Chapman Botanical Gardens - Apalachicola, Florida

Chapman Botanical Garden

A beautiful memorial to one of Florida's best known botanists, the Chapman Botanical Garden is a beautiful landmark of Apalachicola, Florida.

Dr. Alvin W. Chapman, for whom the gardens are named, came to Florida in 1834 and lived in both Marianna and Quincy before moving to Apalachicola, where he lived out the rest of his life, in 1847. Trained as a physician, he fell in love with the botanical wonders of Florida and the South and devoted his life to exploration and discovery.

Dr. Alvin W. Chapman

Dr. Chapman is credited with discovering numerous species of rare plants in Florida, including Chapman's Rhododendron, the wild Florida azalea and others. He was a friend of Hardy Bryan Croom, who discovered the Florida Torreya, and was the author of a landmark volume on the plants of the South.

Dr. Chapman was also an important figure of the Civil War in Florida. A devoted Unionist, he remained in Apalachicola although his wife relocated to Marianna after Confederate troops withdrew from the city. He is mentioned often in the records of the Union blockade ships that were stationed offshore. Local legend also holds that he sometimes hid in Trinity Episcopal Church when occasional Confederate patrols entered the city.

The Chapman Botanical Garden, located adjacent to Orman House Historic State Park and the Three Soldiers Monument on Market Street in Apalachicola, features winding paths, footbridges, butterfly gardens, unique plantings and much more. The garden is one of the most beautiful in any small city in the South and is well worth a visit.

To learn more and see additional photos, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/chapmangarden.

Devil's Millhopper Geological State Park - Gainesville, Florida

On the northern outskirts of Gainesville, the Devil's Millhopper Geological State Park offers the opportunity to descend to an exotic natural environment that thrives more than 120 feet below the normal surface of Florida.

The Devil's Millhopper is the somewhat sinister name given to a massive sinkhole. Created by water that eroded the karst or limestone that prevails beneath much of Florida until finally the surface collapsed to form a huge hole, the Millhopper is roughly 500 feet across from rim to rim and 120 feet deep. Put into perspective, the Statue of Liberty could be placed in the sinkhole and only the arm holding the torch would appear above ground.

There are many stories surrounding the origin of the use of the name Devil's Millhopper. The most common is that it takes the shape of the interior of a hopper from an old gristmill. Early explorers found many bones of animals in the bottom and easily created the legend that it was a gateway to the Devil and Hell.

While it is in no way a sinister place, it is a fascinating geological landmark that is well worth the short drive off I-75 at Gainesville. To learn more and see additional pictures, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/devilsmillhopper.

Warden Castle (Ripley's Believe It or Not!) - St. Augustine, Florida

The original Ripley's Believe It or Not! Museum(R) in St. Augustine, Florida, is a landmark in and of itself. The unique chain of quirky and fun museums spread out from here. But the one in St. Augustine is even more special because of its location, the beautifully designed and supposedly haunted Warden Castle.

During the years after the Civil War, many of the nation's wealthiest families looked to the Southern coast as locations for winter homes. It was during this era that the Millionaire Village grew on Jekyll Island, Georgia. Just down the coast, the historic old city of St. Augustine also attracted the attention of some the country' 19th century rich and famous.

Among these was William G. Warden, a business partner of John D. Rockefeller. Adopting St. Augustine as his winter home, Warden built the Warden Castle there in 1887. Massive in scale and designed in a unique Moorish Revival Style, the huge home hosted many of the nation's most elite business leaders and their families during winter visits to St. Augustine. It remained in the hands of the Warden family until the 1930s.

Warden Castle later became a hotel and was even one of the homes of famed novelist Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. It is also the focus of a number of St. Augustine's best known ghost stories.

To learn more about the unique and historic structure, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/staugustineripley.

Mission Nombre de Dios - St. Augustine, Florida

It has because been called "the most sacred acre in America" and Mission Nombre de Dios in St. Augustine has truly earned that honor.

Now a beautiful park setting with a magnificent steel cross facing Matanzas Bay, the restored Chapel of Nuestra Senora de La Leche, historic cemetery and interpretive signs detailing the history of the site, the mission commemorates the planting of the first permanent Christian church in the United States.

On September 8, 1565, a Spanish flotilla commanded by Pedro Menendez de Aviles arrived in Florida's Matanzas Bay. He had been ordered to drive away the French who had built Fort Caroline on the St. Johns River and to plant a permanent settlement that would firmly establish Spain's title to the region. Spotting the Timucuan town of Seloy, Menendez came ashore and quickly established friendly relations with the leaders and inhabitants of the town.

On the same day, the fleet chaplain conducted a Mass of Thanksgiving to thank God for the safe arrival of the settlers in the New World. The Mass marked the firm establishment of the Catholic Church at St. Augustine and its presence has continued there without interruption for nearly 450 years.

Over the years that followed, Mission Nombre de Dios and its Chapel of Nuestra Senora de La Leche served as the mother of a chain of missions that stretched across Florida and up the East Coast as far as Virginia. The stone chapel was bombarded and destroyed by the Spanish themselves to prevent its use by English attackers during the 1700s, but was restored in 1875.

