Category: History
On This Day: Dedication of Everglades National Park, 1947
On this day in 1947—one month after Marjorie Stoneman Douglas’ landmark book The Everglades: River of Grass was published—Everglades National Park was dedicated by President Harry Truman. Douglas, known as “the Grand Dame of the […]
The Wakulla Volcano, Part 2: In Search Of…
In Part 1 of this series, we learned that traces of a volcano had been visible for at least a few decades, and perhaps much longer, and the this strange phenomenon was halted by an […]
The Wakulla Volcano, Part 1: “The greatest physical phenomenon in Florida”
If you were alive sometime between the 1860s and the 1880s (or perhaps the 1500s and the 1820s) and were to stand atop any high point in the city of Tallahassee and gaze due south […]
On This Day: The Orange Blossom Special
On this day in 1925, the Orange Blossom Special set off from New York on its maiden voyage to Florida on the Seaboard Air Line Railroad. No doubt buttressed by the success of Henry Flagler, […]
Archive Dive: Who registered the first vehicle in Leon County?
The State Library and Archives of Florida has over 300,000 individual records housed in various collections, many of which have been digitized and are publicly accessible via floridamemory.com. These resources can be invaluable to research, […]
The Brutality of Florida’s Turpentine Industry
The turpentine, or naval stores, industry produced a pitch or resin that was most commonly used to caulk holes in wooden boats, and coat ropes and rigging for preservation and protection from salt water. Workers […]
