Arcadia Bestsellers

Daytona lays claim to being The World's Most Famous Beach, and with good reason. Experience the birthplace and home of NASCAR in 100 years of racing on the sands.

NASCAR, one of America's favorite pastimes, got its start on Daytona Beach--""The World's Famous Beach."" For decades people have flocked to Daytona's 23 miles of white sand not only for relaxation and spring breaks, but also for the racing action once offered on its hard-packed sand shore. Dozens of records were set on the beach during low tide before promoter Bill France Sr. organized the National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing at the Streamline Hotel in 1947. From those humble beginnings years ago, France turned his vision of what NASCAR could become into the brand of racing known today. Daytona Beach: 100 Years of Racing follows NASCAR's evolution from grassroots racing to its rise as one of the most talked about spectator sports in the world. The more than 200 images in this photo history illustrate why this sport--once known only to those south of the Mason-Dixon Line--is now aninternational phenomenon. Travel the course of racing's famous and lesser-known heroes like Sir Malcolm Campbell, Lawson Diggett, Clessie L. Cummins, Richard Petty, and Dale Earnhardt Sr. Experience the pile-ups, victories, and defeats, and understand why NASCAR history is incomplete without Daytona Beach.

The area known as Manatee County opened for settlement at the close of the Second Seminole War in 1841.

This was due to Congress's passage of the Armed Occupation Act of 1842, which allowed settlers to claim 160 acres of land at a cost of $1.25 an acre if they were able to bear arms and live on the land for five years. It wasn't long before settlers appeared up and down the beautiful Manatee River, led by Josiah Gates and his family on the south side. Many of his friends had suffered losses with the collapse of the Union Bank in Tallahassee and were anxious to join him. The opulent shores on both sides of the river quickly enticed other settlers to make their claims, offering a cornucopia filled with some of Florida's best resources for growth and prosperity. This volume provides a pictorial account of those lives, which were caught in the struggle to carve out a niche against all odds in a place that faced epidemics of yellow fever, malaria, typhoid, and a third uprising of the Seminole Indians. In 1861, Florida seceded from the Union, which was followed by the Civil War with a Union victory in 1865 that brought an end to slavery and plantation ownership.

With images from public and private collections, join the Palm Gardens Historical Society as they paint a colorful picture of this impressive community.

Sculpted from the swamp, sawgrass, and sand of Florida scrubland, Palm Beach Gardens emerged as a pristine embodiment of the dream of eccentric—but brilliant—billionaire John D. MacArthur, who appealed to the Florida Legislature in 1959 for the creation of this new city. A larger-than-life character who relocated an 80-year-old, 76-ton banyan tree several miles down roads and across railroad tracks to mark the entrance to his city, MacArthur later fully financed the Palm Beach Gardens interchange on Florida's Turnpike to promote growth in the western part of the city. Palm Beach Gardens, with 30 percent of its 4,000 acres devoted to green space, was ecologically sound before the environmental movement began. With the RCA Corporation and nearby Pratt & Whitney providing employment in the early years, schools and churches nourishing families, and a strong strain of volunteerism among residents, by 1970 Palm Beach Gardens was the fastest-growing municipality in the nation. Although Mr. Mac did not play golf nor particularly like the game, he encouraged its development in the Gardens because of its positive influence on real estate sales and tourism. Indeed, he invited the Professional Golfers' Association (PGA) to make its home there and declared Palm Beach Gardens the Golf Capital of the World—today, there are 17 golf courses in the city.

History comes to life, as you re-discover familiar faces, names, places and events that are distinct to the trailblazing towns of Melbourne and Eau Gallie.

Melbourne and Eau Gallie tells the story of two pioneer towns and their coming of age during the last century. From tiny villages, whose early settlers depended on the Indian River for sustenance and travel, Melbourne and Eau Gallie has grown into a unified Space Coast city with more than 71,000 residents. With the railroad in the 1890s and US Highway 1 in the 1920s, tourism, agriculture, and industry blossomed in these midway towns along the Florida East Coast. World War II brought a military, aviation, and technological presence to Melbourne and Eau Gallie that was followed by a flood of new residents tied to America's Space Program.

