November 2010

Begun in 1672, the Castillo de San Marcos is the last 17th century fort left in the United States. Visitors will learn about the many cultures that intersected at this site, from Native and African American to English, Spanish, and United States. Reenactors in dress dating from America's colonial period augment the historical experience that the site provides.*

A monument not only of stone and mortar but of human determination and endurance, the Castillo de San Marcos symbolizes the clash between cultures which ultimately resulted in our uniquely unified nation. Still resonant with the struggles of an earlier time, these original walls provide tangible evidence of America’s grim but remarkable history.

Carrabelle was the focal point of social life around the camp when it was open during WWII, and today continues its role as the preserver of the amphibious soldier's heritage. The museum also preserves an oral history, presenting the experiences of veterans in the U.S. For example, Mr. George Blanchett, retired and currently living in Massachusetts, tells of airplanes from nearby Dale Mabry Field making strafing runs off Alligator Bay. The pilot attempted to perform a "loop." Unfortunately, the inexperienced flier did not have sufficient altitude and dove straight into the ground.

Visitors can tour the sugar mill ruins and learn about the plantation's history at the interpretive center.

In 1836, the Second Seminole War swept away the prosperous Bulow Plantation where the Bulow family grew sugar cane, cotton, rice, and indigo. Ruins of the former plantation-a sugar mill, a unique spring house, several wells, and the crumbling foundations of the plantation house and slave cabins-show how volatile the Florida frontier was in the early 19th century. Today, a scenic walking trail leads visitors to the sugar mill ruins, listed on the National Register of Historic Sites. The park has picnic facilities and an interpretive center that tells the plantation's history. A boat ramp provides access for canoes and small powerboats to scenic Bulow Creek, a designated state canoe trail. Anglers can fish from the dock or a boat.

Colorful dioramas depicting the area from the days of woolly mammoths and saber tooth cats to the modem era of rockets and space shuttles show visitors the diverse and rich history of Brevard County. Visitors can handle fossils, specimens and artifacts from the animals and cultures that lived in this area over many thousands of years.

The American artist Frederic Clay Bartlett used the Bonnet House as his winter residence. A number of original works are open to public viewing in Bartlett's studio.

The museum contains approximately 2,000 artifacts, 2,500 photographs and a library containing 200 volumes of local and Florida History. Included in the museum collection is a CD computer program of the Dunedin Times Newspaper, from 1924 through 1965. The collection includes antique clothing, household tools and utensils used by Dunedin pioneer families during the 1870's through the 1900's. City history includes original material from the Dunedin Post Office, Dunedin's first bank and other major companies in the Dunedin area, including the Orange Concentrate plant.

The museum sets out to display the culture of Coachella Valley with constantly changing exhibits, in an effort to reflect local activities a wide spectrum of time and subject, from Native Americans to valley pioneers.

The Museum currently has an exhibit on barbed wire as well as the Inyo Good Roads Club exhibit, which is about the history of travel in the Owens Valley. This exhibit features old license plates, road signs and photographs dating back to the grand opening of the "El Camino Sierra" highway (now known as Highway 395) in August 31, 1910.

With displays about Spanish settlement, local agricultural history, historic newspapers, and local artifacts, the Groveland Museum can provide every visitor with a lesson in history that they will enjoy.

The plantation complex consists of eighteen buildings, including the house in which the Dudley family resided complete with the original furniture.

Farming has always been central to life in Florida, and the Dudley Farm bears witness to the complex lifestyles that evolved around it. Living history actors perform the duties of the farmers who worked the fields between the 1850s and the 1940s, from cultivating crops to caring for livestock.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, this park demonstrates the evolution of Florida farming from the 1850s to the mid-1940s-through three generations of the Dudley family. An authentic working farm, the homestead consists of eighteen buildings, including the family farmhouse with original furnishings, an 1880s kitchen outbuilding, a general store and post office, and a functional cane syrup complex. Park staff in period clothing perform daily chores, raising crops, and tending to livestock.

The farm features seasonal cane grindings, corn shuckings, and heritage varieties of livestock and plants. Deer, wild turkeys, gopher tortoises, and bluebirds are still seen in the fields.