Adams County (pop. 34,387) is south of Allen County, on the border with Ohio.
It was named for President John Quincy Adams (1767-1848) of Massachusetts.
The county seat of Adams County is Decatur (pop. 9,405).
Adams County Courthouse (1873)
David Anspaugh, the director of the movies “Rudy” and “Hoosiers,” was born in Decatur in 1946.
The city of Berne (pop. 3,999) was settled by Swiss and German immigrants and was named for the capital of Switzerland. In 2010, the city built a 160-foot replica of the clock tower in Berne, Switzerland.
The one in Switzerland is 500 years old.
The tower has daily glockenspiel performances at 12 noon, 3, 6, and 9 p.m.
Berne also hosts entertainment at the base of the tower.
The town of Geneva (pop. 1,293), named for the city in Switzerland, was the longtime home of author Gene Stratton-Porter (1863-1924), author of “A Girl of the Limberlost.” Her home is now Limberlost State Historic Site.
Allen County (pop. 355,329) is Indiana’s largest county in square miles and third-largest county in population. It’s one of five Allen counties in the U.S.
The county was named for Col. John Allen (1771-1813), an Army officer from Kentucky who was killed in the War of 1812.
Died at the Battle of Frenchtown
The county seat of Allen County is Fort Wayne (pop. 253,691), second-largest city in Indiana.
Allen County Courthouse (1903)
The U.S. Army built the original Fort Wayne (named for General “Mad Anthony” Wayne) in 1794 near the Miami Indian settlement of Kekionga, at the confluence of the Maumee, St. Joseph, and St. Marys rivers.
Fort Wayne skyline
Fort Wayne’s industrial history includes the first gas pump (1885) and the first domestic refrigerator (1913).
Fort Wayne’s former Pennsylvania Railroad Station (1914) is now a banquet hall and community events space called the Baker Street Station.
Fort Wayne is not currently served by Amtrak.
The Karpeles Manuscript Library, which has the world’s largest private collection of original manuscripts and documents, spread around 11 U.S. cities, has two Fort Wayne museums – both in old churches.
Former First Church of God (1917)
The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Fort Wayne dates from 1860.
Spires are 192 feet tall.
Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW) is Indiana’s fifth-largest public university, with about 13,000 students.
The mascot is Don the Mastadon.
The NBA Detroit Pistons originated in 1941 as the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons. Owner Fred Zollner owned a foundry that made pistons for auto engines. The team moved to Detroit in 1957.
The Fort Wayne TinCaps, Class-A Midwest League affiliate of the San Diego Padres, play at Parkview Field (2009). The name refers to the cooking pot allegedly worn as a hat by Johnny Appleseed (John Chapman).
John Chapman (1774-1845) died in Fort Wayne and may be buried in Johnny Appleseed Memorial Park.
Actors who were born in Fort Wayne include Carole Lombard (Jane Alice Peters), Shelley Long, Jenna Fischer, and Dick York.
Whitley County (pop. 33,292) is north of Huntington County. The only other Whitley County is in Kentucky. Both were named for William Whitley (1749-1813), a hero of the War of 1812.
The county is last, alphabetically, among Indiana’s counties. It has the highest number (92) on Indiana’s license plates.
The county seat is Columbia City (pop. 8,750). Columbia City and Whitley County, located just west of Fort Wayne and Allen County, have been growing consistently for many years.
Whitley County Courthouse (1888)
Thomas R. Marshall (1854-1925), Indiana governor and U.S. vice president under Woodrow Wilson, practiced law in Columbia City for many years.
Marshall on right
The Whitley County Historical Museum is located in Marshall’s Columbia City home.
Open Tuesday-Friday
The town of South Whitley (pop. 1,751) was the birthplace, in 1947, of country singer Janie Frickie.
South Whitley was formerly known for its annual Fall Festival, featuring bed races.
The town of Churubusco (pop. 1,796), named for an 1847 battle in the Mexican-American War, is known as “Turtle Town, U.S.A.” because of the mythical giant snapping turtle called the Beast of Busco that lived in a local pond.
Huntington County (pop. 37,124) is east of Wabash County. It’s the only Huntington County in the U.S.
The county was named for Samuel Huntington (1731-1796), a signer of the Declaration of Independence and later governor of Connecticut.
The county seat of Huntington County is the city of Huntington (pop. 17,391).
Huntington County Courthouse (1904)
Huntington has long been known as “The Lime City” because of its limestone quarries and kilns.
Dan Quayle, vice president under George H.W. Bush from 1989 to 1993, graduated from Huntington High School and later practiced law in Huntington (with his wife, Marilyn) before his election to the House of Representatives.
Class of ’65
The Quayle Vice Presidential Learning Center, in the former First Church of Christ, Scientist, has displays about all the vice presidents, focusing on the five from Indiana.
Spiro Agnew memorabilia
Huntington is the home of Huntington University, affiliated with the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. It has about 1,200 students.
Founded in 1897
The Tel-Hy Nature Preserve, south of Huntington, has a collection of historic outhouses.
The unincorporated community of Bippus is the hometown of broadcaster Chris Schenkel (1923-2005). He studied at Purdue University, and died in Fort Wayne.
The village of Markle (pop. 1,095), in both Huntington and Wells counties, has a smiley-face water tower.
Wabash County (pop. 32,888) is east of Miami County. The only other Wabash County is in Illinois.
The county was named for the Wabash River, Indiana’s longest river. The word is an English spelling of a French version (“Ouabache”) of the Indian name for the river – “Wabashike,” meaning the “pure white” of the limestone river bottom.
Wabash River catfish
The county seat of Wabash County is the city of Wabash (pop. 10,666). Wabash reached its peak population of 13,379 in 1970.
Wabash County Courthouse (1879)
In 1880, Wabash became “The First Electrically Lighted City in the World,” when four huge carbon-arc lights were placed on top of the courthouse and lit the entire block.
Industrialist Mark C. Honeywell (1874-1964) founded Honeywell, Inc., in Wabash and was its first president and CEO. Honeywell International, Inc., is now based in New Jersey.
Famous for thermostats
The Honeywell Center (1952) in Wabash, operated by the Honeywell Foundation, has a theater, restaurant, art gallery, and meeting rooms.
Rebuilt in 1994
The Eagles Theatre in Wabash dates from 1906. It was purchased and restored by the Honeywell Foundation in 2010.
Still showing first-run movies
Wabash also has a drive-in movie theater – the 13-24 Drive-In, named for two highways that intersect nearby.
It opened in 1950.
Country singer Crystal Gayle (younger sister of Loretta Lynn) grew up in Wabash and graduated from Wabash High School.
The town of North Manchester (pop. 6,112), north of Wabash, is the home of Manchester University – a liberal arts school affiliated with the Church of the Brethren.
It has about 1,500 students.
The 110-foot Peabody Memorial Tower (1937) is on the grounds of the Peabody Retirement Community in North Manchester.
Renovated in 2010
Wabash County has two historic covered bridges, both dating from 1872.
Miami County (pop. 36,903) is east of Cass County. It’s one of three Miami counties – the others are in Kansas and Ohio.
Miami County in 1895
The county seat of Miami County is the city of Peru (pop. 11,417), on the Wabash River. Peru reached its peak population of 14,453 in 1960.
Miami County Courthouse (1910)
Peru was the hometown of Cole Porter (1891-1964), composer of Broadway shows such as “Anything Goes” and “Kiss Me Kate.” He is buried in Mount Hope Cemetery in Peru.
Peru has an annual Cole Porter Festival.
Porter’s childhood home is now both a museum and the Cole Porter Inn, with guest rooms called the Cole Porter Suite, the Anything Goes Suite, and the Night and Day Suite.
He lived there for his first 10 years.
The Miami County Museum has exhibits on Cole Porter, early pioneers, and Native Americans, as well as a large military collection.
Porter’s 1955 Fleetwood Cadillac
For many years (ending in 1941), Peru was the winter home of several circuses, including the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey. Today, the former winter quarters is the home of the International Circus Hall of Fame.
Peru, and much of Indiana, suffered devastating damage in the Wabash River flood of March 1913.
This circus elephant was one of the fatalities.
Grissom Air Reserve Base, southwest of Peru, is the home of the Grissom Air Museum, with a collection of 28 aircraft.
Established in 1982
The 37-mile Nickel Plate Trail is a bike trail on the former right-of-way of the New York, Chicago, and St. Louis Railroad (Nickel Plate Road). It runs through Miami County, going from Fulton County in the north to Howard County in the south.
Cass County (pop. 38,966) is south of Fulton County, on the Wabash River.
It’s one of nine Cass counties in the U.S., and one of the eight named for Lewis Cass (1782-1866), whose many job titles included U.S. senator from Michigan, U.S. ambassador to France, Secretary of War, and Secretary of State.