Through it all the Indian River Lagoon has maintained its importance in the lives of the area's people. Among the items included are vintage photographs of the historic downtowns, riverfronts, and landmarks like the Trysting Steps, Sunny Point, and the old bridges.

From small ports to large ports, from rivers to creeks, from lakes to lagoons, water routes have been essential to Florida’s development as a commercial, recreational, agricultural, and cultural entity. With more than 30,000 lakes and ponds and some 1,700 rivers, creeks, and streams, Florida ranks second in the list of wettest states in the USA. Native Americans used the rivers, creeks, and lakes as routes to various locales within the peninsula while harvesting fish and other aquatic edibles to sustain their daily lives. Early European settlers followed suit and supplemented their diets with the bounty from the oceans and fresh water sources. Into statehood, settlers relied on the same sources for food while using fresh water to make the land productive for food and cash crops. By the early decades of the 20th Century, water became a marketable attraction to lure millions of tourists to Florida for recreation and sports. The trend continues today. Join a trio of authors on this look at the immense impact water and maritime activities have played in the development of Florida.

Before Ponce De Leon charted the 1,700 islands in 1513 now known as the Florida Keys, Calusa and Tequesta Indians were fishing with spears and nets for the cornucopia of fish species they survived on.

Today, 30 islands make up the habitable areas, cobbled together by 43 bridges and surrounded by waters holding more than 600 varieties of fish. The fishing paradise has brought multiple presidents—Herbert Hoover, George H. Bush, John Kennedy, Harry Truman, and, more than 100 years ago, Teddy Roosevelt—to fish in the Florida Keys. Ernest Hemingway and Ted Williams, who were both avid fishermen, made their homes here. Movies stars like Lee Marvin fished the Keys for tarpon, bonefish, sailfish, marlin, and tuna. Today, millions make their pilgrimages to the “Fishing Capital of the World.”

Flowing 75 miles from Florida's Lake Okeechobee to the Gulf of Mexico, historic Caloosahatchee River has always been critically important to the region it traverses.

As it makes its way past farm fields, quiet hamlets, and urban downtowns, manatees graze in its warm shallows, bass lurk in its shaded oxbows, and alligators sun on its banks. Over the years, the river has attracted luminaries as well as colorful characters. Thomas Edison had a Caloosahatchee riverfront home, as did Henry Ford and telegrapher George Shulz, who created Florida's tarpon-fishing industry. Without the Caloosahatchee, the Southwest Florida that people know today would not exist. Without people, however, the river known as the Caloosahatchee would not exist either, since it was human effort and engineering that connected the river to the lake and made it navigable--changes that sometimes spelled disaster.

The story of Sanibel and Captiva Islands stretches back over three centuries, to a time when Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon tried to subdue the Calusa Indians.

 The next few centuries were flooded with pioneers, fishermen and clergymen in their quest to tame the wilderness in search of a better life. Discover how anthropologist Frank Cushing visited pioneer Sam Ellis in 1895 after the farmer discovered bones on his homestead and how President Theodore Roosevelt's men saved a little girl from drowning when he lived on a houseboat in Captiva to study local marine life. Join local history columnist Jeri Magg as she recounts the storied history of these little slices of paradise.

Discover this collection of quirky and fun stories about the history of Everglades City.

Drawing from the author's time as a reporter for the Everglades City Echo, this book will chronicle lesser-known stories about the area. The book discusses the original pioneer families of Everglades City, and the time when this city was the governing center of Collier County. It goes on to chronicle colorful characters from the area, local landmarks, and the annual Seafood Festival that draws 20,000 people to the city every year.

A haunting collection of spooky tales from one of America's first cities, Pensacola.

Pensacola may boast the world's whitest beaches, but the sands of time reveal a dark history in America's first settlement. It's no surprise that one of the nation's oldest cities is also among the most haunted, with culturally diverse spirits from the ages of the Spanish founders and British settlers through the turbulent era of the Civil War. Author and expert Alan Brown presents a survey of unexplained mysteries at Pensacola's eerie landmarks. The infamous haunted lighthouse, the ghosts of St. Michael's Cemetery and the tale of the headless woman of Ramona Street are just a few of the chilling stories recounted in Haunted Pensacola.

