Category: History

In 1867, Congress passed a series of laws known as the Reconstruction Acts. These laws required former Confederate states to dissolve existing state governments, register eligible men to vote, whether white or…

Each year, Earth Day, April 22, marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970. The height of counterculture in the United States, 1970 brought the death of…

Iced tea is a Southern favorite that completes any meal, no matter what kind of weather it is outside. Floridians and visitors alike guzzle down an immeasurable number of gallons of tea…

Today, Cherry Lake is a home to one of Florida’s most spirited 4-H camps since 1937 but even before that, it was booming with life. Cherry Lake was originally named “Ocklawilla” by…

Thomas and Elizabeth Graham, residents  of Cherry Lake since the 1970s, will have been married for 70 years on April 7. The Graham couple have lived in their cozy home on Cherry…

While it’s true that Florida, during the Civil War, was a critical source of beef, salt and other necessities for the Confederate Army, that’s not the whole story — Florida’s human commitment…

Dr. David Howell Yates, M.D. opened his first sanitarium in Madison in 1914, which is located at 279 NE Livingston Street. Dr. Yates brought the first static electric machine to the state…

John C. McGehee was a very influential figure in the state of Florida from 1835 to 1865. He was a planter, a judge, a statesman and a prominent figure of the Confederacy…

The Old Prince House has been located at the corner of Oglesby and U.S. 90 (across from the town pond) in Greenville since 1919. Built right after World War I, the gabled…

Ray Charles, considered one of the greatest soul artists of all time, got his start in the Town of Greenville. Born September 23, 1930 in Albany, Ga., Charles moved to Greenville with…

Besides Native Americans consuming nuts for food, oak and hickory mast also served to attract a wide array of animals such as squirrels, raccoons, white-tailed deer and wild turkey. American Indians here,…

The above relief map illustrates the scores of lakes, ponds and swamps in close proximity to Hutto Pond—including Sampala Lake and Hixtown Swamp—the largest body of water just to the west of…

When the Spanish arrived in Florida, they named the people in this area, as well as most all of north Florida east of the Aucilla River, as “Timucuas.” At least 25-30 separate…

On January 6, 1941, nearly a year before the attack of Pearl Harbor and the United States entered the second World War, Franklin Delano Roosevelt stood before Congress and addressed its members…

Swift Creek culture (A.D. 200-400) established many villages in the interior forest and river valleys of the eastern Panhandle and Big Bend as well as along the coast. Their ceramics were characterized…

The state has been subdivided into nine culture areas, which refer to a sequence of distinct indigenous people specific to a defined geographic area. These nine areas in Florida are known as…

In 1971, the Division of Archives, History and Records Management (now the Division of Historical Resources) at the request of the Florida Department of Transportation conducted archaeological excavations at site 8MD18 just…

Abraham Lincoln Lewis was born in Madison on March 29, 1865. Although he grew to be a very successful man, Lewis had a difficult start. Lewis was the son of Robert Lewis,…