The county seat of Cass County is the city of Logansport (pop. 18,396), located at the intersection of the Wabash and Eel rivers.
Logansport was named for James Renick-Logan (“Captain Logan”), a half-Shawnee soldier who was a scout for U.S. forces in the area during the War of 1812.
c. 1774-1812
The State Theatre in Logansport (1940) now hosts concerts and other events.
Actor Greg Kinnear was born in Logansport in 1963.
Logansport is known for the historic Spencer Park Dentzel Carousel, built in 1900.
43 horses
Logansport High School’s mascot, Felix the Cat, is the oldest recognized mascot in Indiana.
France Park, just west of Logansport, has hiking, cross-country skiing, swimming, and scuba diving – in an abandoned stone quarry.
Pulaski County (pop. 13,402) is north of White County.
Pulaski County in 1908
It’s one of seven Pulaski counties, all named for Kazimierz Michal Wladislaw Wiktor Pulaski (1745-1779), Polish nobleman and “Father of the American Cavalary.”
The county seat of Pulaski County is the town of Winamac (pop. 2,490).
Pulaski County Courthouse (1894)
The town’s name was taken from the Potawatomi word for “catfish.”
The Isis Theatre has been showing movies in the same location since 1936.
The Vurpillat Opera House in Winamac is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Second Empire style
Tippecanoe River State Park is popular for canoeing, hiking, and horseback riding. The 182-mile Tippecanoe River is a tributary of the Wabash River, which forms the Indiana-Illinois River before joining the Ohio River.
White County (pop. 24,643) is east of Benton County. It’s one of five White counties in the U.S. – all named for different men named White.
This White County was named for Isaac White (1776-1811), who died in the Battle of Tippecanoe – between U.S. forces and Native Americans led by Tecumseh – near present-day Lafayette, Indiana.
The 182-mile Tippecanoe River flows south through White County. It joins the Wabash River in Tippecanoe County.
Dams on the river form Lake Freeman and Lake Shafer.
The county seat of White County is the city of Monticello (pop. 5,378). The Lafayette Bank & Trust building in Monticello was built to resemble Thomas Jefferson’s home in Virginia.
Monticello has a drive-in movie theater, the Lake Shore, that dates from 1949.
Now closed for the winter
The Monticello Tornado on April 3, 1974, destroyed much of the city’s central business district, killing eight persons and injuring more than 350. The tornado did more than $100 million damage in the Monticello area.
The 1894 courthouse was destroyed.
The Whyte Horse Winery in Monticello has a tasting room in a renovated 1886 farmhouse.
Indiana Beach Amusement Resort, on Lake Shafer (just north of Monticello), dates from 1926. It now has six roller-coasters.
Reopening in May
The Madam Carroll (1976) is an excursion boat on Lake Freeman, just south of Monticello. The boat has a capacity of 500 passengers.
“The biggest boat in Indiana”
The nearby town of Brookston (pop. 1,554), whose motto is “The Star of the Prairie,” has an annual Apple Popcorn Festival.
The Monon Railroad, which operated mainly in Indiana, was named for the town of Monon (pop. 1,777). Monon is now the home of the Monon Connection Museum and Whistle Stop Restaurant.
Many railroad artifacts
The town of Wolcott (pop. 1,001) was the starting point for Bobbie the Wonder Dog’s legendary 2,500-mile walk to his home in Oregon in 1923, after being separated from his family.
Benton County (pop. 8,854) is south of Newton County, along the border with Illinois. Indiana’s fourth-least-populous county, it reached its peak population of 13,123 in 1900.
Benton County in 1908
It is one of nine Benton counties, and one of the seven named for Thomas Hart Benton (1782-1858), five-term senator from Missouri.
The painter was his great-great-nephew.
Benton County has long been one of Indiana’s leaders in corn and soybean production. It’s now also known as the leader in wind-energy production in Indiana.
Fowler Ridge Wind Farm
The county seat of Benton County is the town of Fowler (pop. 2,317).
Benton County Courthouse (1874)
The 196-seat Fowler Theatre, in Streamline Moderne style, dates from 1940. It’s still showing movies.
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights
The town of Oxford (pop. 1,162) was the birthplace of Dan Patch (1896-1916), the fastest harness-racing horse of its era and a nationwide celebrity. Dan Patch lived in Minnesota from 1902 until his death.
Oxford has an annual Dan Patch Days festival
The town of Boswell (pop. 778) has long been known as “The Hub of the Universe” – as has Boston, Massachusetts.
The town of Earl Park (pop. 348) is distinguished by its cemetery and the 22-foot monument to early settler Edward C. Sumner and his wife, Abigail.
Newton County (pop. 14,244) is west of Jasper County, on the border with Illinois. It’s one of six Newton counties in the U.S.
The county seat of Newton County is the town of Kentland (pop. 1,748).
Kentland was the hometown of author George Ade (1866-1944). Ade and David E. Ross were the principal benefactors for the new football stadium at Purdue University in 1924.
Ross-Ade Stadium has been expanded many times.
The Newton County Courthouse is on the National Register of Historic Places.
A few miles east of Kentland, the town of Goodland (pop. 1,043) was the birthplace of jazz musician Eddie Condon (1905-1973).
He played guitar and banjo.
The Kentland crater, in the area of Kentland and Goodland, is a 5-mile-wide impact crater, dating from many millions of years ago. Because of erosion, few signs of the crater are visible on the surface.
Limestone quarry at the center
The nearby town of Morocco (pop. 1,129) is the home of the Antique Snowmobile Museum of Indiana.
Indiana’s only one
The community of Roselawn, partly in Jasper County, is known for its two nudist resorts, which date from the 1930s.
World’s largest sundial, Sun Aura Resort
Fair Oaks Farms has a variety of agriculture-related experiences for visitors, including the “Dairy Adventure” and the “Pig Adventure,” plus a restaurant and gift shop.
Jasper County (pop. 33,478) is west of Starke County. It is Indiana’s third-largest county in square miles.
It’s one of eight Jasper counties in the U.S., all named for Revolutionary War hero William Jasper (1750-1779), whose exploits were popularized by author Parson Weems.
Raising the flag at Fort Moultrie
Weems’s stories also made Sgt. John Newton famous. As a result, Jasper and Newton were often paired in the American mind in the early 1800s, when counties were being named. Five Jasper counties (including Indiana’s) are adjacent to Newton counties.
Texas
The county seat of Jasper County is the city of Rensselaer (pop. 5,859), which was originally named Newton. Rensselaer (ren-sa-LEER) was named for James Van Rensselaer, a merchant who came to the area from Utica, N.Y.
Jasper County Courthouse
The Ritz Cinema in Rensselaer opened in 1928 as the Palace Theatre. It reopened in 2006.
Admission: $5.00
Tom Harmon (1919-1990), University of Michigan football star and sports broadcaster, was born in Rensselaer. He won the Heisman Trophy in 1940. His children included actor Mark Harmon and actress Kristin Harmon, who married singer Ricky Nelson.
Tom’s grandsons Gunnar and Matthew
The adjacent community of Collegeville is the home of Saint Joseph’s College, a Catholic liberal-arts school with about 1,000 students.
St. Joseph’s Chapel
The Chicago Bears held their annual training camp at St. Joseph’s College from 1944 to 1974. Parts of the TV movie “Brian’s Song” were filmed on campus.
The town of Remington (pop. 1,185) has a water tower built in 1897, with a wooden tank above a brick tower.
140 feet tall
South of Rensselaer, the Fountain Park Chautauqua, dating from 1895, still has a two-week summer Chautauqua season with guest speakers, art classes, and family-oriented entertainment.
Starke County (pop. 23,363) is west of Marshall County. It’s the only Starke County in the U.S. Its northwestern border is the Kankakee River, which flows west to the Illinois River in Illinois.
Shaped like New York state
The county was named for Gen. John Stark (1728-1822), whose militiamen defeated the British in the Battle of Bennington (Vermont) in 1777. An “e” was mistakenly added to the county’s name sometime in the 19th century.
The county seat of Starke County is the city of Knox (pop. 3,704).
Melody Drive-In (1949)
The Starke County Courthouse in Knox was built in 1897 in Richardsonian Romanesque style. Tours to the clock tower are available by appointment.
Indiana limestone
The Starke County Visitor Center is in the old Knox railroad depot.
South of Knox is Bass Lake, the third-largest natural lake located entirely within the borders of Indiana.
The town of Hamlet (pop. 800) was not named for Shakespeare’s Prince of Denmark; it was named for John Hamlet, who established the town in 1863.
Sir Laurence Olivier and friend
The unincorporated community of Toto, west of Knox, is known for its giant Indian, which was once located at the entrance to Porter County’s now-defunct Enchanted Forest amusement park.
The park closed in 1991.
The town of North Judson (pop. 1,772) has an annual Mint Festival, to celebrate the history of mint farming in the area. North Judson is also the home of the Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum.
