Page 16 - 2024-2025 Travel Guide to Florida

HISTORY
In the late 1500s, the Spanish first inhabited the region to protect their settle- ments and galleons carrying gold from Mexico. Storms, battles and other accidents resulted in numerous sinkings, and divers today can explore 20 wrecks along the Florida Panhandle Shipwreck Trail between Pensacola and Port St. Joe. Visitors can also tour histor- ical lighthouses in the region, such as the Pensacola Lighthouse and Maritime Museum, built in 1859.
In the 1700s, the British took control of the region, later building Fort George (c. 1778).
Then, a Spanish army with U.S. volunteers ousted the British forces during a 1781 battle—a little-known victory of the American Revolution.
NORTH CENTRAL
During the early 1800s, Florida’s population was concentrated in North Florida, where
Tallahassee became the territorial capital. One of the city’s highlights from that era is the Call-Collins House at The Grove Museum, an historic mansion finished in the 1840s by Richard Keith Call, an aide and advisor to General Andrew Jackson.
When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Florida joined the Confederacy—the smallest state to secede from the U.S. During the war, Union troops fought the Confederates in several clashes in the North Central area, including the Battle of Natural Bridge in 1865—one of the last Confederate victories in the war. To the south near Lake City, “soldiers” in Civil War uniforms annually re-enact the Battle of Olustee. The state also publishes the Florida Civil War Heritage Trail, a guidebook to Florida battle sites.
Southwest of Tallahassee, visitors can tour the charming fishing community of
Apalachicola, the center of the state’s oyster industry for many decades. Nearby is the St. Marks Lighthouse in St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge.
NORTHEAST
Back in 1513, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León set foot on Florida’s sandy shores and christened the new land “La Florida.” Four decades later, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founded St. Augustine, the oldest continu- ously inhabited European-established city in the U.S. Featuring an historic district containing some 30 colonial-era buildings, St. Augustine provides a unique glimpse into Spanish colonial life. Highlights include Castillo de San Marcos, the oldest masonry fortification in the continental U.S., and the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum.
In 1738, in an attempt to destabilize the plantation economy of the British colonies by creating a free black community to attract slaves seeking escape and refuge, the Spanish established the fort and town of Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mosé, commonly known as Fort Mose, the first free black settlement in North America.
To the north, Jacksonville traces its roots to the French who landed at the mouth of the St. Johns River in 1562 and founded Fort Caroline two years later. However, a Spanish force soon captured the fort, and the French became a distant memory. Through the years, the Spanish maintained control of the region, establishing forts, farms and missions, including Fort Caroline and the Kingsley Plantation House (c. 1798), both of which are located in the Timucuan Ecological & Historic Preserve— considered one of the last unspoiled coastal wetlands on the Atlantic coast.
One of Florida’s hidden treasures is Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island, north of Jacksonville. Many buildings in its 50-block historical district are on the National Register of Historic Places. Visitors can also tour the Amelia Island Lighthouse property. Built during the Territorial Period in 1838, it is the state’s oldest lighthouse. Scout out Fort Clinch for a glimpse into the nation’s past during the Civil War.
CAPE ST. GEORGE LIGHTHOUSE IN FRANKLIN COUNTY • FRANKLIN COUNTY TDC