In this board book for young readers, we'll learn to count down from 10 to 1 while discovering sites around Tampa, Florida.

Catch a train at the Union Station, explore the Glazer Children's Museum, and attend the Hyde Park Festival--all before bedtime! From the Florida Aquarium to the Gasparilla Festival, there's so much to see--won't you join me?

Jacksonville, Florida’s Gullah Geechee heritage is an integral part of the city’s story.

Gullah Geechee people, descendants of west and central Africans forcibly brought to the southeastern coast of the United States, have retained many of their indigenous African traditions through architecture, food, culture, religion, and occupations. This legacy, combined with northeast Florida’s unique blend of Indigenous, French, Spanish, and English colonial history, has contributed to the African American journey in Jacksonville. Today, Jacksonville is the largest city in the federally designated Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor, which stretches from Wilmington, North Carolina, to St. Augustine, Florida.

Ennis Davis is a Gullah Geechee descendant, urban planner, heritage advocate, and writer. Adrienne Burke is a historian, urban planner, and heritage advocate. Together they own Community Planning Collaborative, a firm working to assist communities with heritage-based urban planning solutions. Drawing from archival photographs housed in the Library of Congress, State Archives of Florida, National Archives, Jacksonville Public Library, University of Florida, University of North Florida, the Ritz Theatre & Museum, and the Jaxson magazine, each image illuminates the unique stories of the past that continue to shape Jacksonville’s character today. The foreword is provided by Saundra Morene with the Jacksonville Gullah/Geechee Nation Community Development Corporation.

Explore the rich history and architectural beauty of historic downtown New Port Richey, Florida, with this engaging walking tour guide from local historian Gary Vitacco-Robles, author of New Port Richey’s Hacienda Hotel.

As the city celebrates its centennial and experiences a cultural renaissance, this book serves as the perfect companion to the Tides of Time public art installation, offering locals and tourists a deeper look into the city’s fascinating past.

With lush illustrations, archival photographs from the West Pasco Historical Society, and compelling stories of the early settlers, silent film stars, literary legends, and sports heroes who once strolled these very streets, this guidebook brings the Cotee River’s most historic neighborhood to life.

Whether you’re a lifelong resident or visiting Florida’s Gulf Coast for the first time, this book reveals the hidden gems, preserved buildings, and long-lost landmarks that shaped New Port Richey’s unique identity.

Perfect for heritage tourism, history buffs, and curious explorers, this beautifully crafted tour invites you to step into the past—one block at a time.

The Scary Side of Paradise

The Florida Keys may be a tropical paradise, but behind the swaying palms and ocean breeze lies a haunted past that refuses to rest. From the ancient spirits of the Timucuan Indians to the restless ghosts of pirates, rumrunners, wreckers, and smugglers, these islands are alive with eerie legends and spine-tingling tales.

Did you know the dead in Key West Cemetery outnumber the living by over 44,000 souls? Or that Robert the Doll, one of the world’s most infamous haunted artifacts, still resides in his island home? In Haunted Florida Keys, authors Elizabeth and Bob Randall explore the ghostly folklore and paranormal hotspots scattered from the Everglades to Key West—a region long known as a refuge for outlaws, artists, and the eccentric. Enter the Artist House, where the haunted legacy of Robert Gene Otto still lingers. Smell unexplained smoke in a historic Key West theater. Discover the tragic suicide atop a shipwreck museum’s lookout tower. And beware the mysterious spirits said to live within the roots of the rare Kapok tree. Perfect for fans of haunted travel books, true ghost stories, Florida history, and the paranormal, this book takes you deep into the supernatural soul of the Keys. The sun may shine bright—but the shadows are darker than you think.