Marshall County (pop. 47,051) is west of Kosciusko County. It is one of 12 Marshall counties in the U.S.
The county was named for U.S. Chief Justice John Marshall (1755-1835).
The county seat of Marshall County is the city of Plymouth (pop. 10,033).
Marshall County Courthouse (1872)
The 100-foot East LaPorte Street Footbridge (1898) connects downtown Plymouth with a residential neighborhood to the east. The footbridge is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Over the Yellow River
Plymouth has a restored, vintage Mobil gas station.
Montgomery Ward, formerly a mail-order business only, opened its first retail store in Plymouth, in 1926. By 1929, Wards had 531 stores.
It was in this building.
The annual Marshall County Blueberry Festival is held on Labor Day weekend in Plymouth.
Since 1967
The four-screen Tri-Way Drive-In in Plymouth has been open since 1953. It’s one of Indiana’s few remaining drive-in theaters.
Open April to September
West of Plymouth, the unincorporated community of Donaldson is the home of Ancilla College, a two-year, private liberal arts college. It was founded in 1937 by the Poor Handmaids of Jesus.
In the town of Bremen (pop. 4,588), the Bremen Theatre (1934) is still showing first-run movies.
The town of Culver (pop. 1,353) is the home of the Culver Academies, a college preparatory boarding school. The school began as the Culver Military School in 1894.
Indiana’s first indoor rowing tank
Culver alumni include George Foreman III, Hal Holbrook, Michael Huffington, Walter O’Malley, Gene Siskel, George Steinbrenner, Hal Steinbrenner, Jonathan Winters, and Alexander, Crown Prince of Yugoslavia.
Kosciusko County (pop. 77,358) is west of Noble County. The only Kosciusko County in the U.S., it has about 75 lakes within its borders.
The county was named for Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kosciuszko (1746-1817), a Polish-Lithuanian military leader who fought on the American side in the Revolutionary War.
The county seat of Kosciusko County is the city of Warsaw (pop. 13,559), named for the capital of Poland.
Old Courthouse (1884)
Warsaw has long been known as the “Orthopedic Capital of the World” because of its cluster of industries and services related to orthopedic (or orthopaedic) devices.
Authors Ambrose Bierce (1842-circa 1914) and Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945) and former NBA basketball player Rick Fox all lived in Warsaw and attended Warsaw High School.
The Wagon Wheel Center for the Arts in Warsaw hosts the Symphony of the Lakes and a variety of other concerts and plays.
Theater in the round
The 2008 documentary film “American Teen” was filmed at Warsaw High School and featured actual Warsaw students.
Just east of Warsaw, the town of Winona Lake (pop. 4,908) is the home of Grace College and Theological Seminary. Evangelist Billy Sunday (1862-1935) lived in Winona Lake for many years.
Northeast of Warsaw, Webster Lake has summer excursions on the Dixie, built in 1929, “Indiana’s oldest sternwheel excursion boat.”
The town of Mentone (pop. 1,001) calls itself the “Egg Basket of the Midwest” because of its large commercial egg enterprises. Mentone has an annual Egg Festival.
Giant egg, Mentone
Mentone is also the home of the Bell Aircraft Museum, named for Lawrence D. Bell (1894-1956) – the Mentone native who founded the Bell Aircraft Corporation. The Bell X-1 was the first supersonic aircraft.
Noble County (pop. 47,536) is west of DeKalb County. The only other Noble counties are in Ohio and Oklahoma.
The county was named for James Noble (1785-1831), first senator from the state of Indiana.
Served 1831-37
The county seat of Noble County is the town of Albion (pop. 2,349). The courthouse was built in 1887.
Richardsonian Romanesque style
Earl Butz (1909-2008), Secretary of Agriculture under Presidents Nixon and Ford, was born in Albion and grew up on a Noble County dairy farm. He was one of seven students in his high school graduating class.
Also Dean of Agriculture at Purdue
The largest city in Noble County is Kendallsville (pop. 9,862), home of the Mid-America Windmill Museum,
52 windmills on display
The Strand Theatre in Kendallsville opened in 1890 as the Spencer Opera House. It’s still showing first-run movies.
Twinned in 1980
Every October, the city of Ligonier (pop. 4,405) is the site of Pumpkin Fantasyland, with a variety of pumpkin displays and activities.
Pumpkins as presidents
Ford C. Frick (1894-1978), Commissioner of Major League Baseball from 1951 to 1965, grew up in Noble County and went to high school in the town of Rome City (pop. 1,361).
1961 baseball card
Chain O’Lakes State Park, popular with boaters, has nine connecting lakes and 13 lakes total. Illinois also has a Chain O’Lakes State Park.
DeKalb County (pop. 42,223) is south of Steuben County and just west of Ohio.
It’s one of six DeKalb counties in the U.S., all named for Johann von Robais, Baron de Kalb (1721-1780), a French military officer who served as a major general in the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War.
He died in the Battle of Camden.
The county seat of DeKalb County is the city of Auburn (pop. 13,086).
DeKalb County Courthouse (1905)
Auburn is known as the “Home of the Classics” because of its history of producing luxury automobiles. The Auburn Automobile Company was founded in Auburn and went out of business in 1937.
The Auburn Automobile Company made Duesenberg cars from 1926 until Duesenberg folded in 1937.
1931 Duesenberg Torpedo Phaeton
The Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum, located in the company’s former buildings, has a collection of about 125 vehicles.
The former showroom
The Auburn Cord Duesenberg Festival is held annually on Labor Day weekend.
The Parade of Classics
Auburn is also the home of the Early Ford V-8 Foundation and Museum, “preserving 1932-1953 Ford history.”
Founded in 1991
Auburn is one of four communities in DeKalb County (along with Butler, Garrett, and Waterloo) with community mausoleums, built between 1914 and 1922. All are on the National Register of Historic Places.
Roselawn Cemetery, Auburn
The city of Garrett (pop. 6,286) was the hometown of silent film star John Bowers (born John Bowersox in 1885), whose career collapsed with the beginning of “talkies” and who apparently committed suicide in 1936 in the Pacific Ocean near Malibu.
On the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Amtrak’s “Capitol Limited” (between Washington, D.C., and Chicago) and “Lake Shore Limited” (between New York City and Chicago) stop in the town of Waterloo (pop. 2,242) – each one daily, in both directions.
Steuben County (pop. 34,185) is in the northeastern corner of Indiana, adjacent to Michigan and Ohio. The only other Steuben County is in New York.
The county was named for Prussian-born Friedrich Wilhelm August Heinrich Ferdinand Steuben (1730-1794), better known as Baron von Steuben. He was an American military officer during the Revolutionary War.
Gen. Washington’s chief of staff
With more than 100 lakes, the county has long been a popular area for visitors.
Clear Lake’s population goes from 300 in winter to 2,000 in summer.
The county seat of Steuben County is the city of Angola (pop. 8,612).
Steuben County Courthouse (1868)
Downtown Angola is centered on a traffic circle that has a monument in the middle, dedicated to the local men who fought in the Civil War.
Built in 1917
Angola is the home of Trine University, a private university founded in 1884. Its name was changed from Tri-State University in 2008, in honor of Ralph and Sheri Trine, owners of Angola-based Vestil Manufacturing Corp.
About 1,700 students on the Angola campus
From 1956 to 2008, Angola had a small amusement park called the Fun Spot. It had 30 rides, including three roller coasters.
In 2007
Notorious 19th-century criminal Sile Doty (1800-1876) was based in Angola for some years, and he once broke out of the Angola jail.
Horse thief, counterfeiter, robber, gang leader
In the nearby town of Hudson (pop. 518), the Gangsters Grille restaurant is located in the former Farmers State Bank – allegedly robbed by John Dillinger and gang in 1933.
“Food this good should be criminal”
Pokagon State Park, north of Angola, was named for Potawatomi Indian chief Leopold Pokagon (1775-1841) and his son Simon Pokagon (1830-1899).
Potawatomi Inn (1927)
In winter, the park is popular for its quarter-mile, refrigerated toboggan run, with a vertical drop of 90 feet. Top speed is about 40 mph. The original slide opened in 1935.
LaGrange County (pop. 37,128)Â is east of Elkhart County. It’s the only LaGrange County in the U.S.
The county was named for the Chateau de la Grange-Bleneau in France, east of Paris. The chateau was the home of the Marquis de Lafayette from 1802 to 1834.
The towers date from the 15th century.
The 126-mile Indiana Toll Road (part of Interstate 90) runs across the northern part of the county. The Toll Road connects the Chicago Skyway with the Ohio Turnpike.
Along with Elkhart County, LaGrange County is considered part of “Northern Indiana Amish Country.”
The county seat of LaGrange County is the town of LaGrange (pop. 2,625).
Downtown mural
The LaGrange County Courthouse was built in 1878 of red brick and Indiana limestone.