Today the site is open to the public daily and is a major landmark in the history of Christianity in the United States. Please click here to learn more about Mission Nombre de Dios: www.exploresouthernhistory.com/nombrededios.

Greenwood, Florida - Antebellum Community in the Panhandle

Founded in 1824 and settled even earlier, the town of Greenwood is a very special Florida community. It boasts an outstanding collection of antebellum homes and is a place where visitors can walk along the sidewalks and enjoy Southern hospitality at its finest beneath the shady oaks of the Sunshine State.

Established largely by residents who moved down from Georgia and the Carolinas to build plantations on the rich lands of central Jackson County, Greenwood was located at a strategic intersection where two important east-west roads crossed. It provided a likely spot for a trading community and as the surrounding farms grew more prosperous, so did the town that provided the planters with supplies, churches, a school and legal and medical services.

By the time of the War Between the States (or Civil War), Greenwood was a thriving little center of commerce and political strength. Many of the planters of the area had built "town" homes there, leaving the day to day operations on their plantations to their overseers. A number of these homes still stand.

Among the best known are the Erwin House (ca. 1830), the Hayes Long Mansion (1840) and Great Oaks (1860). None of the town's homes are open to the public, but historical markers stand in front of many and visitors can walk along the sidewalks of Greenwood to take pictures and enjoy the views.

The Methodist and Baptist cemeteries both date back to before the Civil War and buried in both are key figures not only from the founding days of the town, but also from Florida's early political era and the Confederate and U.S. military service.

To learn more about historic Greenwood, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/greenwood.

Crystal River Archaeological State Park - Crystal River, Florida

Preserving a group of ancient Indian mounds, the Crystal River Archaeological State Park home to one of the most significant archaeological sites in the United States.

The site was occupied for a span of more than 2,000 years and the first burial mound was built several hundred years before the birth of Christ. Over the centuries that followed, the inhabitants developed their town into a major ceremonial center.

Researchers believe that the mounds and mysterious stone stele or monuments found there were aligned to form a giant astronomical observatory, so that the inhabitants could time the passing of the seasons. Two of the unusual limestone stele can still be seen on the grounds. One of them bears the weathered carving of a human face.

The most stunning aspect of the park, however, is Mound A, a large platform mound overlooking the Crystal River. Wooden stairs lead up the side to the top, where visitors can take in a stunning view of the river and entire archaeological site. Sadly, even though what remains is impressive, only 1/4 or so of the original mound remains. The rest was carried away years ago and used as fill.

To learn more about the park, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/crystalrivermounds.

Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins Historic State Park - Homossassa, Florida

David Levy Yulee was one of the first great business leaders of the fledgling state of Florida. While little remains to commemorate the role of this industrious 19th century leader's role in the development of our state, the picturesque ruins of one of his enterprises have long attracted the attention of visitors to the Gulf Coast north of Tampa.

Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins Historic State Park in Homossassa preserves the surviving ruins of a sugar mill built by David Yulee on his 5,100 acre Margarita plantation.

The man who served as Florida's first U.S. senator when the former Spanish colony became a state in 1845 lived on a nearby island in the Homossassa River from which he could supervise his vast holdings. Sugar was then a major export product and the marshes and lowlying swamps along the rivers of Central and South Florida provided ideal for growing sugar cane.

The mill began operating in 1851, served by the labors of 69 slaves who planted and chopped the sugar cane, ran the stalks through the rollers of the cane press and then boiled the juice to make sugar. Packed into hogsheads (large barrels), the sugar was then placed aboard vessels in the Homossassa River for shipment to both American and foreign ports.

The mill operated until the Civil War, when the Union blockade brought the sugar export business to a temporary end. Yulee's house was burned by U.S. sailors, but the mill survived the war only to fall into disuse and eventually crumble into ruins.

To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/yuleesugarmill.

Blue Springs Recreational Area - Marianna, Florida

Because they were sources of cool, clear water, history often revolved around Florida's beautiful natural springs. Blue Springs near Marianna, for example, have a documented history dating back more than 300 years.

Archaeologically, the spring area was occupied even earlier than that. Early Native American hunters frequented the area around Blue Springs because it was a rich habitat for wildlife, fish and plants. The numerous caves in the vicinity have revealed evidence of having been used as campsites for early hunting parties.

The first written references to the spring date from the 1600s. Spanish missionaries passed what they called Calistoble or Calutoble Spring on their way to establish missions among the Chacato Indians (not to be confused with the Choctaw), who lived in western Jackson and eastern Washington and Holmes Counties. The missions lasted only for a year until the Franciscan friars were driven out in an uprising in 1675. The Spanish sent a military force into the area in 1676 to punish those responsible for the rebellion and to burn the homes and fields of the warring faction of the Chacato.

The spring was visited again in 1693 when it was a campsite on the overland journey of Governor-Designate Don Laureano de Torres de Ayala, who completed the first recorded crossing of the Florida Panhandle from the Apalachicola River to Pensacola Bay. Journals from that expedition describe the crystal clear water of the spring and buffalo grazing in the surrounding area.


