landfall. Packing 115 mph winds, the storm churned for two days in the Gulf, 50 miles to the west, battering the waterfront. All the businesses and restaurants on Dock Street were either damaged or destroyed and a section of the seawall collapsed.

After a statewide ban on large scale net fishing went into effect July 1, 1995 a government retraining program helped many local fishermen begin farming clams in the muddy waters. Today Cedar Key's clam-based aquaculture is a multi-million dollar industry.

A local museum exhibit displays a reproduction of one of the first air conditioning installations. The system, with compressor and fans, was used in Cedar Key to ease the lot of malaria patients. It is certainly hot and humid in the summer.

Cedar Key is home to the George T. Lewis Airport (CDK).

National historic status


Dock Street In Cedar Key

Cedar Key's importance in Florida's history, which began as far back as 1000 BC with pre-Columbian habitation of the region, was recognized on October 3, 1989 by the federal government. At that time, 80,000 acres (320 km2) in and around the town were added to the National Register of Historic Places under the title of the Cedar Keys Historic and Archaeological District.


Cedar Key Museum Building

The Cedar Key Museum State Park depicts the town's 19th century history and displays sea shells and Indian artifacts from the collection of Saint Clair Whitman. Tours of Whitman's restored 1920s house are available during museum hours. As the museum photo indicates, the building was constructed to withstand the hurricane conditions that the town is subjected to periodically.

External links:

Cedar Key Chamber of Commerce

Cedar Key Travel Info

Levy County listings at National Register of Historic Places

Levy County listings at Florida's Office of Cultural and Historical Programs

Silver Springs, FL

Silver Springs Park

Silver Springs is a U.S. populated place and spring in Marion County, Florida, just to the east of the city of Ocala. It is part of the Ocala Metropolitan Statistical Area.



Silver Springs is the site of one of the largest artesian spring formations in the world, producing nearly 550 million gallons of crystal-clear water daily. Silver Springs forms the headwaters of the Silver River, the largest tributary on the Ocklawaha River, a part of the St. Johns River system.



History


Steamboat and railroad at Silver Springs in about 1901.

Since at least the mid 19th century, the natural beauty of Silver Springs has attracted visitors from around the country. Glass bottom boat tours of the springs began in the late 1870's. In the 1920's, Carl Ray and W.M. Davidson made the land around the headwaters of the Spring into something resembling the attraction that is there today, now known as the Silver Springs Nature Theme Park. The attraction features native animal exhibits and glass bottom boat tours of the springs. Downstream from the attraction is the Silver River State Park.


T.W. Randall House

Also located in Silver Springs is a water park, Wild Waters (opened in 1978). The T. W. Randall House, on the National Register of Historic Places, is located to the northeast. Several defunct tourist attractions were once located in Silver Springs, including the Western-themed Six Gun Territory (closed 1984), and the Prince of Peace Memorial (closed in the mid-1970's).


Silver River State Park

Fishing is not allowed on the Silver River.

External links:

Ocala/Marion Visitors' & Convention Bureau

Silver Springs Nature Theme Park

Through the Looking Glass of Silver Springs

Silver Springs Pictures:


Prince of Peace Memorial at Silver Springs


Wilkinsons by the dock in their boat : Silver Springs, Florida, 1960




Entrance to the Seminole Indian Village : Silver Springs, Florida


Steamboat "William Howard" loading cargos at a langing on the Ocklawaha River


Hart Line steamboat "Hiawatha" and ACL train by depot on the water : Silver Springs, Florida, 1905


Silver Spring Hotel, Florida.

Lake City, FL

Columbia County courthouse in Lake City

Lake City is the county seat of Columbia County, Florida, in the United States. In 2006, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the city's population at 11,953. In addition, it is the Principal City of the Lake City Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is composed of Columbia County, and had an estimated 2006 population of 67,007. The city's Sesquicentennial will occur in 2009, and a celebration is planned.


Lake City Seal

History

The site of Lake City was a Seminole village named Alpata Telophka, meaning "Alligator Town". By 1830, a white American town called Alligator was established, adjacent to the Seminole town. The city was incorporated and changed to its current name in 1859. The name was changed because the mayor's wife, who had recently moved to the town, refused to hang her lace curtains in a town named Alligator.