Famous for its bell tower
West of LaGrange is the town of Shipshewana (pop. 658), well-known for its manufacturers of hand-crafted Amish furniture.
Information center in Shipshewana
The Shipshewana Quilt Festival is a major annual event for quilters.
June 22-25, 2016
The Shipshewana Auction and Flea Market has antique auctions all year. The Flea Market (May to October) is the Midwest’s largest flea market.
Dating from the 1920s
The Howe Military Academy is in the unincorporated community of Howe. The academy, which dates from 1884, is a coeducational, college-preparatory boarding school for grades 7-12.
Elkhart County (pop. 197,559) is east of St. Joseph County, along the border with Michigan.
The origin of the name “Elkhart” is uncertain. One theory is that the island on the Elkhart River in downtown Elkhart is shaped like an elk’s heart, as viewed from above.
Aerial views were not available when it was named.
The county’s population has grown consistently over the years (it was 84,000 in 1950), mainly because of the recreational vehicle industry. More than half of American RVs are made in Elkhart County.
Elkhart (pop. 50,949) is the county’s largest city. The RV/MH Hall of Fame is just northeast of the city.
Interior of the RV museum
Elkhart is also the home of the National New York Central Railroad Museum, established in 1987 to honor the now-defunct railroad line that ran through Elkhart between New York City and Chicago.
The railroad had 11,000 miles of tracks.
The Robert Young Yard in Elkhart is the largest railroad classification yard (where freight cars are sorted) east of the Mississippi.
View from the air
Elkhart has also been known as “The Band Instrument Capital of the World” because of the many factories making instruments – down from about 60, years ago, to just a few today.
The Lerner Theatre in Elkhart dates from 1924. It now has a variety of concerts and theatrical events.
A movie theater until 1987
At the corner of Lexington Avenue and Riverside Drive in Elkhart, dentist Joseph Stamp embedded many of the teeth that he’d pulled into a concrete block in front of his office.
There’s no charge to view it.
The Hall of Heroes Museum in Elkhart is “the only Super Hero and Comic Book Museum in the world.” It has more than 60,000 comic books, plus more than 10,000 toys, figures, and props.
Built in 2006
The county seat of Elkhart County is the city of Goshen (pop. 31,719), home of the Elkhart County 4-H Fair and Goshen College, a liberal-arts school affiliated with the Mennonite Church.
Elkhart County Courthouse (1870, renovated 1908)
Film director Howard Hawks (1896-1977) was born in Goshen, where his family owned the Goshen Milling Company. The family later moved to Pasadena, California.
Elkhart County has a significant Amish population. In Nappanee (the longest city name in the U.S. containing each letter in its name twice) is Amish Acres, an Amish tourist attraction.
St. Joseph County (pop. 266,931) is Indiana’s fifth-largest county in population. The only other St. Joseph County is in Michigan, just a few miles to the northeast.
The county was named for the 206-mile St. Joseph River, which flows through Michigan and Indiana into Lake Michigan. It flows through downtown South Bend.
The bend in the river gave the city its name.
The county seat of St. Joseph County is South Bend (pop. 101,168). The city reached its peak population of 132,445 in 1960.
Old Courthouse (1855)
The Studebaker Corporation was founded and headquartered in South Bend. Its South Bend automobile plant closed in 1963, and the company went out of business in 1967.
Studebaker National Museum, South Bend
A former Studebaker test track – now a park – has a group of trees that were planted in 1937 to spell “Studebaker’ (as seen from above).
Bendix Woods County Park
The restored Palace Theatre (1921), now the Morris Performing Arts Center, hosts the South Bend Symphony Orchestra and touring Broadway shows.
Saved from demolition in the 1960s
Tippecanoe Place, built in 1889 as a home for the Studebaker family, is now a restaurant.
Richardsonian Romanesque style
The South Bend Cubs, single-A Midwest League affiliate of the Chicago Cubs, play at Four Winds Field at Covelski Stadium (1987). The gift shop is a former synagogue, adjacent to the stadium.
Sons of Israel Synagogue (1901)
South Bend’s Union Station (1929) is now used as a data center for Global Access Point, a telecommunications company. Amtrak uses a small, newer station, located two miles west of downtown.
It was across the street from the Studebaker factory.
The former East Race Canal in South Band was converted in 1984 to the East Race Waterway – the first artificial whitewater waterway in North America. It is open June-August.
1,900 feet long
South Bend is most famous for the University of Notre Dame – which is not actually in South Bend, but in the census-designated place of Notre Dame, just north of South Bend.
The city of Mishawaka (pop. 48,252), just east of South Bend, has an AM General assembly plant that built Hummer H2s until 2010. It’s now building Mercedes-Benz SUVs for export to China.
LaPorte County (pop. 111,467), east of Porter County, is Indiana’s second-largest county in square miles.
The county is considered part of Michiana, a seven-county area in northwestern Indiana and southwestern Michigan. The name dates from 1934, when it was the winner of a contest held by South Bend merchants.
The county seat of LaPorte County is the city of LaPorte (pop. 22,053). The Courthouse dates from 1894.
Richardsonian Romanesque style
In the late 19th century, LaPorte was the home of the Parsons Horological Institute – the first watchmaking school in the country. After a few years, the school was moved to Peoria, Illinois.
It became part of Bradley Polytechnic Institute.
The LaPorte County Historical Society Museum has a display on Belle Gunness (born 1858), a local Norwegian immigrant and serial killer who reportedly murdered 25-40 people (including her suitors, husbands, and children) before disappearing from the area.
6 feet tall, 200 pounds
The largest city in LaPorte County is Michigan City (pop. 31,479), on Lake Michigan. Michigan City reached its peak population of 39,369 in 1970.
Barker Mansion (1855)
The 90-mile South Shore Line, one of America’s few remaining interurban railroads, runs down the middle of 11th Street in Michigan City.
It runs from downtown Chicago to the South Bend airport.
Pitcher Don Larsen, who threw the only perfect game in World Series history (for the Yankees in 1956), was born in Michigan City in 1929.
Celebrating with catcher Yogi Berra
The Michigan City East Lighthouse was built in 1904. One of Indiana’s few lighthouses, it has an unusual iron walkway (no longer in use) above the pier.
Now a museum
The Washington Park Zoo in Michigan City has a 70-foot observation tower, open to the public.
A WPA project from 1937
Purdue University North Central is south of Michigan City, near the town of Westville (pop. 5,857). It has about 4,000 students.
Porter County (pop. 164,343) is east of Lake County, on the shores of Lake Michigan. Its southern border is the 133-mile Kankakee River, a tributary of the Illinois River.
The only Porter County in the U.S.
The county was named for naval officer David Porter (1780-1843), who served in the War of 1812.
Portrayed by Jeff Chandler in this 1952 movie
The 15,000-acre Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore has 15 disconnected pieces of land along a 25-mile stretch of Lake Michigan. Indiana Dunes State Park is within the national lakeshore.
Indiana Dunes in the 1960s
The county seat of Porter County is the city of Valparaiso (pop. 31,730).
Porter County Courthouse (1883)
The city was originally named Portersville, but it was changed in 1837 to Valparaiso after Valparaiso, Chile, where David Porter captained U.S. ships against the English in the War of 1812 Battle of Valparaiso.
Valparaiso is the home of Valparaiso University, founded in 1859 as one of the first coeducational colleges in the U.S. It has about 4,500 students. It is now affiliated with the Lutheran church.
Chapel of the Resurrection (1959)
The old Porter County Jail and Sheriff’s House (1871) now contains the Porter County Museum of History.
The jail moved out in 1974.
Indiana-born businessman Orville Redenbacher had his popcorn business in Valparaiso. The city has had an annual Popcorn Festival since 1979.
Orvillle statue
The largest city in Porter County is Portage (pop. 36,828), along Lake Michigan.
Chicago skyline is visible across the lake.
Farther east, in the town of Beverly Shores (pop. 613), are five buildings that were moved from the “Homes of Tomorrow” exhibition at the 1933 Century of Progress World’s Fair in Chicago.
We begin our virtual tour of Indiana’s 92 counties in Lake County (pop. 496,005), along Lake Michigan in the northwestern corner of the state. Lake County is Indiana’s second-most-populous county.
This is the route that we’ll be taking around the state. We will end in Posey County, in the southwestern corner, sometime next fall.
The county seat of Lake County is the city of Crown Point (pop. 27,317). The old Lake County Courthouse now has shops, offices, and the Lake County Historical Museum.
Built in 1880
In the Courthouse basement is the John Dillinger Museum, dedicated to the notorious Indiana-born gangster (1903-34), who once broke out of the local jail. Dillinger’s “death pants” are on display.
Replica of Chicago theater where Dillinger died
In the early 20th century, Crown Point was known as the “Marriage Mill,” because marriage licenses could be obtained so quickly. Actor Rudolph Valentino was married there in 1923 and boxer Muhammad Ali in 1964.