A Special Florida Paradise    

“The Gables” is not merely a highly desirable bedroom community or a sprawling city with features of the City Beautiful movement scattered here and there. The brainchild of George Merrick, a visionary congregational minister’s son with a poetic bent, Coral Gables is a planned city, home to of some of the nation’s most valuable real estate, a world-renowned hotel in the Biltmore, headquarters to 120 multinational firms, a major research university and a top-ten botanical garden. The story of how Merrick’s intricate design took shape—while most developments born during the so-called Florida Boom crashed and burned—and the rise of the preservationist movement that maintains it is a testament to the power of a vision. Author Les Standiford details the amazing rise of an iconic place.

Author Gary Vitacco-Robles traces the history of New Port Richey’s architectural jewel. The Hacienda Hotel opened in 1927, designed in Mediterranean Revival style by Thomas Reed Martin. The masterpiece quickly became a hotbed for actors, screenwriters, literati, pop singers, and sports figures such as Thomas Meighan, Raymond Hitchcock, Flora Zabelle, Ring Lardner and Gene Sarazen. Advertised as “a bit of Spain among the palms,” the Hacienda flourished as a social and cultural center for civic meetings, conventions, weddings and proms while inspiring local lore related to ghost hunting and the legendary actress Gloria Swanson. 

St. Petersburg Then & Now retells the history of the area in images comparing its beginnings to present day.

As the ""Sunshine City"" of St. Petersburg forges onward with new and exciting developments, a legacy of landmarks still remains. The founding fathers envisioned St. Petersburg as a city with great potential for progress and growth. Over the past century, St. Petersburg has far exceeded these vast expectations.

Around Palm Harbor reveals the early history of the unincorporated area of North Pinellas County, including the communities of Curlew, Ozona, Crystal Beach, Wall Springs, and the large eastern side of Lake Tarpon.

Families began arriving in the 1850s, and one of the early settlers was J.C. Craver, dubbed the ""father"" of both Ozona and Palm Harbor. Craver built the original Ozona school and received the first post office commission in the name of Bay St. Joseph, which included the area west of the lake and between the later towns of Dunedin and Tarpon Springs. Wildlife was abundant, and saltwater bays and freshwater lakes supplied plentiful seafood. Each community still has its own unique characteristics; however, they also remain bound together through family ties as well as the triumphs and disasters that have befallen each.

Travel to the Gulf of Florida and discover the inception, growth and final end to the sunshine state's Gulfarium Marine Adventure Park.

John Brandy Siebenaler and his wife, Marjorie, founded the Gulfarium, the first marine attraction of its kind on the Florida Panhandle. Since the gates first swung open in 1955, guests flocked to the Gulfarium. Displays of live specimens collected from the nearby Gulf of Mexico waters by Brandy, his associates, and Destin's fishing families gave visitors a chance to view life below the sea as they had never seen it before. The park's spectacular dolphin shows gained national recognition, and the high-flying porpoises were trained by none other than Marjorie, who quickly became an acclaimed expert for her innate ability to connect with the animals. Beyond the on-cue performances of sky-high leaps, hoop jumps, and clever antics in the pool, the Gulfarium is part of a greater mission. It plays a critical role in the rescue, rehabilitation, and release of stranded marine mammals, sea turtles, and other native wildlife—a need it has continued to serve for more than half a century.

The Ormond Beach area's earliest known inhabitants were the Timucua Indians, whose primitive, blunt-nosed canoes skimmed the waters of the Halifax and Tomoka Rivers in northeast Volusia County.

Soon, hardy settlers also made their way to the area—brothers John Andrew and Charles Bostrom were attracted by the mighty oaks and sparkling spring water in 1868 and were soon followed by other rugged visionaries. As the town grew, entrepreneurs began their work, and one of the most famous area landmarks, the Hotel Ormond, was opened in 1888. At the turn of the century, the hard-packed white sands of the nearby beach became a natural proving ground for gas- and steam-driven horseless carriages—the original birthplace of speed. The region was blessed with abundant resources, a mild and inviting climate, and natural beauty, all of which served to entice John D. Rockefeller, perhaps Ormond Beach's most famous resident, to spend his winters in the area. His three-story home now serves the community as a cultural center and museum.

The true story behind a sensational murder trial in 19th century Florida—and the local legend of a headless ghost.