The old University of Florida in Lake City, Florida, 1908

The American Civil War Battle of Olustee took place near Lake City in February 1864. It was the only major battle in Florida during the war. Union casualties were 1,861 men killed, wounded or missing; Confererate losses were 946 killed, wounded or missing.


Glimpse of W.W. Talbert's Residence,

In 1880, Lake City Chief of Police, Gottschalk “Gus” Potsdamer had a heated dispute with Columbia County Sheriff, John C. Henry. The conflict escalated into a fistfight and Henry was fatally wounded by Potsdamer, who was tried for murder, convicted and sentenced to life in prison at the state prison near Live Oak. Potsdamer's conviction was controversial, with some reports stating that Sheriff Henry started the trouble and was beating Potsdamer over the head with a pistol when Potsdamer got loose and killed him. Potsdamer was very popular and had a reputation as a City Marshall who always enforced the law fairly. Potsdamer's friends appealed the conviction through the legal system, won, and Potsdamer was released after two months of incarceration. He eventually moved to Live Oak, became a respected businessman, and was elected Suwannee County Sheriff in 1889.


Graves for dead soldiers of the Battle of Olustee : Lake City, Florida

By the early 20th century, Lake City had become an important railroad junction, served by the Seaboard Air Line, Atlantic Coast Line, Georgia Southern, and the Florida Railroad.


Growth of planted slash pines : Lake City, Florida, 1948

The population in 1950 was 7,467 people and forestry (turpentine, lumber, pulpwood) had become important to the local economy.


Aero Corporation employees paint an airplane : Lake City, Florida

Lake City's Centennial was celebrated in 1959 with parades, fireworks and a 58-page book documenting one hundred years of progress, “A Century in the Sun”. The citizens of the town dressed in period attire, complete with whiskers. A good-natured clash arose between the men with additional facial hair and the women who did not like it.


Cavalcade of state officials on the way to open a segment of Interstate 75 : Lake City, Florida, 1964

In 1958, the Columbia Amateur Radio Society was formed. This was a group of amateur radio operators that enjoyed the ability to communicate all over the world. This radio club still exists today.



Finished Mobile homes displayed outside a plant of Guerdon Industries, Inc. : Lake City, Florida, 1963

Economy

Lake City and Columbia County, Florida are known as "The Gateway to Florida" because Interstate 75 runs though them, carrying a large percentage of Florida's tourist and commercial traffic. Lake City is the northernmost sizable town/city in Florida on Interstate 75 and the location where I-10 and I-75 intersect. Interstate 10 is the southernmost east-west interstate highway and traverses the country from Jacksonville, Florida to Santa Monica, California.


Reigning Tobacco Queen Miss Pat Lee and other ladies pose on pile of flue-cured leaf at auction : Lake City, Florida, 1960

Agricultural products of the area include tobacco, corn, peanuts, cotton, melons, timber and pulpwood.


Herman Porter directing traffic in front of Columbia High school : Lake City, Florida, 1955

Lake City is the location of the Osceola National Forest's administrative offices.




Russ Davis at his Walgreen drugstore : Lake City, Florida, 1950

The Lake City Municipal Airport is a local center of business. The airport is classified as a General Aviation facility, but two on-site operations are somewhat unique. TIMCO is an aircraft modification and rehabilitation operation for large (B-727, 737) civilian and military aircraft. The United States Forest Service uses C-130 transport aircraft in support of its forest fire-fighting operations in the southeast US.


Lake Worth City Hall, 1949

The top employers in Lake City are:

1 Columbia County School Board Education
2 VA Medical Center Healthcare
3 TIMCO Aircraft Overhaul/rehabilitation
4 Wal-Mart Supercenter Retail Sales
5 Homes of Merit Manufactured Housing
6 Anderson Columbia Co., Inc. Construction/Paving
7 Columbia County Board of Commissioners Government
8 Shands at Lake Shore Healthcare
9 Columbia County Sheriff's Office Law Enforcement
10 Lake City Medical Center Healthcare
11 City of Lake City Government
12 Lake City Community College Education
13 S&S Food Stores
14 Quality Inn & Conference Center

Recreation


Historic Henderson House

Olustee Battle Festival

Every February since 1976, Lake City has hosted the Olustee Battle Festival & Re-Enactment. The 31st Annual event will be February 13 & 14th, 2009.[17] The Miss Olustee Pageant is held two weeks prior to the Battle Festival. Highlights include:

Memorial service at Oak Lawn Cemetery: to honor those who died from both sides (Friday morning)

Olustee Festival & Craft Show: Arts, Crafts, Foods, Exhibits, & two stages with continuous live entertainment Friday and Saturday.

