Florida

Name: A Guide to Historic Orlando
Brand: Steve Rajtar
SKU: 9781596291980
Price: 21.99 USD
Availability: InStock

Florida history trumps the simple narrative of a beach read. St. Augustine’s story doesn’t begin with sixteenth-century Spaniards and Miami history didn’t begin unfolding with Henry Flagler and his railroad. Natives began arriving in the Sunshine State during the last ice age, millennia before snowbirds began migrating down to Mount Dora. From the legend of Hogzilla to the first slice of key lime pie, from Pensacola down to Key West, our catalogue of Florida history books teems with fascinating tales and innovative characters who saw swamp and envisioned paradise. [View all Florida books]

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A Guide to Historic Orlando

Paperback

$21.99

A Guide to Historic Tampa

Paperback

$21.99

Haunted DeLand and the Ghosts of West Volusia County

Paperback

$21.99

A History of Little Havana

Volusia County's West Side

Paperback

$21.99

Tarpon Springs, Florida

Paperback

$24.99

The Cedar Keys Hurricane of 1896

Paperback

$21.99

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A Guide to Historic Tampa

9781596292536

$21.99

Tampa—the town that began as a Civil War garrison, housed a cigar manufacturer's dream, and became a city oasis in paradise. Tampa is a spicy mix of cultures and traditions, some from as far away as the tip of South America—others as homegrown as the cigars from old Ybor City. Whether you want to discover the city's secrets, reminisce with the locals, or explore streets that retain the historic flavor of Old Florida, Author and local historian Steve Rajtar guides you through the history and historic sites of beautiful old Tampa, with wonderful vintage photographs and street-by-street details of The Cigar City.

Haunted DeLand and the Ghosts of West Volusia County

9781596295261

$21.99

Author and Haunted DeLand tour guide Dusty Smith recounts a century of ghostly history in the bustling historic community of DeLand, the Athens of Florida. Specters include those of Jeannette Barnhill, whose ghost drove her real estate mogul widower mad by standing behind him to keep a constant watch on his accounting books, and of the guest killed in the 1917 Putnam Hotel fire who leaves the smell of burnt wood and flesh in the air. Forlorn lovers Ruby and Joshua, a freed slave and a plantation foreman, and Suzanna Brown, who jumped to her death with unrequited love for a Stetson professor, are included, as well as the ghostly horse-drawn hearse that has been seen parked alongside what was once the Old Casket Company. From steamboat captains to Spiritualist camp residents, DeLand's ghosts are sure to delight visitors and residents alike in this stirring account of the area's historic haunts.

A History of Little Havana

9781626196476

$21.99

In the heart of Miami, Little Havana is a neighborhood buzzing with culture. Still imagined as primarily a Cuban extension of the city, it has been a sanctuary to refugees since the 1959 revolution and has experienced fascinating changes to become what it is today. Find out how a location associated with old Cubans playing dominos has become a vibrant, multi-ethnic community and a birthplace of Miami's most exciting arts and music movements. Learn why Little Havana has continued to serve as a political stage for thousands of Cubans demonstrating on its streets, like the famous Calle Ocho. Authors Guillermo Grenier and Corinna Moebius trace the history and growth of this Latino epicenter in the first in-depth portrait of a world-renowned neighborhood.

Around Mulberry

9780738553702

$24.99

In the 1840s, pioneers settled on the picturesque lands surrounding the Alafia River. With glistening waters that gave life to plush foliage and citrus trees gracing its banks, the Alafia stretched westward before flowing into the Gulf of Mexico. Forty years later, phosphate was discovered in the Bone Valley area, and miners began arriving in what is now Mulberry, Florida. The industrial activity of the town encouraged economic growth and soon demanded the need for a railroad to accommodate Mulberry's expanding lumber and mining trade. In 1901, the town was officially incorporated, bringing a respected identity and well-deserved peace to the people of the area. Named for a lone tree that served as a local mail drop, the town of Mulberry was born.

Volusia County's West Side

9781596295629

$21.99

This collection of popular Sense of Place columns by Daytona Beach News-Journal award-winning writer Ronald Williamson chronicles the sleepy streams, poignant passages and timeless traditions of the hilly western side of Volusia County—a place quite different from the hustle and bustle of the Daytona Beach area. Majestic St. Johns River steamboats replace speeding racecars, and subdued séances at an old spiritualist camp replace brash biker bashes and spring break revelry. From slavery and segregation to Madame Clarissa Zaraza and mayhaw jelly from swampy creeks, these stories are a moving account from a master storyteller.

Tarpon Springs, Florida

9780738515977

$24.99

African Americans originally came to Tarpon Springs in the mid-1880s to work in the lumber mills. In the 1890s, a number of sponge divers arrived from the Bahamas and Key West to harvest and prepare the wealth of sponges found in the Gulf of Mexico at the mouth of the Anclote River. Devoutly religious, these pioneers founded the African American Episcopal Church in 1887 and the Baptist Church in 1892. Union Academy School, the first African-American school in Tarpon Springs, was established in the early 1900s. The dedicated work ethic of early African-American settlers continues today. Many of their descendants serve as educators, politicians, and ministers.

The Cedar Keys Hurricane of 1896

9781596296121

$21.99

Families watched in horror as walls of water swept away homes and businesses, and men held onto saplings for their lives while the winds howled.

The destruction was beyond belief. Buildings on Atsena Otie were swept away so completely that only cracked stone foundations remained, and the forests of red cedar that gave the islands their name and livelihood were flattened. Resulting in dozens of deaths and millions of dollars in damage, Hurricane Number 4 in 1896 changed the Cedar Keys forever and set the city on a path to the present. Historian Alvin F. Oickle, drawing on firsthand accounts and extensive archival research, tells the story of ordinary Floridians who were faced, like so many before and so many since, with nature's fury.