Sanford, Florida, 1880. As the United States recovered from the horrors of the Civil War, settlers, swindlers, and former soldiers from both sides decended on Florida in droves. Among these newcomers was Archie Newton, a young Englishman seeking refuge from his past. Newton hoped to forge a new life on the Florida frontier—and he set his sights on the fertile soil of Sanford. 

Samuel McMillan was a miserly Sanford bachelor who carried large sums of "greenbacks" and trusted no one. The ambitious Newton made no secret of his plan to buy McMillan's profitable orange grove. But on his way back from Newton's home one evening, McMillan disappeared without a trace. He wasn't seen again until his headless corpse was pulled from a nearby lake. 

Though there was no direct evidence linking Newton to the murder, he was immediately suspected. The trial was sensational and the evidence gruesome. To this day, local legends tell of a headless ghost rising from the lake. In Murder on the Florida Frontier, Andrew Fink chronicles the twists and turns of this shocking true story

A century ago, sparsely populated and largely rural Florida rallied as America plunged into World War I, her sacrifices and contributions celebrated here in full detail.

The proud USS Florida, too often mentioned as mere adjunct to the Atlantic Fleet, receives a just accounting, as does the utterly devastating loss of the USS Tampa, the highest death toll the navy suffered in the war. Sunshine State foresters served critical roles abroad, and local libraries became essential hubs for promoting rationing and reporting news from overseas. Floridian aid workers and soldiers training for departure were stricken with the Spanish Flu, a pandemic that shook the globe with force equal to the war itself. Authors Joe Knetsch and Pamela Gibson provide a necessary and thorough chronicle of Florida in the Great War.

Large landholders sold property in this unknown paradise to working-class people, and since the 1950s, Port Charlotte has had a colorful history of progress.

In the '50s, General Development Corporation created Port Charlotte by expanding the canals previously dug by John Murdock to drain the swampy land. The Mackle Company carved Arthur Frizzell's 80,000 acres into small, perfectly rectangular lots for resale to middle-class retirees--the targets of mass advertising and sales practices that included displaying models of Port Charlotte in department stores throughout Chicago and New York. Encouraging retirees to come to Port Charlotte resulted in the area having one of the highest concentrations of residents aged 65 and older in the nation. Port Charlotte's boom-and-bust history is a microcosm of the frenzied social and economic growth that transformed Florida in the second half of the 20th century.

Hop aboard the Charlotte Harbor and Northern Railway for a trip across the trestle to Gasparilla Island.

Natural beauty and the sportfishing life brought the Cabots, Vanderbilts and Du Ponts to this island paradise, where local fishing families danced, ate and drank with the rich and famous at their castles on the beach. As the wealthy played, they relied on locals for everything from fishing charters to literally laundering and ironing their money. These are tales of 1920s rum smugglers whose offspring smuggled marijuana in the 1970s, a woman who caught 236 tarpon in one season and a bar owner whose Pink Elephant restaurant fed American presidents. James Bond’s Goldfinger even has a part as an island player. From Placida to Boca Grande Pass to Cabbage Key, fourth-generation Gasparilla Islander David Futch offers a wild ride with Bull Bay hermits and billionaires.

A fascinating pictorial history of Central Brevard County, Florida, documenting its beginning struggles to its modern day prestige.

While Brevard County is today an affluent tourist destination, its early history was one of hardship and struggle against adversity. Mosquito-ridden salt marshes to the east and the headwaters of the mighty St. John's River to the west made access hard and survival harder. Indeed, as late as 1870, fewer than 250 people lived between Titusville, near the northern end of the Indian River, and present-day Miami. The Industrial Revolution brought change, and with the arrival of the first steamboat on the lagoon came the first boom period for the region. From a subsistence existence, the area's population embraced commercial agriculture and mass tourism. Resort hotels sprang up, citrus farms flourished, and migrants arrived by the thousands to share the newfound wealth. The growth continued and expanded with the arrival of the railroad and, later, the automobile, and was crowned by the advent of the space program in the 1950s. Fueled by NASA and by the rise of the Disney complex in Orlando, the region became a mecca for those seeking the sun or the stars.

