Rainbow Springs has been designated a Registered Natural Landmark
Under the provisions of the Historic Sites Act of August 21, 1935
This site possesses exceptional value in illustrating the natural history of the United States
U.S. . . . — — Map (db m13618) HM
It’s August 11, 1539…
Hernando de Soto has taken a small force of 60 cavalry and 100 foot soldiers north through Timucuan territory towards the land of the Apalachee -
I have entrusted Captain Moscoso to lead the army north, while I . . . — — Map (db m126580) HM
It’s July 29, 1539…
De Soto’s weary and starving army arrives at the village of Ocale -
We found the village abandoned but full of food and supplies. I ordered my men to rest and then gather enough provisions for the next several . . . — — Map (db m126579) HM
One block to the south is the site of the discovery of hard rock phosphate in Florida by Albertus Vogt in 1889. It made Dunnellon a boom town and first center of the industry. The Tiger Rag, Early Bird and Eagle mines were among the most valuable. . . . — — Map (db m67058) HM
In 1905, Dr. Richard Samuel Hughes II graduated from Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee, the second oldest African American medical school in the country. After moving to Ocala in 1908, Dr. Hughes helped form the American National . . . — — Map (db m120370) HM
On Thanksgiving Day, November 29th, 1883 fire broke out in Ocala. All of the buildings on the east side of today’s SE 1st Avenue from Silver Springs Boulevard to Fort King Street were destroyed. Five blocks of the business district were left in . . . — — Map (db m72921) HM
Reserved on July 8th, 1850, as the first public burial ground for Ocala. Here are graves of those who founded the County Seat, of others here during its early years, and of Confederate and Union veterans of the Civil War.
Nearby are interred . . . — — Map (db m66993) HM
On a nearby knoll stood Fort King, important military outpost during the removal of the Florida Indians. Adjacent to a Seminole agency established in 1825, it was named for Col. William King and first occupied in 1827. Outside the stockade, on . . . — — Map (db m150855) HM
This marks the burying ground of the soldiers and civilians who died at Fort King during the Seminole War 1835-1842.
Fort King occupied the hill to the north-east and was established as a military post in 1827. — — Map (db m92978) HM
The group which later became known as the Church of God By Faith came in existence in the year of 1914 when Crawford Bright met Mother Delia Scippio in route to Jacksonville, Florida who had already received the Holy Ghost in a meeting in Valdosta, . . . — — Map (db m150433) HM
On May 1, 1908, the John J. Dickison Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) dedicated this monument to honor the Confederate dead. To erect the monument, the UDC collected $1,500 from its members, schoolchildren (donating pennies), . . . — — Map (db m90555) HM WM
In 1539 Spanish explorers under Hernando de Soto discovered in this vicinity a populous native country called Ocali. From this Timucuan name is derived Ocala, a designation distinctive among the oldest place-names of Florida. Marion County, named . . . — — Map (db m90554) HM
In December, 1890, Ocala was host to a meeting of the National Farmers' Alliance. Sessions, attended by 88 delegates and hundreds of visitors, were held at the Opera House and the Semi-Tropical Exposition Building. A state-wide agricultural . . . — — Map (db m90552) HM
Designated as a Public Square in the original Ocala plat of 1846, this location was the site of Marion County’s first permanent courthouse built in 1851. It was a two-story frame building of Colonial design. The second courthouse was erected on this . . . — — Map (db m90553) HM
On June 17, 1955, a fire "of undetermined origin" raced through several of the attractive, 1949 Spanish-style buildings, including the gift shop, café, and offices. Victor A. Lundy, an architect from Sarasota, was selected to design the new . . . — — Map (db m132198) HM
October 23, 1834, the Seminole Indians met in council at these springs to discuss demands of the United States for their removal to the West. Osceola, then an obscure sub-chief, swayed the council with his oratory and set the Indians against . . . — — Map (db m132200) HM
The first paddle-wheel steamboat to operate in northeast Florida was the Florida in 1834, running once a week from Savannah, Georgia to Picolata on the St. Johns River. After the Civil War, in late 1860s, travelers from northern states . . . — — Map (db m132199) HM