“The Shiek” (1921)
The largest city in Lake County is Hammond (pop. 80,830). Hammond was the hometown of humorist Jean Shepherd (1921-99), who wrote and narrated the 1983 film “A Christmas Story – full of memories of his childhood there.
Pole-licker statue, Hammond
Thanks to Meredith Willson’s 1957 musical “The Music Man” and the 1962 movie, Gary (pop. 80,294) is easily the best-known city in Lake County.
Gary’s population is less than half of what it was in 1960 (178,320). Its fortunes have declined with the shrinking of employment in the local steel mills.
The Jackson 5, and all of the Jackson family of their generation, were born in Gary. The family moved to California in 1968, when they started recording for Motown.
The city of East Chicago (pop. 29,698), just west of Gary, was the site of Marktown, a planned community for industrial workers, established in 1917. The sidewalks were for cars, and the streets were for pedestrians.
Homes are still standing, but surrounded by an industrial area.
ArcelorMittal’s Indiana Harbor complex in East Chicago is the largest steel mill in the U.S. The mill complex was formerly operated by Inland Steel and Youngstown Sheet and Tube.
Indiana Harbor Works
Greg Popovich, coach of the NBA San Antonio Spurs, was born in East Chicago and grew up in the area.
He played basketball at the Air Force Academy.
At a four-way stop in Hanover Township, south of Hammond, drivers have been throwing their old shoes at the side of the road for many years. The shoes are collected each week and donated to charity.
Monroe County (pop.73,090) is one of 17 Monroe counties, all named for James Monroe (1758-1831), fifth president of the U.S.
Although 87% of the county’s land is on the mainland (in Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve), more than 99% of the population lives on the Florida Keys.
The two parts don’t touch.
The county seat of Monroe County is the city of Key West (pop. 24,649), located at the southern end of U.S. Highway 1 (which begins in Maine) and near the western end of the 1,700-island archipelago known as the Florida Keys.
The Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum was the author’s home from 1931-39. It is known for its six- and seven-toed cats, descendants of Hemingway’s cats.
The house stayed in the family for many years.
The Harry S. Truman Little White House is also in Key West. President Truman made 11 visits as president, between 1946 and 1953.
East of Key West, Sugarloaf Key has a historic bat tower, built in 1929 to control mosquitoes. The bats flew away soon after they were installed, and the mosquitoes apparently remained.
One of three still standing in the U.S.
Farther east, at Big Pine Key, is the Bahia Honda Bridge. It was replaced in 1980, and part of it is now open to pedestrians.
Old bridge on left, new bridge on right
The city of Marathon (pop. 8,310), on seven different islands, has the grave of Flipper – bottlenose dolphin star of the 1960s TV of the same name.
Her real name was Mitzi.
The island of Key Largo, 33 miles long, is near the eastern end of the keys. Humphrey Bogart starred in the 1948 film “Key Largo” and in the 1951 film “African Queen,” which had nothing to do with Key Largo.
Miami-Dade County (pop. 2,496,435) is Florida’s largest county by population, and the seventh-largest county in the U.S. It’s the most southeasterly county on the U.S. mainland.
Dade County was created in 1836 and named for Major Francis L. Dade, a soldier who died in the Second Seminole War in 1835. Voters changed the name to Miami-Dade in 1997.
The courthouse was built in 1926.
The county seat of Miami-Dade County is the city of Miami (pop. 400,769), second-largest city in Florida (after Jacksonville).
Downtown Miami skyline
The MLB Miami Marlins and NBA Miami Heat play in Miami; the NFL Miami Dolphins play in nearby Miami Gardens.
Marlins Park was built on the site of the former Orange Bowl.
Metrorail (1984) is a rapid-transit system with two lines, covering 24 miles and connecting downtown with the airport and suburban areas.
Downtown also has a free, 4-mile people mover.
Actor-comedian Jackie Gleason (1916-1987) lived and worked in the Miami area for many years. He is buried at Our Lady of Mercy Cemetery in Miami, with the inscription “And away we go” on the tomb.
“The Honeymooners”
The separate city of Miami Beach (pop. 87,779) is on barrier islands, across Biscayne Bay from Miami.
Miami Beach is known for having the most extensive collection of 1920s and ’30s Art Deco architecture in the world.
There’s an annual Art Deco Weekend.
The nearby community of Opa-Locka, established in 1926, has the world’s largest collection of Moorish Revival architecture.
City Hall (1926)
The city of Coral Gables (pop. 46,994), home of the University of Miami, is known for its Mediterranean Revival architecture.
City Hall (1928)
The headquarters of Burger King is located in an unincorporated area of Miami-Dade County.
Founded in 1954 in Miami
Everglades National Park is in the western part of Miami-Dade County. The Ernest Coe Visitor Center is west of the city of Homestead (“Gateway to the Everglades”).
Broward County (pop. 1,748,066), south of Palm Beach County, is Florida’s second-largest county in population, and the 17th-largest county in the U.S.
Almost all of the population lives in the eastern part of the county; the western part is in the Everglades Wildlife Management Area, which serves as a protective buffer to Everglades National Park, to the south.
Hunting is allowed.
The county was named for Napoleon Bonaparte Broward, governor of Florida from 1905 to 1909. As governor, he worked to drain the Everglades for agricultural use.
The county seat of Broward County is the city of Fort Lauderdale (pop. 165,521), home of the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
Port Everglades is the home of more cruise ships than any other port and is the busiest container port in Florida.
It once hosted 15 cruise ships on the same day.
The former Yankee Clipper Hotel in Fort Lauderdale – built in 1956 to resemble a cruise ship – is now part of the B Ocean Resort.
The Wreck Bar inside the B Ocean Resort is known for its windows into the hotel pool and its weekend mermaid shows.
Friday and Saturday at 6:30 p.m.
North of Fort Lauderdale, the city of Pompano Beach (pop. 99,845) is the home of the Festival Flea Market Mall, known as the largest indoor flea market in the U.S.
More than 500 stores
Pompano Park is a harness racing track and casino.
South of Fort Lauderdale, in Hallondale Beach (pop. 37,113), Gulfstream Park is a horse racing track that dates from 1944. Nearby is a new, 110-foot bronze statue of Pegasus killing a dragon – second-largest statue in the U.S.
#1 is the Statue of Liberty.
The NHL Florida Panthers play at the BB&T Center (previously the National Car Rental Center, 1998) in the city of Sunrise (pop. 84,439), west of Fort Lauderdale.
Also previously the Office Depot Center
Nearby, the city of Coconut Creek (pop. 53,072) is the home of Butterfly World, the largest butterfly park in the world.
Palm Beach County has Florida’s third-largest population, 1,320,134 in 2010, up from 348,753 in 1970. It stretches from Lake Okeechobee to the Atlantic Ocean.
Most of the population is along the ocean.
One of Florida’s wealthiest counties, it has communities named Palm Beach, West Palm Beach, North Palm Beach, South Palm Beach, Royal Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, and Palm Springs.
The Breakers hotel (1925), Palm Beach
The county seat, and largest city, is West Palm Beach (pop. 99,919). It’s the oldest municipality in the South Florida metropolitan area – incorporated in 1894, two years before Miami.
The old courthouse (1916) is now a history museum.
West Palm Beach is on the 71-mile Tri-Rail commuter rail system, which runs south to Miami. It opened in 1989.
Tri-Rail and Amtrak station (1925)
On Peanut Island in West Palm Beach, tours are now available of President John F. Kennedy’s once-secret bomb shelter – located near the Kennedy family’s “Winter White House” in Palm Beach.
It could have sheltered 30 people for a month.
The town of Palm Beach (pop. 8,426) is on a barrier island, across the Intracoastal Waterway from West Palm Beach.
Palm Beach at right, West Palm Beach at left
The Flagler Museum is a 55-room mansion in Palm Beach, built by Henry Flagler in 1901 and now open to the public.
Flagler was the “Father of Palm Beach.”
The city of Boca Raton (pop. 85,196) – which does not allow billboards along its roads – is the home of Florida Atlantic University, a public university founded in 1961.
About 30,000 students
The Palm Beach Gardens branch of Nova Southeastern University has an 18-foot Mako shark statue bursting out of the plaza.
The school’s teams are known as the Sharks.
The town of Jupiter (pop. 55,434) is the spring training home of the Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals. Both teams play at Roger Dean Stadium (1998).
Hendry County (pop. 39,140) is north of Collier County. Its northeastern corner touches Lake Okeechobee.
Hendry County’s economy is based on agriculture – mainly sugar cane and oranges. The only cities are Clewiston, in the northeastern corner, and LaBelle, in the northwestern corner.
Florida’s #1 producer of oranges
The county seat is LaBelle (pop. 4,655), on the Caloosahatchee River.
