Hike Bike Paddle Camp Florida with authors Sandra Friend and John Keatley as your guides
Museums in parks and natural settings, showcasing Florida history, cultural heritage, and the arts
On the shores of Fort Matanzas, a significant historic site south of St. Augustine, the dunes are now swaddled in maritime forest, a gentle place with ancient oaks and an accessible boardwalk.
A little-known chapter in Florida history is that of Fort Mose, the first free African settlement in the South in pre-Colonial America. The settlement site is preserved and interpreted at Fort Mose Historic State Park.
Once the grand sentinel that protected the fledgling town of Key West from attack, Fort Zachary Taylor is still an imposing presence from the sea as sailboats – and monster cruise ships – pull into port in downtown Key West.
Flanked by three-hundred-year-old oaks, the grand entrance to the Gamble Plantation Historic State Park evokes Tara. It’s an unmistakable landmark along US 301, which cuts through what was, in 1843, Major Robert Gamble’s 3,500-acre sugar plantation along the Manatee River.
Fifty acres of lush formal gardens hug the shores of Lake Rowena in this urban display of botanical diversity in Orlando. The center of it all is the Leu House, purchased by Harry and Mary Jane Leu in 1936 – now a house museum – around which they developed their gardens.
One of Florida’s oldest state parks, Highlands Hammock protects an old-growth forest while enabling you to explore it on a network of fascinating interpretive nature trails
At Spanish Point, scents hang heavy in the morning air: a moonflower in the act of closing for the day, the sweetness of citrus blossoms, the purple morning-glory clambering over mangroves, the brush of salt breezes.
One of only two Floridians honored in the halls of Congress for their achievements, Dr. John Gorrie is the acknowledged inventor of air conditioning, patented in 1851.
One of the historic treasures of Timucuan Preserve in Jacksonville, Kingsley Plantation interprets the everyday lives of free and enslaved peoples on an early 1800s Florida plantation.
Conceived in the Art Deco era and shaded by a canopy of ancient oaks, the Maitland Art Center is, in part, a fantasy of a Mayan temple with formal gardens around historic art studios.
Most notable for its collection of more than 6,000 orchids, Marie Selby Gardens are a must-see for those who love tropical plants, especially epiphtyes. The many specialized gardens range from a children’s garden play area to succulents and cycads to a banyan grove, mangrove walkway, and tropical fruit and medicinal gardens.
Although this rugged little nature trail at Mission San Luis doesn’t top a half mile, it gives you a good excuse to go play in the woods in Tallahassee—and learn about Florida’s history