Battle of the Ironclads, the Monitor and the Merrimac: Friday night on Lake DeSoto.

Dancing: Friday night-Trails End Dance; Saturday afternoon-Street Dance; Saturday night-Blue-Grey Square Dance

Running Races: Blue-Grey 5-K and 1 Mile Kids Fun Run early Saturday morning

Olustee Festival Parade: Saturday mid-morning

Olustee Battle Reenactment: Hundreds of re-enactors come from all over the country to participate in this historical event

Columbia County Historical Museum: "Angels of Mercy" drama Friday afternoon; museum open all weekend

Olustee Battlefield State Park: open 9am-6pm all weekend

Alligator fest

Lake City holds its Alligator Fest in mid-October.

Notable natives:

Pat Summerall - National Football League placekicker / television sportscaster
Gerard Warren - National Football League defensive tackle
Jasin Todd - former Shinedown guitarist
Jerome Carter - National Football League safety
Martha Mier - Pianist and Composer
Stephen Bunn - National Football League Tight End

Lake City, FL in Pictures:


Spanish style post office building : Lake City, Florida, 1948




Downtown area on Marion Street : Lake City, Florida, 1948


Dinner at a livestock market : Lake City, Florida, 1945


Blanche Hotel : Lake City, Florida, 1943


Colored waiting room in railway depot : Lake City, Florida, 1941


Railroad crossing picture, 1941


Farmers Independent Warehouse : Lake City, Florida, 1939


Lake City municipal airport hangar : Lake City, Florida, 1935


4-H Club parade : Lake City, Florida, 1929


Interior view of T.E. Robarts grocery store : Lake City, Florida, 1926


Flagler Building (Gymnasium) at UF campus : Lake City, Florida, 1920


Firefighters : Lake City, Florida, 1914


Looking down South Marion Street : Lake City, Florida, 1910


First National Bank : Lake City, Florida, 1910


Aunt Aggie in her bone yard : Lake City, Florida, 1908


Marion Street : Lake City, Florida, 1907


Lake City Chapel Hall and dormitory, 1905




Busy downtown street scene : Lake City, Florida










Interior of trailer


First telephone in Lake City

External Links:

City of Lake City Official Site

Lake City Weather dot Com LIVE Weather Conditions here in Lake City

Lake City Journal community news online

Columbia Amateur Radio Society Established in 1958 and all are still welcome to join!

Suwannee Online Suwannee Area

Lake City Online

Lake City Reporter newspaper

Micanopy, FL

Micanopy commercial district

Micanopy is a town in Alachua County, Florida, United States. It is south of Gainesville. The population in the 2000 census was 653. As of 2004, the population according to the U.S. Census Bureau was 652. The old town of Micanopy is an historic district, and contains a number of antique stores, as well as a large used book store and a couple of restaurants. Micanopy is pronounced as if it were spelled mick-a-no-pee with the accent on the third syllable.


In these stately surroundings, ZC and Natalie raised six children: Mae, Natalie (nicknamed "Pink"), V.J., John, Dorothy and Inez for whom the mansions rooms are named.

History


Front view of a two-teacher Rosenwald schoolhouse in Alachua County - Micanopy.


Rear view of a two-teacher Rosenwald schoolhouse in Alachua County - Micanopy

Micanopy was the first distinct United States town in Florida, with settlement beginning after Spain ceded the Florida territory in 1821. When explorer and naturalist William Bartram visited in 1774, it was the site of a Seminole village called Cuscowilla. Bartram's favorable writings about this fertile area influenced future generations of settlers. Named after a Seminole chief, the territorial town of Micanopy was built under the auspices of the Florida Association of New York (the earliest Florida development corporation, headquartered in New York City). Both Fort Defiance (1835-1836) and Fort Micanopy (1837-1843) were located here during the Second Seminole War. Some of the bloodiest battles of that war took place along the road southwest from Fort Micanopy to Fort Wacahoota, just inside modern Alachua County.