Retrace the history of Ybor City from its beginnings in the Cigar Industry to the colorful Latin community it is today.

In 1885, Vicente Martínez Ybor purchased 40 acres of land northeast of Tampa, and there he began the cigar industry that would soon draw thousands of immigrants to Ybor City. The diverse population of the area, known as Tampa's Latin Quarter, came from Cuba, Spain, Italy, Germany, and Eastern Europe. Some residents worked in the various stages of cigar manufacturing, from picking tobacco to constructing cigar boxes, while others operated the local shops and businesses.  A unique culture grew from the intermingling of the various traditions and languages found in Ybor City, and residents proudly proclaimed themselves Los Tampaños (or Tampanian). A strong sense of community has been an ever-present part of Ybor City, through the politically charged years of Cuba's fight for independence as well as the comfortable days of social clubs and dinners.

Though little more than an afterthought these days, from the 1890s through the 1920s, postcards were by far the most popular means of communication.

Many of the postcards produced during this “golden age” can be considered works of art, when postcard photographers traveled the nation coast to coast snapping photographs of busy street scenes, documenting local landmarks, and taking photographic portraits of locals only too happy to pose for the camera. These images, printed as postcards and sold in general stores across the country, helped drive the Florida land boom of the early 20th century, with people all over the country seeing the sandy beaches and palm trees in the sun, and these surviving postcards can teach us important aspects of yesteryear that we may not find in history books.

Cocoa Beach welcomes millions of visitors every year, but the city has always managed to keep a small town atmosphere.

In 1940, it was a cozy little waterfront town with less than 50 people. A few years after World War II, America's space race began, and the city was never the same.

Although best known as the winter home of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford, Fort Myers has one of the most engaging and extraordinary histories of any city in Florida.

The spawn of a hurricane, Fort Myers began as a U.S. Army post during Florida's Seminole Wars. During the Civil War, it became a battleground between Confederates and Yankees for cattle and, after the war, a gun-slinging cowboy town. New York cartoonist Walt McDougall blew into the area on a fishing trip, and his glowing description lured down other wealthy Yankee sportsmen who helped turn this isolated frontier town into a modern tourist destination. Historian and author Cynthia Williams explores the hidden stories behind the growth of this beautiful city.

Indian Rocks Beach, Florida has a grand history. Join authors Authors Wayne and Nancy Ayers and Jan Ockunzzi as they uncover its legendary past.

According to legend, Indian Rocks got its name when Tocobaga Indians brought their ailing chief from inland Florida to drink from the area's sulfur springs, prized for their medicinal qualities. Their leader miraculously recovered, as the story goes, and the tribe returned each year to the place where large rocks surrounded the healing spring. The natural beauty of the barrier island that became Indian Rocks Beach was what attracted Harvey Hendrick to establish his homestead here in the mid-1890s. Years later, he recalled, ""I liked the place, I thought it was the most beautiful place on God's green footstool, and I think so yet."" The charm and character of this little seaside community is evident in these historic photographs, from the days when the old swing bridge was the center of activity, to the booming post-World War II era when tourists and residents proclaimed Indian Rocks Beach as their special place.

A fascinating history of Central Florida's DeLand, the ""Athens of Florida.""

Nestled in Central Florida between the northerly flowing St. Johns River and the alluring beaches of the Atlantic Ocean, DeLand has been described as the ""Athens of Florida."" Founded in 1882, DeLand has fought to maintain a small-town atmosphere even as development surrounds the tranquil city. Balancing a strong sense of community with a willingness to allow progress to knock at its door, DeLand is home to nationally ranked Stetson University, an assortment of inviting cafes, alluring unique shops, determined mom-and-pop stores, and architecturally significant buildings.

Over six decades, the community comprised of citrus groves and cattle ranches between Lake Carroll and Lake Magdalene flourished and became the town known as Carrollwood.