In 1818, the spring was a stop on General Andrew Jackson's march from Fort Gadsden on the Apalachicola River to Pensacola. The First Seminole War was then underway, but Jackson's soldiers took time to marvel at the beautiful natural fountain that was by then called "Big Spring" in the account written by the army's topographer.

The first settlers arrived in the area just two years later and the spring became one of the early court sites for Jackson County. William Robinson operated a large plantation there, but in 1845 the property passed into the ownership of his nephew, John Milton, who renamed the farm "Sylvania" and gave the spring the name it bears today.

Milton served as Governor of Florida during the Civil War and a camp for Confederate cavalry was established at the spring. Civil War documents indicate it was occupied for three years.

Blue Springs is today the center of a beautiful recreational area operated by Jackson County. To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/jacksonbluespring.

Rainbow Springs State Park - Dunnellon, Florida

Although archaeologists believe that early Native American hunters camped around Rainbow Springs thousands of years before Christ, the beautiful Florida spring is perhaps best known for its more recent history.

A large first magnitude spring, Rainbow Springs is actually the fourth largest spring in Florida. It pours out 490 million gallons of water a day. A naturally beautiful and scenic spot, it was picked during the 1920s as the site for an early Florida amusement park. The park opened in the 1930s and operated for four decades before the new interstate highway system diverted traffic away from U.S. Highway 41 leading to a major reduction in visitors that led to the closing of the park. Before it closed, however, Rainbow Springs drew in hundreds of thousands of tourists who enjoyed such attractions as "submarine boats" and a leaf shaped monorail.

With development spreading rapidly in Florida, local residents ignited a drive to save the springs after the amusement park closed. Thanks to the vision of Florida's governor and cabinet, Rainbow Springs State Park opened its gates to the public in 1995. The park now preserves more than 1,400 of beautiful and historic land surrounding the head spring and the short but highly scenic Rainbow River.

To learn more about this stunning spring and a state park that may well be the best $2 attraction in the South, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/rainbowsprings.

Fort Fanning Historic Park - A Seminole War Fort on the Suwannee

With all the emphasis placed on Civil War history today, it is often forgotten that the Seminole Wars were far more bloody and brutal for Floridians. Fighting literaly took place from one end of the state to the other and the national cemetery at St. Augustine alone contains the remains of more than 1,468 men who died in the confict.

Thirty-one of these men died at an important but little known post on the Suwannee River at present-day Fanning Springs. Named Fort Fanning in honor of Colonel Alexander C.W. Fanning, a hero of the War of 1812 and Second Seminole War, the log stockade overlooked an important crossing of the river.

The fort served as a base of operations for U.S. and Florida Militia troops that tried to suppress the activities of small bands of Native American warriors - Creek and Seminole - that operated from the vast swamps of the lower Suwannee. Raids and fights were a constant part of life in the region for both whites and Indians during the years 1836-1842.

The site of Fort Fanning is preserved today, thanks to the dedicated efforts of the town of Fanning Springs and local concerned citizens. Through a multi-agency partnership, the community is now home to Fort Fanning Historic Park. Located at the original fort site, the park features the reconstructed gates and a section of stockade wall of Fort Fanning, paved walking paths leading through the site and a series of beautiful overlooks that provide great views of the famed Suwannee River.

To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/fortfanning.

Kingsley Plantation - A 19th Century Florida connection to Haiti

The recent earthquake devastation in Haiti has brought to mind that one group of early settlers of that unfortunate island nation migrated there from Florida during the 19th century.

Even though he owned slaves, a Florida planter named Zephaniah Kingsley was outraged by what he viewed as unlawful discrimination against free African Americans. As a result, he liberated scores of his slaves and helped them establish a free colony in Haiti, where they could escape the laws of the United States.

One of the more remarkable individuals ever to live in Florida, Kingsley had come to the state when it was still a Spanish colony. Acquiring lands and establishing a large plantation on Fort George Island, he moved into what remains the state's oldest standing plantation house.

Now preserved as part of the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, a relatively new national park area, the Kingsley Plantation offers a glimpse through time at the days when residents who had lived in Florida under Spanish or English rule tried to adapt to the cession of the territory to the United States in 1821. While Kingsley prospered under American rule, he objected strenuously to the imposition of "black codes," special laws designed to suppress the movement, rights and even the freedom of free people of color.

Kingsley's wife, Anta (Anna), had been born in Africa and was a slave when she encountered her future husband. He freed her and her children in 1803 and they moved into what is now known as the Kingsley House in 1814. The historic structure had been built in 1798.

Zephaniah Kingsley believed that people should be treated according to their abilities, not their color, and engaged in every legal avenue he could think of to oppose the imposition of tightening restrictions on the rights of free African Americans. Finally he decided that his effort was a lost cause.

Giving 50 of his slaves their legal freedom, he moved them along with Anta (Anna) and two of her children to Haiti, where he established a new colony at his own expense. Their families remain in the island nation to this day.

To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/kingsley.