Visit to Lake Harney’s Mansfield Island in 1891

In January 1891, photojournalist Clarence Bloomfield Moore traveled down the St. Johns River with a small crew. It had become an annual tradition since he first journeyed deep into the Florida wilderness in 1879. Moore was a Harvard-educated archeologist from...

Lake Monroe Public School, Constructed in 1919

The town of Lake Monroe was once a thriving community but much of its identity was swallowed up by I-4, and the rest erased by industrial buildings around the railroad of West Sanford. It overlays roughly with the former village...

Paola Historical Cemetery

The Paola Historical Cemetery, also known as the Banana Lake Cemetery or Paola Church Yard Cemetery, is an unassuming lot recently cleared of underbrush in hopes of being finally developed. It is estimated that around 60 graves were once buried...

Bradenton Almost Replaced Tampa as Cigar Hub

Tampa began manufacturing cigars in 1886, becoming the city's primary industry. Tampa went on to be the region's principal city. But Bradenton could have filled that role instead, according to Manatee County's first settler Josiah Gates. Around 1880, Gates was...

DeSoto County Seat Moves from Pine Level to Arcadia

DeSoto County was split off from Manatee County in 1887. The new county included what is now Hardee, Highlands, Glades, Charlotte, and DeSoto counties. Pine Level had been the county seat of Manatee County and initially remained so in the...

The Parker Brothers Ranch of DeSoto County

Captain John Parker was a Seminole War veteran and former sheriff of Hillsborough County. He was the first settler east of Arcadia (before the town existed) in 1858. He became a cattle baron and established a ranch spanning 125 square...