Carrollwood’s story begins in the 1890s, when Rev. Isaac Ward Bearss led a small caravan from Missouri to Florida and heled form a close-knit rural community. By the late 1950s, a developer named Matt Jetton bought more than 300 acres of land surrounding Lake Carroll and built the 925-home community that was given the name Carrollwood. By the 1970s, many of the remaining citrus groves in the areas surrounding the neighborhood gave way to new homes and businesses, and the Carrollwood name continued spreading north and west.

Join author James Anthony Schnur as he recounts the history of Medeira beach from its beginnings as a fishing haven to quiet residential city.

Long before condominiums appeared on the Florida coastline, itinerant fishing parties visited the barrier islands along the Pinellas peninsula. Fewer than 200 people lived in present-day Pinellas County in September 1848, when a destructive hurricane carved Johns Pass. Developers first focused their efforts along the inlet with a settlement known as Mitchell Beach in the early 1910s, but it had only limited success since no bridges connected the island to the mainland. The first bridge opened along Welch Causeway in 1926, and electricity came to the island a few years later. Small, scattered settlements took shape along Johns Pass and near 150th Avenue before World War II, but widespread development did not begin until the incorporation of Madeira Beach in 1947. By the 1950s, subdivisions sprouted up along islands dredged from Boca Ciega Bay. Today, condominiums have replaced most beach cottages.

Hurricane Michael may have taken away some of the landmarks, but these images reveal the history of Florida's Mexico Beach, once known as the Unforgettable Coast.

As French interests in the Americas dwindled, records indicate very little activity around Mexico Beach until rumors of buried riches and sunken ships brought treasure hunters to the coast.  In the early 1900s, businessman Felix du Pont purchased the land known today as Mexico Beach. Resin to make turpentine was harvested from the native pine trees, and fishermen could not resist the migratory fish passing through the area's waters. By the 1930s, US Highway 98 was completed, and visitors could finally reach the sugar-soft sand beaches of the Unforgettable Coast. By 1941, Tyndall Field was constructed and became a training site for Air Force pilots. In 1946, a group of farsighted businessmen, led by Gordon Parker, W.T. McGowan, and J.W. Wainwright, purchased 1,850 acres along the beach for $65,000. Parker's son Charlie moved to the area in 1949 with his wife, Inky, and their family. He soon took over development responsibilities for the Mexico Beach Corporation and laid the groundwork for the beach town known and loved today. Charlie went on to become the city's first mayor and a lifelong advocate of the family-friendly community.

Once considered just an insect-ridden swampland, Florida is now a top destination for tourism, business, agriculture and innovation thanks to these 25 individuals.

Florida is in many ways both the oldest and newest of the megastates. The ideas and actions of a colorful cast of characters - from beloved cultural icons to political heroes and even a socialist dictator - transformed the peninsula. A Barbados native rescued Florida's orange industry after the catastrophic 1835 freeze. Known as the Grande Dame of the Everglades, Marjory Stoneman Douglas worked tirelessly to save the state's vast, incomparable wetlands from annihilation in the early twentieth century. In the mid-1800s, a Florida doctor developed a precursor to modern air conditioning. Join former U.S. senator George LeMieux and journalist Laura Mize as they profile and rank, according to impact, the 25 trailblazers who have changed the Sunshine State forever.

New Smyrna Beach is beloved by residents and visitors alike for its small-town charm and fascinating 250-year history.

In the last century, the city has evolved from a sleepy Southern beach town to a vibrant seaside destination.

Tampa's Davis Islands has long been among the most desirable places to live on Florida's west coast.

Built from mud dredged from the bottom of the Tampa Bay, it’s possible few thought the project would amount to very much, with the exception of its creator, David P. Davis. The developer and Tampa native Davis purchased the dredged land in the 1920s during the Florida land boom; the gamble paid off in dividends, as the Davis Islands made him wildly rich and nationally famous. He followed the Islands up with a subdivision twice its size in St. Augustine, which he named Davis Shores. Davis sold his Tampa development in August 1926, but he slipped into debt and died under mysterious circumstances while en route to Europe aboard a luxury liner only months later. Though their creator did not live to see it, work on Davis Islands continued, and the development ultimately became an unmitigated success. Join author Rodney Kite-Powell as he examines the history of one of Florida’s most famous neighborhoods.