Hendry County Courthouse (1926)
La Belle has an annual Swamp Cabbage Festival, now in its 50th year. The swamp cabbage, also known as the cabbage palm or palmetto, is Florida’s state tree.
Clewiston (pop 7,151) is the county’s largest city. The headquarters of US Sugar Company, the largest producer of sugar cane in the U.S., is in Clewiston.
The Clewiston Sugar Festival takes place in April.
The Billie Swamp Safari is an attraction on the Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation.
Swamp rides
Harlem, a census-designated place adjacent to Clewiston, was established by itinerant black workers in the sugar-cane fields. Its 2010 population of 2,658 was 96% African-American.
Collier County (pop. 321,520) is south of Lee County. It was named for Barron Collier (1873-1939), an entrepreneur who became the largest landowner in Florida.
Florida’s largest county in land area
The entire southeastern part of the county is in Big Cypress National Preserve, established in 1974.
Burmese pythons are not native to the area.
The county seat of Collier County is the unincorporated community of East Naples. The county seat was moved from the city of Everglades in 1962, after it was badly damaged by Hurricane Dora in 1960.
Collier County Courthouse
The name of Everglades was changed to Everglades City in 1965. Its population is now 400. In 1950, before Hurricane Dora, it was 625.
The restored courthouse is now City Hall.
The community of Ochopee, east of Everglades City, is the home of the Skunk Ape Research Headquarters, which investigates local sightings of the Skunk Ape – a Florida relative of Bigfoot.
Skunk-ape-related merchandise is available.
The Ochopee Post Office is the smallest post office in the U.S., at about 7 feet by 8 feet.
Former storage area for irrigation pipes
The largest city in Collier County is Naples (pop. 19,598), one of the wealthiest communities in the U.S.
Many condominiums
The Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens, which opened in 1969, was formerly the gardens for Dr. Henry Nehrling’s collection of plants.
It can get hot outside.
The Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge, east of Naples, was established in 1989 to protect the endangered Florida panther.
Lee County (pop. 618,754) is south of Charlotte County, on the Gulf of Mexico. It is one of 12 Lee counties, and one of the many named for Gen. Robert E. Lee (1807-1870).
The county seat of Lee County is the city of Fort Myers (pop. 62,431). Fort Myers was the winter home of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford in the early 1900s.
Edison statue and banyan trees he planted
The adjacent Edison and Ford Winter Estates are now open to the public, with home tours, museum, and botanical gardens.
The Ford home
The Shell Factory (“the largest collection in North America of taxidermy animals”) has been an attraction in Fort Myers since 1938.
Also “The World’s Largest Shell Factory”
The Boston Red Sox and Minnesota Twins have their spring training homes in Fort Myers – about six miles apart.
JetBlue Park at Fenway South (2012)
Florida Gulf Coast University opened in Fort Myers in 1997. It now has about 14,000 students
It has its own lakeside beach.
Deion Sanders, former NFL and MLB player, was born in Fort Myers and played baseball, football, and basketball at North Fort Myers High School. He was all-state in all three sports.
In Pro Football Hall of Fame
A giant head of Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) can be found outside the Pyramid Village in Fort Myers.
A resort built by Austrians
The largest city in Lee County is Cape Coral (pop. 154,305). Founded in 1957, Cape Coral claims to have the most canals (about 400 miles) of any city in the world.
About 120 square miles
The nearby city of Bonita Springs is the home of the Everglades Wonder Gardens, which date from 1936.
The town of Estero (pop. 18,176) was established by the followers of Cyrus Teed, who believed that humans live on the inside of a hollow earth, and that the stars and planets are all inside it.
Charlotte County (pop. 159,978) is south of DeSoto County. Its population in 1970 was 27,559.
The only other Charlotte County is in Virginia.
The county is centered on Charlotte Harbor, a natural estuary on the Gulf of Mexico.
Fishermen’s Village, Punta Gorda
The county seat of Charlotte County is the city of Punta Gorda (pop. 16,641).
Charlotte County Courthouse (1928)
Charlotte High School was among the many buildings in Punta Gorda that were severely damaged by Hurricane Charley in 2004.
The entire interior was rebuilt.
Ponce de Leon Park in Punta Gorda has a marker commemorating the “first white man to die in America.”
Many of the homes in Punta Gorda are in a neighborhood of man-made canals, 100 feet wide and 17 feet deep.
55 miles of canals
Punta Gorda has a 2.4-mile Harborwalk along Charlotte Harbor and the Peace River.
Established in 2010
The unincorporated community of Port Charlotte is the home of the Charlotte Stone Crabs, single-A Florida State League affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays.
Charlotte Sports Park (1987)
In the nearby community of Englewood, the cemetery has a grave shaped like a boat.
DeSoto County (pop. 34,862) is east of Sarasota County. It was named for Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto – as was Hernando County, farther north in Florida.
The only other DeSoto County is in Mississippi. Its county seat is the city of Hernando.
In the Memphis metropolitan area
The county seat of DeSoto County, Florida, is the city of Arcadia (pop. 7,636).
DeSoto County Courthouse (1913)
The Arcadia Opera House (1906) is now one of downtown DeSoto’s many antique stores.
The theater was on the second floor.
The Opera House was built after a fire destroyed most of Arcadia’s business district in 1905.
Only two downtown buildings survived
Hurricane Charley in 2004 did extensive damage to Arcadia and DeSoto County. About 95% of downtown buildings were damaged.
Much damage all over southwestern Florida
Carlstrom Field was a military airfield, southwest of Arcadia, that trained pilots from 1917 to 1945.
It became a hospital after WWII.
DeSoto County has the second-most acres in citrus trees (after Polk County) of any county in Florida.
Sarasota County (pop. 379,448) is south of Manatee County, along the Gulf of Mexico. The origin of the name “Sarasota” is unknown.
The county seat of Sarasota County is the city of Sarasota (pop. 52,166), in the county’s northwestern corner.
The courthouse (1927) is in Mediterranean Revival style.
Starting in 1927, Sarasota was the winter quarters of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Today, it is the home of the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art.
The Ringling Mansion (Ca’d’Zan) is open for tours.
The Ringling Circus Museum features a 44,000-piece miniature circus.
The world’s largest
The 25-foot “Unconditional Surrender” statue is a landmark in Sarasota. It is based on a famous photograph taken in Times Square on V-J Day in 1945.
First installed in 2005
Sarasota Jungle Gardens, open since 1936, has bird and animal shows, in addition to its gardens.
Bike-riding parrots
The Sarasota Opera House (originally the Edwards Theatre, 1926) is the home of the Sarasota Opera.
Elvis Presley played there in 1956.
The former Sarasota High School is being renovated. When completed, it will become the Sarasota Museum of Art.
Built in 1926
The Sarasota Chalk Festival, which began in 2007, features a wide variety of Italian street painting in downtown Sarasota.
The world’s most important chalk festival
The Baltimore Orioles have had their spring training home at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota since 2010.
The White Sox played there previously.
The largest city in Sarasota County is North Port (pop. 57,357). Located inland, North Port has grown from a population of 178 in 1960.
Manatee County (pop. 322,833) is west of Hardee County, on the Gulf of Mexico and partly on Tampa Bay. Almost all of the population is in the coastal areas.
The manatee (also known as the sea cow) is Florida’s official state marine mammal.
They reach 8-14 feet in length.
The county seat of Manatee County is the city of Bradenton (pop. 49,486).
Manatee County Courthouse (1913)
The Linger Lodge restaurant in Bradenton is known for the stuffed animals on the walls, as well as for its menu, which includes “fresh alligator bites” and fried green tomatoes.
Tropicana, Inc., was founded in Bradenton in 1947. Its headquarters are now in Chicago, but it still has its huge plant for processing fruit juice in Bradenton.
Tropicana juice plant
The aquarium at the South Florida Museum in Bradenton is the home of Snooty (age 67) the world’s oldest known manatee.
The Pittsburgh Pirates have their spring training home at McKechnie Field (1923) in Bradenton. The Pirates have been there since 1969.
Renovated in 1993
The De Soto National Memorial, five miles west of Bradenton, commemorates the landing of Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto in 1539 – the first extended exploration of the area by Europeans.
Lake Manatee State Park is in the central part of the county.
Hardee County (pop. 27,731) is west of Highlands County. It’s the only Hardee County in the U.S.
The county was named for Cary A. Hardee (1876-1957), governor of Florida from 1921 to 1925.
Florida’s 23rd governor
The county seat of Hardee County is the city of Wauchula (pop. 4,952).
Hardee County Courthouse (1927)
Wauchula has long been known as the “Cucumber Capital of the World,” although today the area produces more citrus than cucumber.
The 106-mile Peace River, popular for canoeing, flows through Wauchula. The river flows into the Gulf of Mexico in Charlotte County.