Portrait of Bartram by Charles Willson Peale

Micanopy's historic district was listed on National Register of Historic Places in 1983. One of the town's founders, Moses E. Levy, is the subject of an acclaimed biography—Moses Levy of Florida: Jewish Utopian and Antebellum Reformer (2005). Micanopy has been used as a location for several major motion pictures including Cross Creek (1983) and Doc Hollywood (1991), and is mentioned in the hit country song "Seminole Wind." Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings home, were she wrote The Yearling and Cross Creek is nearby. The house is now a museum.


Residence : Micanopy, Florida

Noted residents include the late zoologist and author, Archie Carr and his conservationist wife, Marjorie Harris Carr, who lived for many years at their home at Wewa Pond just outside Micanopy.


Sylia Lewis' antique store : Micanopy, Florida

Culture

Micanopy hosts a large arts festival every Fall featuring many local (and distant) artists. The festival brings in a crowd much larger than the town's population from across Payne's Prairie in Gainesville and surrounding areas.


Home in Micanopy

Micanopy is mentioned in the Tom Petty song A Mind With A Heart Of It's Own from the album Full Moon Fever.


Garage front : Micanopy, Florida

Micanopy is mentioned in the John Anderson song, Seminole Wind from the album "Seminole Wind." The song is covered by James Taylor on the album "James Taylor Covers." You can see the lyrics at James Taylor's website.


Residence: Micanopy, FL

Gallery

Micanopy Historic District




Herlong House, now a bed and breakfast


Simonton House


Presbyterian Church, now Episcopal Church of the Mediator.


Old Baptist Church, now a private house.

Historic District:

The Micanopy Historic District is a U.S. historic district (designated as such on January 28, 1983) located in Micanopy, Florida. It encompasses approximately 470 acres (1.9 km2), bounded by roughly Cholokka Boulevard from US 441 to Ocala Street then Smith Street West to Okehumkee Street. It contains 35 historic buildings.

Exterior Links:

Herlong Mansion Bed And Breakfast

Church of the Mediator (Micanopy, Florida)

Micanopy Historic District

Doc Hollywood, filmed in Micanopy.

Micanopy, FL Website

Cotton States newspaper that serves Micanopy, Florida is available in full-text with images in Florida Digital Newspaper Library
Micanopy Branch Library

Walking tour of Micanopy. Church is 6 on list and is labeled Presbyterian Church

Pictures Of Micanopy:


Street view : Micanopy, Florida


Street Scene


Town hall building


Micanopy Service Station, 1930


Pigs raised by J.C. Herlong eating


Memorial Day parade on Smith Street, looking east : Micanopy, Florida, 1918


Micanopy packing company : Micanopy, Florida, 1916


Gate In Front Of Dr. Payne's Home


Dr. George Payne home : Micanopy, Florida


Children dressed as doughboys and nurses : Micanopy, Florida, 1915


J.B. Simonton Home, 1910


J.B. Simonton home : Micanopy, Florida, 1915


Looking west on Ocala Street by Judge Means' house : Micanopy, Florida, 1914


Estauallkee Street : Micanopy, Florida, 1912


Elementary school class picture : Micanopy, Florida, 1909


Micanopy Banking Company building : Micanopy, Florida, 1906


Inside of Chitty's General Merchandise store : Micanopy, Florida, 1900


James McCredie house : Micanopy, Florida, 1895


Simon H. Benjamin's store, 1893


Bauknight family home : Micanopy, Florida

Newnansville, FL

Entrance to the Newnansville Cemetery, one of the few surviving remains of the town.

The Newnansville Town Site was where the town of Newnansville was located. It is approximately 1.5 miles northeast of Alachua, Florida, on S.R. 235 off of US 441. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 4, 1974.


First Alachua County courthouse

During the Second Seminole War, Newnansville remained the only settlement of interior Florida not abandoned to the indians; everything to the south was abandoned. It is described as a raw settlement of stumps and vegetable gardens.


Land grant to James Madison Hawthorn : Alachua County, Florida

The location was important. The Santa Fe River rises in Newnans Lake southeast of the town, and the river is a physical barrier to travel. The river goes underground for several miles northwest of the town, and this "natural bridge" provided a dry route for wagons and military units. Newnansville lay on the major east-west route from the capital of east Florida at St. Augustine and that of west Florida at Pensacola. It also was the crossroads for roads from Jacksonville, Mandarin and Picolata, from the southwest to Tampa, the south to Spring Grove, Fort Clark, Micanopy and Fort King, and to the esat to Palatka and St. Augustine.