Travel through these easy-to-follow tours of St. Augustine, North America's oldest continuously inhabited European settlement.

Explore famed St. Augustine locales, including the Castillo de San Marcos, the Cathedral of St. Augustine, the Huguenot Cemetery and the Plaza. Discover the wonderful historic architecture, attractions and international flavor that make St. Augustine a flourishing winter playground. Let Steve Rajtar and Kelly Goodman guide you through the history-rich streets of this delightful north Florida community in their comprehensive Guide to Historic St. Augustine, Florida.

Arcadia's University of Central Florida illuminates the history of a major institution of research, culture, education, and professional development that is stitched into the fabric of one of the nation's most dynamic and influential metropolitan areas.

Conceived in 1963, at the height of America's fascination with the space program and less than an hour from Florida's Space Coast, the school began as Florida Technological University, a vast and remote tract of wild palmettos and swampland that held the promise of a cutting-edge "Space University." But 1963 was the same year that Walt Disney made his fateful fly over Central Florida and chose the location for Walt Disney World, a decision that would ultimately transform the entire region. Florida Tech found itself growing along with the surrounding community in size, prominence, and power into a diverse institution that no one in those early years could have envisioned. Renamed the University of Central Florida in 1979 to better reflect its broad curriculum and its strong marriage with the region, the school has blossomed into the prototype for the modern metropolitan university.

With this powerful, evocative new book, St. Petersburg residents Jon Wilson and Rosalie Peck present an informative narrative that explores the history of St. Petersburg, Florida's most vibrant African American neighborhood: 22nd Street South or the deuces.

Throughout the city's history, no other area has personified strength for the African American community like this segregation-era thoroughfare. A haven during the brutal Jim Crow years, 22nd Street South was a place where prominent businessmen and community leaders were the role models and residents and neighbors looked out for one another. The close-knit community encouraged strong, positive values even as its members were treated as second-class citizens in the wider world. Authors Wilson and Peck tell the story of this unique district and how its people and events contributed to and helped to shape the history of St. Petersburg in the context of the greater South and the Civil Rights Movement.

From Swamp to Paradise, this book recounts the history of the City of Palm Coast using vintage images and illustrations.

What is paradise? Before 1969, land that would eventually become the City of Palm Coast was considered by some as nothing more than a ""big pine-covered swamp."" But when the corporate eyes of ITT/Levitt and Sons looked upon the virtually uninhabited land, they saw 22,000 acres of golf courses, marinas, oceanfront motels, scenic drives, and house lots awaiting the arrival of sun-seeking ""pioneers."" Marketing strategies targeting urban residents in the North and Midwest offered slices of land cut out of miles of forest, and soon a 500-mile infrastructure of roads, utilities, and sewer lines bound Palm Coast to a future that included becoming the largest planned unit development in Florida history.

America's Playground has seen many changes over the years. From architectural to botanical, Lost Miami Beach covers these changes and the development of the current preservation strategy.

Miami Beach has been America's Playground for a century. Still one of the world's most popular resorts, its 1930s Art Deco architecture placed this picturesque city on the National Register of Historic Places. Yet a whole generation of earlier buildings was erased from the landscape and mostly forgotten: the house of refuge for shipwrecked sailors, the oceanfront mansions of Millionaires' Row, entrepreneur Carl Fisher's five grand hotels, the Community Theatre, the Miami Beach Garden and more. Join historian Carolyn Klepser as she rediscovers through words and pictures the lost treasures of Miami Beach and recounts the changes that sparked a renowned preservation movement.

Join author Dorothy K. Fletcher as she recalls the history of the city's lost restaurants and reflects on a more gracious time in Jacksonville living.

The city of Jacksonville has long enjoyed a wondrous array of restaurants with fine cuisine and unique atmospheres. Some of the greatest of those now exist only in memory. Le Chateau, with its elegant patio and seascapes, was a beacon of fine dining. The Rainbow Room at the George Washington Hotel offered a crowded dance floor with its dinner experience. The Green Derby was the hub of passion for fans of Florida and Georgia during one of the fiercest rivalries in college football.