Also a popular area for fossil hunters
Paynes Creek Historic State Park is located on the site of Fort Chokonikla – built in 1849 to protect white settlers from Seminole Indians. The fort was abandoned within a year, because so many people were dying of malaria.
It was in a swampy breeding ground for mosquitos.
In 2004, Hurricane Charley did $750 million damage in Hardee County, destroying 1,400 homes.
Highlands County (pop. 98,786), north of Glades County, has more than 100 lakes. It is Florida’s third-largest producer of citrus.
The county’s largest lake is Lake Istokpoga, the fifth-largest lake in Florida. It has an average depth of only four feet.
Popular for fishing, dangerous for boating
Just west of Lake Istokpoga is Lake June in Winter. It was renamed (from Lake Stearns) by an early developer of the area who had a summer home on a Lake June in New York state.
The county seat of Highlands County is the city of Sebring (pop. 10,491).
Highlands County Courthouse (1927)
Sebring is best known as the home of the Sebring International Raceway, the site of the annual 12 Hours of Sebring endurance race for sports cars.
The track opened in 1950.
Sebring is also known as the “City on the Circle,” because the center of its downtown is on two concentric circle roads.
The Kenilworth Lodge is a resort hotel in Sebring that’s been in operation since 1916.
Mediterranean Revival style
Harder Hall, a resort hotel named for developers Lewis Harder and Vincent Hall, opened in 1927. It has been unoccupied since 1982.
On Little Lake Jackson
The Amtrak station in Sebring, built in 1924 by the Seabord Air Line Railway, serves Amtrak’s “Silver Star” and “Silver Meteor” trains.
Between New York City and Miami
The town of Lake Placid, named after Lake Placid, New York, has 46 murals on the sides of buildings.
Tour brochures are available.
Lake Placid is known as the “Caladium Capital of the World,” because 98 percent of the world’s caladium bulbs come from there.
Highlands Hammock State Park, which opened in 1931, was one of Florida’s original state parks.
Glades County, southwest of Okeechobee County, is Florida’s fourth-smallest county, with a population of 12,884. It was named for the Florida Everglades, which historically reached into the area but are now farther south.
The county seat of Glades County is the city of Moore Haven (pop. 1,680), fourth-smallest county seat in Florida.
Courthouse (1928)
The Chalo Nitka Festival and Rodeo dates from 1948. “Chalo Nitka” means “Day of the Big Bass” in the Miccosukee language.
There’s a parade.
The unincorporated community of Palmdale is the home of Gatorama, which has twice-daily Big Gator Feed Shows.
It opened in 1957.
The 52-mile Fisheating Creek flows into Lake Okeechobee near Palmdale. It is the second-largest natural source of the lake, after the Kissimmee River.
Paddling on Fisheating Creek
The 67-mile Caloosahatchee River flows west from Glades County to the Gulf of Mexico. It is part of the Okeechobee Waterway, which crosses the state from east to west.
The Brighton Seminole Indian Reservation, in the northeastern part of the county, is the home of the Seminole Brighton Casino. The tribe also has a 36,000-acre cattle operation in the area.
Okeechobee County (pop. 39,996) is west of Martin County and north of Lake Okeechobee. The lake got its name from the Hitchiti Indian words “oka” (water) and “chobi” (big).
It is one of the six inland counties known as Florida Heartland – a mostly rural and agricultural area, with much less tourism than other parts of Florida.
The county seat of Okeechobee County is the city of Okeechobee (pop. 5,621).
Courthouse (1926)
The 54,000-acre Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park, northwest of Okeechobee, is the state’s largest remaining area of dry prairie.
Popular for birding.
The Okeechobee Hurricane of 1928 was one of the deadliest and most destructive hurricanes in U.S. history. The lake overflowed and flooded hundreds of square miles, with water reaching depths of up to 20 feet.
Okeechobee Battlefield State Historic Park commemorates the Battle of Okeechobee, during the Second Seminole War on Christmas Day, 1837.
Martin County (pop. 146,318), south of St. Lucie County, is one of six Martin counties in the U.S.
It was named for John W. Martin (1884-1958), governor of Florida from 1925 to 1929.
Martin (left) with John D. Rockefeller
Martin County is one of the five counties that meet in the middle of Lake Okeechobee, the largest freshwater lake in Florida.
Average depth of only 9 feet
The county seat of Martin County is the city of Stuart, the “Sailfish Capital of the World.”
Lyric Theatre (1926)
The former Martin County Courthouse (1937) is now the Courthouse Cultural Center.
Art Deco style
Downtown Stuart has an intersection known as Confusion Corner. It has eight different roads entering it, plus a railroad track.
At lower left
The Stuart Welcome Arch (1926) is actually in the nearby community of Jensen Beach. The city limits were changed after it was constructed.
Jensen Beach has an annual Pineapple Festival, featuring an authentic Bahamian Market.
Since 1988
The wealthy town of Jupiter Island (pop. 817) has been the home of sports and entertainment celebrities such as Tiger Woods, Greg Norman, Celine Dion, and Alan Jackson.
Ocean Breeze (pop. 354) is a town made up entirely of the residents of the Ocean Breeze mobile home park.
Established in 1938
The House of Refuge, built on Hutchinson Island in 1876, is the last remaining shipwreck life-saving station on Florida’s Atlantic Coast. It is now a museum.
A haven for shipwrecked sailors
The unincorporated community of Indiantown is the home of Payson Park Thoroughbred Training Center. Davy Jones (1945-2012) of the Monkees had 14 horses there.
Indian River County (pop. 138,028) is south of Brevard County. It was formed in 1925 from the northern part of St. Lucie County.
In recent years, the coastline of Indian River, St. Lucie, and Martin counties has been known as the Treasure Coast, commemorating the Spanish “treasure fleet” that sank in a hurricane in the area in 1715.
11 ships carrying silver
The county seat of Indian River County is the city of Vero Beach (pop. 15,220).
Driftwood Inn, Vero Beach
The McKee Botanical Garden in Vero Beach dates from 1929.
Along the Indian River
Vero Beach was the spring training home of the Los Angeles Dodgers from 1948 until they moved to Arizona in 2009.
The city of Sebastian (pop. 21,929) is the home of Mel Fisher’s Treasure Museum, with items from the 1715 Spanish treasure fleet.
It opened in 1992.
The city of Fellsmere (pop. 3,813) is the home of the annual Fellsmere Frog Leg Festival – the largest frog leg festival in the world.
Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge, north of Vero Beach, was the first national wildlife refuge in the U.S., created by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1903 to protect egrets and other birds.
Brevard County (pop. 543,376) is east of Orange County, along the Atlantic Ocean. It’s the only Brevard County in the U.S.
The “Space Coast”
The Kennedy Space Center, on Merritt Island, has been the site of the Apollo moon landing program, Space Shuttle launches, and much more.
Vehicle Assembly Building
Brevard County was given the 321 area code in 1999 (formerly belonging to a Chicago suburb) to commemorate the countdown sequence for spacecraft at Cape Canaveral.
Space-related tourist attractions in the area include the Astronaut Hall of Fame, Shuttle Launch Experience, and Space Walk of Fame Museum.
Also the Police Hall of Fame is in Titusville
The county seat of Brevard County is the city of Titusville (pop. 43,761).
Old Courthouse (1912)
The city of Melbourne (pop. 76,068) was the birthplace (in 1943) of Jim Morrison of The Doors. San Francisco Giants manager Bruce Bochy graduated from Melbourne High School.
Not Bruce Bochy
Melbourne is the home of the Liberty Bell Memorial Museum, which has a full-size replica of the Liberty Bell and other patriotic memorabilia.
Established in 1985
The real city of Cocoa Beach (pop. 11,231) was the fictional home of astronaut Larry Hagman and genie Barbara Eden in the 1960s TV series “I Dream of Jeannie.”
Actually filmed in California
The First United Methodist Church of Cocoa has a weekly drive-in service.
The Aladdin Theater in the city of Cocoa (pop. 17,149) dates from 1924. It’s now the Cocoa Village Playhouse.
The 25-mile-long Canaveral National Seashore is the longest expanse of undeveloped land on Florida’s Atlantic coast.
Orange County (pop. 1,145,956) is north of Osceola County. Its population in 1970 was 344,311; Walt Disney World opened in 1971. It now has the fifth-largest population in Florida.
One of eight Orange counties in the U.S., it was a major producer of citrus fruit before the Great Freeze of 1985.
Most of the tourist attractions are southwest of Orlando.
Orlando (pop. 238,300), the county seat, is the fifth-largest city (and largest inland city) in Florida.
Orange County Courthouse (1997)
Orlando has been called the “Theme Park Capital of the World.” The largest theme parks are Walt Disney World (not actually in Orlando), Universal Orlando, and SeaWorld Orlando.
Another Orlando attraction
The 23-acre Lake Eola is in downtown Orlando.
