Florida – Florida History Blog

Mayaca-Jororo, the native people of Orlando

If you ask most residents who lived in Central Florida when the Spanish arrived, they’d probably tell you the Seminoles. However, the Seminoles didn't even exist when the Spanish arrived. Instead, they were bands of refugees fleeing to Florida long...

Dr. Howell Tyson Lykes: Founder of the Lykes Brothers

Dr. Howell Tyson Lykes was born in Columbia, South Carolina in 1846. He moved to Spring Hill, in the Brooksville area, with his family at a young age. He served with the Confederate Army during the Civil War; he was...

Osceola Ghost Town

The company town of Osceola was a bustling and modern city from 1916-1940. When the company relocated to south Florida, it literally dismantled the town board by board.

Petty’s Market of Longwood

Siblings Jay and Mary Alysson Pettigrew were twenty-something entrepreneurs passionate about food. Their first venture was running a typical high-volume supermarket owned by their parents (Jerry and Rosemary) in St. Cloud. They sold that market around 1976 when a buyer...

Lord family founded Ebenezer Methodist Church in Elder Springs (Sanford)

John Minton Lord (1839-1924) served with his brother, Jeremiah, for the 3rd Georgia Regiment of the Confederate Army during the Civil War. He was wounded and left for dead at Gettysburg. He lay for nine days under an apple tree,...

Jasmine Theater of Altamonte Springs

You'd never guess it today, but this modest residence was once the hub of social activity in early Altamonte Springs.

Cross Florida Barge Canal: A Shortcut That Never Was

The Cross Florida Barge Canal was an ambitious and ultimately unfulfilled project to carve a watery path across the state's midsection, connecting the Atlantic Ocean with the Gulf of Mexico.

The Last Cowgirl of Lake Mary

Lillian Humphrey was born on her family’s Lake Mary homestead in 1928. She was the third generation to be born in what became Seminole County.

Winn-Dixie and the Davis Family

Boldness and tenacity took Winn-Dixie from a single store in Miami to a multi-billion dollar grocery empire. William Milton Davis didn’t always win at business but wasn’t afraid of failure either. The founding father of the Winn-Dixie grocery empire was intense...