On the northern edge of the lake of the same name, Okeechobee is a city with a lot to love. I’ll start with one of America’s largest freshwater water bodies. Lake Okeechobee is renowned as a haven for trophy bass, and there’s a ton of charter companies in the area to help you catch them. …
A half-hour west of Tallahassee, Quincy is a 200-year-old city with a lot of unique stories to reveal. One compelling one is that dozens of mostly humble local residents struck rich in the Coca-Cola boom of the 1920s. As late as the 1980s that wealth was still sluicing through the city, when the Leaf Theater …
On the fertile southeastern shore of Lake Okeechobee, Pahokee is a small community dating back to the Florida land boom of the 1920s. In fact, booms and busts, and devastating hurricanes have defined the history of this city. For visitors, “Florida’s Inland Sea” is the star attraction. This vast water body spreads out beyond the …
South of downtown Orlando, Belle Isle is a residential city on the shore of the Conway Chain of Lakes. Linked by canals, these three lakes take up more than half of Belle Isle’s total area. Lake Conway here is one of the largest in Greater Orlando, and a hotspot for bass fishing. Even though there …
Although it’s part of the Tampa Bay Area, Dade City feels about as far away from city life and theme parks as you can get. Instead you’ll find a flourishing small town among rolling farmland, with a sociable downtown, and a massive tract of wilderness on its eastern flank. I can’t help but bring up …
On the Lake Worth Lagoon, this coastal town in Palm Beach County was founded in the 1920s by the ambitious developer, Harry Seymour Kelsey. He hired world-famous planners to lay out what would be the first zoned municipality south of Washington, D.C.. This was during the height of the Florida land boom, and Kelsey’s plans …
About halfway between Jacksonville and Gainesville, Starke is the historic seat of Bradford County. This city dates back to the middle of the 19th century and is couched in bucolic rural landscapes, known for strawberry production. In fact, there’s an annual festival every spring to celebrate this fruit, and it’s my favorite time to be …
Covering Estero Island and a slice of the marvelous Estero Bay, Fort Myers Beach is a beautiful beach escape about 15 miles from the Fort Myers River District. There’s a good chance that my article will be little more than a snapshot of the immediate months following Hurricane Ian. In September 2022 this Category 4-plus …
Cape Canaveral is known the world over for its decades-long ties to space exploration and the space industry. The city itself is a short way south of the namesake space force station, and the Kennedy Space Center. You can reach both with ease, although I should point out that there are restrictions on who can …
The oldest city in Highlands County, Avon Park was incorporated in 1886 and lies an hour south of Orlando. In the early 20th century the city came to the fore as an upscale tourist destination. At that time, the Jacaranda Hotel attracted a number of prestigious guests including Hollywood actors and sports stars. I’m happy …