Dudley Farm Historic State Park [FL]

Description

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 18 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.

The park offers demonstrations, exhibits, tours, educational programs, and occasional recreational and educational events.

Knott House Museum [FL]

Description

The Knott House Museum was first built in the early 1800s, and opened as a museum in 1992. Today, visitors to the museum will take a step back in time as they enter the house, as the house is furnished in its original, Victorian-era furniture. Upstairs, visitors are treated to two exhibits on the history of Tallahassee and the Knott family's special role in that history.

The site offers a brief history of the Knott house as well as visitor information.

Henry Morrison Flagler Museum [FL]

Description

The Henry Morrison Flagler Museum preserves Whitehall, the estate of Henry Flagler, the noted railroad baron. The museum both chronicles the life and times of Flagler and the Florida East Coast Railway and serves as a local art museum.

The museum offers exhibits, tours, educational programs, and recreational and educational events.

Barnacle Historic State Park [FL]

Description

The Barnacle, built in 1891, offers a glimpse of Old Florida during the Era of the Bay. Situated on the shore of Biscayne Bay, this was the home of Ralph Middleton Munroe, one of Coconut Grove's most charming and influential pioneers. Munroe's principal passion was designing yachts. In his lifetime, he drew plans for 56 different boats. As a seaman, civic activist, naturalist, and photographer, Commodore Munroe was a man who cherished the natural world around him.

The park offers exhibits, tours, and educational and recreational events.

Tampa Bay History Center [FL]

Description

The Tampa Bay History Center is located in the center of historic Tampa, FL, in a beautiful new building which contains 60,000 square feet of exhibits space. The building hosts numerous exhibits which depict almost 500 years of recorded history and 12,000 years of human habitation in this region of Florida. The center also hosts a research center which contains 9,638 books, manuscripts, microfilm, legal documents. In addition, the research center hosts over 1,000 genealogical resources.

The site offers visitor information, a listing of all current, past, and present exhibits, information regarding the other historical resources owned by the center, an education section complete with lesson plans, field trip guides, and interactive online educational activities, a museum store, and an events calendar.

Fort George Island Cultural State Park [FL]

Description

Native Americans feasted here, colonists built a fort, and the Smart Set of the 1920s came for vacations. A site of human occupation for over 5,000 years, Fort George Island was named for a 1736 fort built to defend the southern flank of Georgia when it was a colony. A key attraction is the recently restored Ribault Club. Once an exclusive resort, it is now a visitor center.

The park offers exhibits, tours, educational programs, and occasional recreational and educational events.

Sarasota Classic Car Museum [FL]

Description

One of the oldest car museums in the world, according to its website, the Sarasota Classic Car Museum holds over 100 automobiles, including makes from almost every manufacturer to compete in the United States car market, spanning over 100 years. In addition to vehicles, the museum houses a small arcade of antique games.

The museum offers exhibits, an antique games arcade, and tours for school groups. The website offers an events calendar, visitor information, and information about the other services offered by the museum.

Ximenez-Fatio House [FL]

Description

The Ximenez-Fatio House is one of St. Augustine's "most authentic historic properties." The house is the best preserved of roughly three dozen colonial buildings in St. Augustine. The grounds and buildings that compose the home date all the way back to St. Augustine's original town plan of 1572. Visitors to the home will be taken on a trip starting in the late 18th century when the house was built all the way through Florida's acquisition as a U.S. state in 1845. The house museum focuses on the property's role as a boarding house, one of the few socially acceptable business ventures for a 19th-century woman.

The house offers exhibits and guided tours for school groups, as well as a DVD presentation on Florida's territorial-era history, Florida: The 27th Star, for order. The website offers visitor information, detailed historical information, a virtual tour of the home, and resources for teachers, including lesson plans, a tour designed for schoolchildren, and historical information about the property.

Eustis Historical Museum & Preservation Society [FL]

Description

The Eustis Historical Society is dedicated towards preserving and showcasing Eustis area history through the Eustis Historical Museum. The museum is located in the Clifford House, which was built in 1911, and remains much the same today as it was when it was first built. Exhibits in the museum mainly focus on the early history of Eustis, Florida, which was dominated by the citrus industry. In addition, visitors can view photographs of early residents of Eustis.

The site offers visitor information, brief historical information, and an online museum shop.

Crystal River Archaeological State Park [FL]

Description

A National Historic Landmark, this 61-acre, pre-Columbian, Native American site has burial mounds, temple/platform mounds, a plaza area, and a substantial midden. The six-mound complex is one of the longest continuously occupied sites in Florida. For 1,600 years the site served as an imposing ceremonial center for Native Americans. People traveled to the complex from great distances to bury their dead and conduct trade. It is estimated that as many as 7,500 Native Americans may have visited the complex every year.

The park offers exhibits, tours, boat tours, educational programs, and occasional documentary screenings.