Eli Futch home near Newnansville : Alachua County, Florida

History

Bellamy Road

In 1824, only five years after Florida became a United States territory (and the same year that Alachua County itself was created), Congress authorized the construction of its first federal highway. It would connect Pensacola to St. Augustine. The Territorial Council commissioned John Bellamy, a Monticello plantation owner, to build it. The project took two years to complete, at a cost of $20,000. The route would become known as the Bellamy Avenue. It was a major highway until the Civil War, when other roads became preferred routes. A few of the places it passed were: the town of Traxler, the Santa Fe Taloca Spanish Mission, and what would become Newnansville.

Newnansville

The Dell brothers, who had earlier (during the "Patriot War") visited the Alachua County area, came back to settle there in 1814. They constructed a post office on the Bellamy Avenue in 1826, called Dell's, which became the nucleus of the new settlement. In 1828, the Council named the small community Newnansville (in honor of a Patriot War hero, Daniel Newnan), and made it the county seat. From 1835 through 1842, the town and nearby Fort Gilleland were refugee centers for many displaced by the Second Seminole War.

Following that, the town flourished, becoming the center for trade and plantation life in the area. It mainly produced corn, cotton, and, after the Civil War, citrus. Not including a period between 1832 and 1839, Newnansville was the Alachua County seat until 1854. At that time, it was relocated to the new railroad town of Gainesville. The courthouse was moved to Gainesville as well in 1856. This was the beginning of the end for Newnansville.


Map Of Newnansville

Two major factors contributed to its continuing decline. In 1884 the Savannah, Florida, and Western Railroad bypassed it by a mile and a half to the southwest. A new town, Alachua, grew up there. Then in the winter of 1886, a major freeze ruined the citrus crop. This, plus the lack of railway connections, led businesses and residents to move to the prospering communities of Alachua and Gainesville. By the middle of the twentieth century, all that was left of Newnansville were two cemeteries and the remains of a road.


Newnansville Town Site

External Links:

Florida's Office of Cultural and Historical Programs - Alachua County

Historic Markers in Alachua County"

Natural and Historic Sites in Alachua County

Tour Guide of Historic Alachua County

History of Alachua

Alachua County Library District Heritage Collection - Map of Newnansville

Alachua County Scenic Roads - Old Bellamy Road

Alachua County listings at the National Register of Historic Places

Haile Plantation, FL

Haile Plantation, an unincorporated community and New Urbanism planned development, is a 2,600 household (1,700 acre) development of regional impact southwest of the City of Gainesville, within Alachua County, Florida, United States.

The award-winning Haile Village Center is a traditional neighborhood center within the development. Residents and business in Haile Plantation use Gainesville, Florida for mailing addresses. The development's name sake is Thomas Evans Haile, a South Carolina Sea Island Cotton grower that established his plantation here in 1854. Enslaved Africans lived on and worked the land. The Haile family ancestors include some who served in the American Revolutionary War. The Historic Haile Homestead, known as Kanapaha, still stands and was featured in the 1979 movie "Gal Yung Un", based on a Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings story.

New construction at Haile Plantation started in the late 1970s. In the early years the first neighborhoods included Laurel Park, Heritage Green, Quail Court and Magnolia Walk. At this time in Haile Plantation, the future village center was a recreational vehicle storage area and a plant nursery staging area. Haile Plantation is still being built out, but now contains over 9 miles (14 km) of roadways and 4 main roads (Haile Blvd., 91st St., 44th Av., and 104th Tr.). On July 14, 2005 a new shopping center, the "Publix Market Square/Haile Village North" opened at the north end of Haile Plantation. Publix Market Square currently includes a Publix supermarket and several other shops and restaurants. In addition, a private 18 hole golf course and a clay court Tennis facility are located within Haile Plantation.

Celebrity residents of Haile Plantation include University of Florida football head coach Urban Meyer and basketball head coach Billy Donovan.

Haile Plantation's unique circular "lap-like" road layout provide an excellent environment for cyclists to train on, devoid of the usually heavy traffic flow of most public roads.

External links:

Haile Guide

Haile Technology

The Village Journal

Plantation Hall at Haile

The Village at Haile