Author Archives: floridatraveler

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About floridatraveler

Emeritus Professor of History and travel and textbook writer M. C. Bob Leonard makes the Sunshine State his home base. Besides serving as content editor for several textbook publishers and as a college professor, he moderates the FHIC at www.floridahistory.org

HYDE PARK: TAMPA’S VICTORIAN ERA SUBURB STILL GROWS

Posted on December 7, 2015 by floridatraveler

Hyde Park was Tampa’s first Western suburb, stretching southward from the mouth of the Hillsborough River down the east side of the Interbay Peninsula. In 1886 O. H. Platt of Hyde Park, Illinois, purchased the Robert Jackson farm on the south side of the river in anticipation of … Continue reading →

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New Port Richey: Tampa’s Northern Neighbor

Posted on December 1, 2015 by floridatraveler

  PORT RICHEY AND NEW PORT RICHEY, West Pasco’s dual coastal communities, are best known today as booming retirement centers, but both towns had more basic origins. PORT RICHEY was started in 1883 by Missourian Captain A. M. Richey, who homesteaded on … Continue reading →

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The First Thanksgiving: St. Augustine, September 8, 1565

Posted on November 23, 2015 by floridatraveler

I grew up in Framingham, Massachusetts, so I always viewed the first Thanksgiving in America was at Plymouth Plantation in 1621. Then I moved to Florida. Forty two years before the English successfully cultivated a community in Jamestown, Virginia, and … Continue reading →

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San Marco: A Little Europe In Jacksonville

Posted on November 18, 2015 by floridatraveler

SAN MARCO is a small and mainly upscale neighborhood south of downtown Jacksonville across the Saint Johns River. Developed in the 1920’s the San Marco neighborhood is diverse but mostly popular with young professionals due to its trendy look.   The … Continue reading →

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Florida: Home of the 13,000 Year Old Art Work

Posted on November 9, 2015 by floridatraveler

Most of us were taught in school about the migration from Asia across the frozen Bering Straight of the ancestors of today’s American Indians (the Clovis Theory).  In Florida there are two archaeological sites that may challenge that as the … Continue reading →

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Disney’s Latest Two Restaurants Are A Wild Contrast Of STyle

Posted on November 2, 2015 by floridatraveler

While Walt Disney World’s Disney Springs is just entering its final stages with the two-story shopping mall and second parking garage going up, the local restaurant scene is booming for the winter season. Two new restaurants recently opened and are … Continue reading →

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Lake Wales Is Scenic Florida Beyond Bok Tower

Posted on October 26, 2015 by floridatraveler

Chalet Suzanne closed last year when the Hinshaw family retired, leaving beautiful Bok Tower on 289-foot Iron Mountain as Lake Wale’s lone super attraction. But if visitors stop by downtown Lake Wales, they will be impressed with a small town … Continue reading →

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Halloween Is A Creepy Big Business In Florida

Posted on October 19, 2015 by floridatraveler

In recent years Halloween has become a big fund-raiser for organizations and non-profits from zoos to parks.   In Florida Halloween has become a big business. Considering the fact that October was once considered a between time for vacationing in Florida, … Continue reading →

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Brooksville Preserves Its History Well

Posted on October 12, 2015 by floridatraveler

BROOKSVILLE, located 50 miles north of Tampa, is a wonderful city of hills, ranging in elevation from 175 to 274 feet. Coupled with its condensed area (2.77 square miles) and its long history of successful planters, growers, and cattlemen, Brooksville … Continue reading →

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Everglades City: Still Florida’s Last Frontier

Posted on October 5, 2015 by floridatraveler

You can’t travel any further south along the Florida’s Gulf of Mexico than EVERGLADES CITY and CHOKOLOSKEE, at the entrance to the Western Everglades.  In many ways this area is still Florida’s last frontier,  a place for fishermen and nature lovers and people who … Continue reading →

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