Our Generation Florida

By Sandra Friend

“C’mon, c’mon…drat!”

For twenty minutes, I’ve cast into the shallows of the Hontoon Dead River, where bass have been nibbling at flies. It’s my first attempt at using a rod and reel, and despite the best efforts of my tutor, I come up empty. But around us, the river comes alive as the sun slips behind the floodplain forests surrounding Hontoon Island. A kingfisher chatters as it swoops low across the placid water. Read More »

By Sandra Friend
When it opened in 1896, it was the jewel in the crown of Henry Plant’s railroad hotel empire, the “White Queen of the Gulf,” the ultimate destination for wealthy northeasterners seeking a tropical paradise at the end of a direct train from New York City. The oldest operating hotel in Florida, the Belleview Biltmore is on the National Register of Historic Places saved from demolition after the hard-working efforts of local preservationists. In May 2009, the hotel will close for a full restoration, including removal of portions of the hotel that are not true to its origins. There is no better time than now to plan a visit to this cultural treasure, which will be closed for two years during renovations. Read More »

By Sandra Friend

Since 1923, the St. Augustine Alligator Farm has entertained visitors who want to see vast masses of Florida’s most fearsome predator. More than 1,500 alligators inhabit the park. In my childhood, I was awed by the fearless alligator wrestlers who flipped over the massive squirming reptiles, showing their bravado by sticking a head or an arm in the alligator’s mouth. Another show sent immature alligators down an enormous slide. I rode on the back of a Galapagos tortoise. Those days are now done. Concern for species preservation transformed the Alligator Farm into a zoological park, focused on alligators and crocodiles.

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By Sandra Friend

By the 1850s, David Levy Yulee had made quite a name for himself. Born in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, he was brought to the Florida Territory in 1817 by his family and attended law school in St. Augustine. After attending Florida’s first constitutional convention, he was elected a territorial delegate to the U.S. Congress, and became Florida’s first U.S. Senator when Florida achieved statehood in 1845.

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By Sandra Friend

Since it lies offshore between Tea Table Key and Lower Matacumbe in Islamorada, few motorists driving US 1 to Key West give it a second thought. But for those who plan ahead, a morning at Indian Key can be a fascinating ramble on a lonesome 11-acre island where you might be the only visitor. Read More »

By Sandra Friend
With summer comes thoughts of cool water and cool breezes and just plain staying cool, which you might think would nix most outdoor activities in Florida, but you’d be wrong. There’s a cool corner of our state that feels a lot like Appalachia, with high bluffs overlooking swift rivers and shallow waters riffling over rock rapids. It’s Blackwater River State Forest, more than 190,000 acres of forests, marshes, and waterways between the Alabama state line and the towns outlying Pensacola, and a prime outdoor destination for our Florida summers. Read More »

By Sandra Friend
In 1936, Winter Haven resident Dick Pope knew he had a gold mine when visiting servicemen showed up to see this new-fangled idea called water skiing that his wife, Julie, choreographed and his kids and their friends put on. Pope mined that vein for all it was worth, creating the first Central Florida theme park, Cypress Gardens. Read More »

By Sandra Friend

Sitting in my rocking chair on the second floor veranda, reading with a good book as live jazz drifts up from the front porch below—it doesn’t get more relaxing than this. Well, okay, maybe it does, when I can take an afternoon nap as the lightly-draped windows let in a salt-scented breeze. Apalachicola is a timeless beauty, and it’s somewhere you can get lost in time. But I’m on a mission, too. I’m in search of the Holy Grail, the oyster. There are none better than those that come from Apalachicola, or so I’ve discovered from years of haunting seafood restaurants along the Gulf. Now, I’m finally at the source. Read More »

By Sandra Friend

While Tallahassee likes to brag about its high concentration of antebellum plantation homes (more than 70 within an hour’s drive), Ellenton (in Manatee County, just south of Tampa Bay) can crow about being the home of the southernmost remaining plantation in the United States. Flanked by 300-year-old oaks, the grand entrance to the Gamble Plantation Historic State Park (www.floridastateparks.org/gambleplantation) is reminiscent of a scene from “Gone With The Wind.” And like the mythical Tara, the last remaining antebellum plantation in South Florida played an important role in the last days of the War Between the States. Read More »

By Sandra Friend

In Central Florida, a delightful sign of winter’s wane is when azaleas burst into bloom. On residential streets in the downtown neighborhoods of Orlando and Winter Park, the displays of pinks and purples start in late January but are most spectacular throughout February, when a simple drive-by isn’t enough. As azaleas wane, the vivid greens of spring come into their own, making these locales a pleasant retreat. Read More »