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Historical Highlights – Explore local history, historic sites, landmark buildings, or heritage tours in the region.

JACKSONVILLE

  • Kingsley Plantation – Florida’s oldest plantation house (1798) with 23 preserved slave cabins, offering powerful insights into antebellum life on Fort George Island.
  • Fort Caroline National Memorial – Site of the 1564 French Huguenot settlement, commemorating one of the earliest European attempts at colonization in North America.
  • Camp Milton Historic Preserve – Confederate siege lines from the Civil War with faithful replicas of defensive structures and trails through historic battlegrounds.
  • The Ritz Theatre and Museum – LaVilla’s cultural heart, once a segregation-era movie house, now celebrating Jacksonville’s extensive African American history.
  • St. Johns River Light – An 1858 maritime beacon on Mayport Naval Station, one of Florida’s oldest lighthouses guiding ships for over 160 years.

MIAMI

  • Vizcaya Museum and Gardens – James Deering’s stunning 1916 Italian Renaissance winter villa with 34 rooms of European treasures and 10 acres of formal gardens.
  • The Barnacle Historic State Park – Miami’s oldest house (1891), Ralph Middleton Munroe’s pioneer home preserving Coconut Grove’s frontier heritage.
  • Freedom Tower – The “Ellis Island of the South,” this 1925 Mediterranean Revival landmark processed Cuban refugees in the 1960s and now houses cultural exhibits.
  • Cape Florida Lighthouse – Built in 1825, Miami-Dade County’s oldest standing structure with 109 steps to climb and views over Bill Baggs State Park.
  • Lyric Theater – Overtown’s 1913 Black-owned theater where Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, and Cab Calloway performed during segregation.

TAMPA

  • Ybor City Historic District – National Historic Landmark preserving the “Cigar Capital of the World” with brick streets, cigar factories, and immigrant mutual aid societies.
  • Henry B. Plant Museum – The opulent 1891 Tampa Bay Hotel showcasing Gilded Age grandeur with Moorish architecture and Henry Plant’s railroad empire legacy.
  • Columbia Restaurant – Florida’s oldest restaurant (1905), spanning an entire city block with 12 ornate dining rooms celebrating Spanish-Cuban culinary traditions.
  • Tampa Bay History Center – 12,000 years of Florida history with exhibits on pirates, conquistadors, indigenous peoples, and Tampa’s port industries.
  • Ybor City Museum State Park – Housed in the 1923 Ferlita Bakery, chronicling immigrant cigar workers’ lives with preserved casitas and historic artifacts.

ORLANDO

  • Harry P. Leu Gardens Historic Home – The 1888 Leu House Museum showcasing turn-of-the-century Florida life within 50 acres of botanical gardens.
  • Orange County Regional History Center – Downtown’s 1927 courthouse building preserving Central Florida’s history from pre-Columbian times through the theme park era.
  • Maitland Historical Society Museums – Cluster of historic buildings including the 1884 Carpentry Shop Museum and Waterhouse Residence Museum.
  • Fort Gatlin Historic Marker – Site of the 1838 Second Seminole War fort that gave rise to Orlando’s settlement and development.
  • Wells’ Built Museum of African American History – The 1921 historic hotel that hosted Black entertainers during segregation, now a cultural heritage museum.

ST. PETERSBURG

  • The Coliseum – Built in 1924, this ballroom hosted big band legends and remains one of the largest wooden ballrooms in the South.
  • St. Petersburg Museum of History – Florida’s oldest history museum (1922) with exhibits on aviation pioneer Tony Jannus and the city’s resort era.
  • The Vinoy Renaissance Resort – This 1925 Mediterranean Revival landmark hotel hosted Babe Ruth, Marilyn Monroe, and presidents on its waterfront grounds.
  • Historic Roser Park – St. Pete’s first suburb (1913) with Craftsman bungalows and Mediterranean Revival homes lining brick streets under oak canopies.
  • Sunken Gardens – A 100-year-old botanical paradise created in a natural sinkhole, featuring exotic plants, flamingos, and tropical gardens since 1935.

HIALEAH

  • Amelia Earhart Park – Named for the famous aviator who flew from nearby Opa-locka, preserving early aviation history alongside natural landscapes.
  • Historic Hialeah Park Racing & Casino – The stunning 1925 Art Deco horse racing track with pink flamingos, called “the most beautiful race course in America.”
  • Our Lady of Charity Shrine – 1967 chapel honoring Cuba’s patron saint, a spiritual beacon for Cuban exiles commemorating the 1961 exodus.
  • Milander Park – Community heart with monuments and gathering spaces celebrating Hialeah’s Cuban immigrant heritage and cultural pride.
  • John F. Kennedy Library – 1962 building commemorating JFK’s relationship with the Cuban exile community and Cold War-era Miami.

TALLAHASSEE

  • Florida Historic Capitol Museum – The restored 1845 Old Capitol building with red-and-white awnings, preserving Florida’s political heritage before the modern tower.
  • Knott House Museum – The 1843 “House That Rhymes” where Emancipation was read in Florida, filled with Victorian furnishings and poetry-tagged objects.
  • Mission San Luis – Reconstructed 1656 Spanish mission and Apalachee Indian village, authentically depicting colonial frontier life.
  • Black Archives Research Center and Museum – Housed in Carnegie Library, preserving African American history and the legacy of Florida A&M University.
  • Goodwood Museum and Gardens – Antebellum plantation estate (1830s-1920s) with original furnishings, slave quarters, and Southern gardens spanning generations.

FORT LAUDERDALE

  • Stranahan House – Broward County’s oldest structure (1901), a pioneer trading post and home on the New River documenting frontier settlement.
  • Bonnet House Museum & Gardens – Eccentric 1920 estate of artists Frederic and Evelyn Bartlett with whimsical Caribbean-style architecture and artwork.
  • Old Fort Lauderdale Village & Museum – Three historic buildings including the 1907 New River Inn and 1905 King-Cromartie House preserving pioneer life.
  • Fort Lauderdale History Center – Housed in the 1905 New River Inn, Florida’s oldest existing hotel building, with exhibits on Seminole Wars and development.
  • Historic Sistrunk Boulevard – The heart of Fort Lauderdale’s African American community, lined with landmarks from the segregation era and civil rights movement.

PORT ST. LUCIE

  • Morningside Historic District – Early 20th-century community preserving Old Florida Cracker-style homes and agricultural heritage.
  • Pioneer Homesteads – Restored homestead buildings from Port St. Lucie’s agricultural era before suburban development.
  • Veteran War Memorials – Multiple monuments throughout the city honoring military history from WWII through modern conflicts.
  • St. Lucie County Regional History Center – Preserving the region’s cattle ranching, fishing village, and agricultural past in nearby Fort Pierce.
  • Savannas Preserve State Park – While natural, this contains historic cattle ranches and early settlement sites within 10 miles of trails.

CAPE CORAL

  • Cape Coral Historical Society & Museum – Preserving the planned city’s 1957 founding by the Rosen brothers and rapid development into Florida’s third-largest city.
  • Four Freedoms Park – Monument commemorating FDR’s 1941 “Four Freedoms” speech and Cape Coral’s mid-century development era.
  • Historic Rose Garden – One of Cape Coral’s original public spaces from its founding, representing 1960s planned community vision.
  • Yacht Club Community Park Beach – Cape Coral’s original public beach and pier (1960s), the social center of the early development.
  • Historic Downtown Cape Coral – 47th Terrace area preserving original 1960s commercial buildings from the city’s founding era.
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