"The Island is flat and sandy with abundant wildlife. Numerous lakes and stands of trees also mark the landscape." Alvar Hunez Cabeza deVace Journal Entry, 1536 The geographic area that comprises the present-day Cross Florida Greenway has been . . . — — Map (db m166902) HM
Who were "Americans" first? At least several hundred years before Crackers migrated from England and Scotland to the USA, and then wandered down the eastern seaboard to Florida in the 1800s Well before the Seminoles sought refuge in Florida . . . — — Map (db m167206) 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
From the Gulf — to Golf Imagine playing disc golf surrounded by bulldozers and workers digging! Just north of here, the Ocala Greenway Disc Golf Course sits within the remnants of the Atlantic-Gulf Ship Canal. By 1936, workers had . . . — — Map (db m167506) 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
Roosevelt EraThe Cross Florida Canal got its start during the Great Depression years. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's efforts to revive the nation's ailing economy involved a wide array of projects and jobs funded by tax-payers. The . . . — — Map (db m166868) HM
What Changed? For nearly 500 years, the idea for a Cross Florida Ship and Barge Canal had been kept alive. There were several driving forces. • Hiding Caribbean gold shipments from pirates until fleets of protected ships sailed to . . . — — Map (db m166910) HM
What do you think about when you see a long-leaf pine tree? If you had lived in North Carolina 100 or more years ago, pine trees might have caused you to think about turpentine and the Original Vicks Vapo-Rub. Household cleaners, medicine for . . . — — Map (db m167208) HM
"I am today ordering a halt to further construction of the Cross Florida Barge Canal to prevent serious environmental damage. "The Council on Environmental Quality has recommended to me that the project be halted, and I accept its advice. The . . . — — Map (db m166909) HM
"...the key to success in any conservation effort: Get the facts and then act… If you get the facts, the press will tell your story, government agencies will take action, legal suits will be documented, and presidents may intervene on your behalf." . . . — — Map (db m166908) HM
"In view of this unprecedented expression of opposition to continuing the Cross Florida Barge Canal by candidates for public office in Florida [petitions and resolutions] we respectfully call on you to implement a moratorium on construction of the . . . — — Map (db m166906) 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
Some of the early migrants to the Greenway were known for whips and storytelling. Discover what happened. Discover The Island. Florida’s Crackers were mostly, it's said to be, English pioneer settlers and their descendants who began coming to . . . — — Map (db m167205) HM
Florida Seminole. After the Third Seminole War (1858), nearly 3,000 Indians were forcibly sent to the Oklahoma Territory. A small number of Seminoles continued to live in relative isolation in southern Florida into the 1900s. Flood control and . . . — — Map (db m167203) HM
Early Migrants More Than Snowbirds The earliest migrants to Florida, determined by archeological evidence, date back to 500 A. D. Among them were the Deptford People, the Weeden Island People, the St. John's People and the Timican . . . — — Map (db m167202) 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
"...Requesting the assistance and cooperation of every available federal agency in order to make possible, at an early date, commencement of construction on a ship canal across the peninsula." Message from Florida's Legislature to President . . . — — Map (db m166903) HM
The Crusher Green life was a major factor between those who opposed the Cross Florida Canal and those who backed it. The sharpest point of contention was the Ocklawaha River basin, as well as the environmental catastrophe that evolved after . . . — — Map (db m166914) HM
Explorer Ponce de Leon called the panhandle between the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico "La Florida" which means "the flowery place." What he saw was untamed wilderness. "Untamed" is a good indicator of the way green things grow here. What . . . — — Map (db m166912) HM
"Your majesty: In order to protect your interests [land and gold] in La Florida, we must discover or construct a passage across this peninsula." The Essence of an Historic Communication by Spanish Explorer Pedro Menendez Aviles to Spain's King . . . — — Map (db m166901) 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
In 1882, John A. Cole and his family established the community of Santos and named it for the town in Brazil where he and his family lived following the American Civil War. When Cole and his family returned to the United States, they . . . — — Map (db m166862) HM
A Long Way from Home. Explorer Ponce de Leon brought horses on his second journey from Spain to La Florida. The horses were to be used by his officers, scouts and livestock herders. Spanish equines were known for their speed and agility, . . . — — Map (db m167209) HM
World Reputation. The Greenway region has been referred to historically as the "Agricultural Heart of the South." It was also called the "Breadbasket of the Confederacy" and the "Breadbasket of Florida." Farm products from this region are still . . . — — Map (db m167207) HM
Tarzan Did It. A legend has been passed along over the decades that the wild monkeys around Silver Spring State Park got there because of competition swimmer-actor Johnny Weismuller. He starred in Tarzan Finds a Son! (1939), which was . . . — — Map (db m167210) HM
From Separation to Connection High above Interstate 75, this landbridge was the first of its kind in the country. The land it sits on was originally intended to be part of a massive canal across Florida. The canal would have split the state in . . . — — Map (db m166698) HM
Transforming the Land — Twice! The land you're standing on was once part of a major engineering feat. Men and machines toiled to move about 13 million cubic yards of dirt. They were building the sea level Atlantic-Gulf Ship Canal. The men . . . — — Map (db m166699) 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
Where Progress Meets Preservation Imagine a 200-mile channel across Florida, connecting the Gulf of Mexico with the Atlantic Ocean. The Cross Florida Barge Canal would have been like a moat, separating people and wildlife on either side. This . . . — — Map (db m166700) HM
A short distance north of here stood the sugar plantation of Jehu Foster Marshall, established in 1855. At the start of the Civil War in 1861, Marshall was named a colonel in the Confederate Army and soon commanded one of General Wade Hampton's . . . — — Map (db m167953) HM
Imagine This Spot Underwater If the Cross Florida Barge Canal had been built in the 1960s as planned, Marshall Swamp would be 13 feet underwater. The swamp sat in the path of the Dosh Reservoir. Plans called for flooding 20 miles of the . . . — — Map (db m167900) HM
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
Oklahoma Seminoles. The Seminole Nation in the State of Oklahoma is the largest of the three recognized Seminole governments in the United States. They are descendants of the 3,000 Seminoles who were forcibly removed from Florida in the middle . . . — — Map (db m167204) HM
Landfill Legacy Nearby is a landfill that was used during the construction of a massive canal across Florida. Engineers and workers operating huge machines dug about a third of the canal in the 1960s. The project was never completed, but its . . . — — Map (db m166776) HM
"Incited by selfish interests and from a purely mercenary motive, an effort is now being made, through construction of a cross-state canal, to mar and at least, in part, destroy the region's beauty, fertility and health." Hillsborough County Board . . . — — Map (db m166905) HM
History of Santos Founders and Families In 1882, John A. Cole and his family (black Americans) established Santos, naming it after a village in Brazil (South America) where they had gone to start a new life following the American Civil War. . . . — — Map (db m166911) HM
"Even a shallow canal would pollute the aquifer because of the porosity of the underlying rock structure… barge traffic would jeopardize both surface and ground water with the threat of oil spills and leakage from vessels and the wash-off of . . . — — Map (db m166904) HM
High and Dry in the Sandhill Look around — do you notice sandy soil and pine trees? This habitat is called sandhill. It grows on ancient sand dunes left behind when sea levels were higher. Sandhill is now exceptionally rare. It's ideal . . . — — Map (db m167504) HM
"La Florida" Became Part of World Commerce [panel 1] 1507 • Explorer Ponce de Leon claims "La Florida" for Spain and recommends canal to King to protect gold carrying ships to Spain. 1763-1802 • Eastern Florida passes from Spain . . . — — Map (db m166900) 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
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