In Lake Eola Park
The Orlando Amtrak station serves the “Silver Meteor” and “Silver Star” trains (between New York City and Miami), as well as the SunRail commuter train, which runs 31 miles north to Volusia County.
Built in 1926
The Orange County Convention Center, 11 miles southwest of downtown Orlando, is the second-largest convention center in the U.S. – after McCormick Place in Chicago.
Opened in 1983
The University of Central Florida, in Orlando, opened in 1968 as Florida Technological University. It has the largest undergraduate enrollment of any U.S. university, with more than 60,000 students.
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke was born in Orlando in 1983 and played high school baseball at nearby Apopka High School.
The community of Christmas, east of Orlando, has the “World’s Largest Alligator” at the entrance to Jungle Adventures animal park.
Osceola County (pop. 268,685) is east of Polk County. Most of the population is in the northwestern corner, just south of Walt Disney World. The other Osceola counties are in Iowa and Michigan.
The county was named for Seminole Indian leader Osceola (1804-1838), whose original name was Billy Powell and who was of mixed Creek, Scots-Irish, and English parentage.
A leader in the Second Seminole War
Today, about 25% of the population of Osceola County is of Puerto-Rican ancestry.
The county seat of Osceola County is the city of Kissimmee (pop. 59,682).
New Osceola County Courthouse (2001)
Osceola County Stadium (1984) in Kissimmee is the spring training home of the Houston Astros; the Astros are scheduled to move away in 2017.
The Kissimmee Astros
Fun Spot America is a family-owned amusement park in Kissimmee.
The Tupperware World Headquarters Museum is in Kissimmee. Tupperware was founded by Earl Tupper in 1948.
The #1 market is now Indonesia.
Kissimmee has an attraction called Machine Gun America, where patrons can shoot real machine guns. “Live shooting experiences” start at $99.
Visitors may not bring their own weapons.
In downtown Kissimmee, the 50-foot Monument of States dates from 1943. It features rocks from 50 states and 21 countries.
Renovated in 2001
The master-planned community of Celebration (pop. 7,427) was originally developed by the Walt Disney Company, beginning in 1996.
Yeehaw Junction is in the southeastern corner of the county – a remote area that’s full of cattle ranches.
The community was formerly known as Jackass Junction.
The Florida Turnpike has an exit in Yeehaw Junction. The other nearest exits are 48.9 miles north and 40.5 miles south – among the longest exitless distances on limited-access highways in the U.S.
Polk County (pop. 602,095), east of Hillsborough County, is Florida’s fourth-largest county in land square miles. It’s one of 12 Polk counties, and one of the 10 named for President James K. Polk.
The county has more than 300 lakes.
The county seat of Polk County is the city of Bartow (pop. 17,329). The former courthouse is now the Polk County Historical Museum.
Built in 1909
Former NFL linebacker Ray Lewis was born in Bartow in 1975. He played 17 years with the Baltimore Ravens.
College at University of Miami
The largest city in Polk County is Lakeland (pop. 97,894), known for its lakes and swans. The swans were reintroduced to Lakeland in 1957 after all the older ones had been eaten by alligators.
The Detroit Tigers have had their Spring Training home in Lakeland since 1934.
Joker Marchant Stadium
Lakeland is the headquarters of the Publix chain of supermarkets, with more than 1,000 stores in the Southeast.
Birthday cake water tower
Florida Southern College in Lakeland, affiliated with the United Methodist Church, has the world’s largest collection of buildings designed by Frank Lloyd Wright on one site.
Annie Pfeiffer Chapel (1941)
East of Lakeland is the city of Winter Haven (pop. 33,874), long known as the home of Cypress Gardens (1936-2009) – Florida’s first theme park for tourists.
The site is now Legoland Florida.
Many of the lakes in Central Florida’s “Chain of Lakes” are in Winter Haven. The Chain of Lakes has about 27 lakes, most of them connected by canals.
Musician Gram Parsons (1946-1973) was born in Winter Haven. His birth name was Ingram Cecil Connor III. Parsons’ father was a World War II flying ace, and his mother was from a wealthy citrus industry family.
The Orange Dome, in Winter Haven, was the longtime site of the now-defunct Florida Citrus Showcase. The dome was demolished in 2012.
Built in 1964
Polk County has a city named Frostproof (pop. 2,994). Frostproof got its name in an effort to convince the public that it would never have a citrus-killing frost – but a frost killed many trees a couple years later.
Polk County has long been a center of phosphate mining, and Mulberry (pop. 3,817) is the “Phosphate Center of World.”
Nalcrest is a retirement community for postal workers. The name is an acronym for National Association of Letter Carriers Retirement, Education, Security, and Training.
Hillsborough County (pop. 1,229,226) is Florida’s fourth-largest county in population. It has gained about a million residents since 1950.
The only other Hillsborough County is in New Hampshire.
The largest city in Hillsborough County is Tampa (pop. 336,846), third-largest city in Florida.
From the 1880s to the 1930s, the Ybor City area of Tampa was a worldwide center of cigar manufacturing. Immigrants from Cuba, Spain, and Italy filled the neighborhood.
“The Cigar Capital of the World”
Since 2002, the 2.7-mile TECO Line Streetcar has connected Ybor City with downtown Tampa.
11 stations
The NFL Tampa Bay Buccaneers play at Raymond James Stadium (1998), located northwest of downtown.
“Ray Jay” for short
New York Mets pitching great Dwight Gooden was born and raised in Tampa.
1985 Cy Young Award winner
The former Federal Courthouse (1905) in downtown Tampa is now Le Meridien Hotel.
Opened in 2014
Union Station in Tampa (1912) serves Amtrak’s “Silver Star” trains, which operate between New York City and Miami.
Restored and reopened in 1998
Tampa has “The World’s Largest Bowling Pin,” near the waterfront.
Erected in 2003
The former Tampa Bay Hotel (1891) is now Plant Hall on the University of Tampa campus. It contains the Henry B. Plant Museum.
It had Florida’s first elevator.
Plant City (pop. 34,721) was not named for agricultural products – it was named for railroad developer Henry B. Plant. Plant City is known as “The Winter Strawberry Capital of the World.”
Home of the Florida Strawberry Festival
Plant City is also home of Dinosaur World, with more than 150 life-size dinosaur sculptures. Other Dinosaur Worlds are in Texas and Kentucky.
It opened in 1998.
The unincorporated community of Gibsonton, south of Tampa, was known for many years as a winter and retirement home of circus and sideshow performers.
Pinellas County (pop. 916,542) is Florida’s second-smallest county, with just 280 square miles. Most of the county is on the Pinellas Peninsula, between the Gulf of Mexico and Tampa Bay.
35 miles of beaches and dunes on 11 barrier islands
The county broke away from Hillsborough County in 1912 because transportation to the county seat of Tampa was so difficult.
Now there are bridges.
The county seat of Pinellas County is the city of Clearwater (pop. 107,685).
Old Pinellas County courthouse (1918)
The largest city in Pinellas County is St. Petersburg (pop. 245,403), fourth-largest city in Florida.
Tropicana Field, home of the Rays
The Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg is the largest collection of Dali’s work outside Europe.
A new building opened in 2011.
The St. Petersburg Shuffleboard Club (1924) is the world’s oldest and largest shuffleboard club, with more than 70 courts.
Shuffleboard under the lights
“Thrill Hill,” well-known to residents of very flat St. Petersburg, is a bridge over Salt Creek – built around 1930 to allow small boats to pass under it.
The Vinoy Park Hotel in St. Petersburg dates from 1925. In the early days, it was only open December to March. It was vacant for about 20 years, starting in 1974, before renovation.
Mediterranean Revival style
In nearby St. Pete Beach (pop. 9,346), the Don CeSar Hotel, built in 1928, was a favorite of celebrities during the Jazz Age. It also sat empty for some years before renovation and reopening – in 1973.
Mediterranean and Moorish style
North of St. Pete Beach, the city of Madeira Beach has both “The World’s Largest Indoor Alligator Attraction” and “The World’s Largest Chicken Wing.”
Tarpon Springs (pop. 23,484) has the largest percentage of Greek-Americans (about 12%) of any city in the U.S. Many Greek immigrants came to the city as sponge divers in the early 1900s.
Hernando County (pop. 172,778) was named for Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto (1496-1542), who landed nine ships in Tampa Bay in 1539. DeSoto County, farther south, is also named for him.
Located on the Gulf of Mexico, south of Citrus County, it’s the only Hernando County in the U.S.
For many years, Hernando County has been best-known for the mermaid shows at Weeki Wachee Springs. The first show in the underwater theater was in 1947.
Now a state park
The term “Weeki Wachee” – for which the springs, river, and city (population 12) were named – is derived from a Seminole word, apparently meaning “small spring.”
The theater
The county seat of Hernando County is the city of Brooksville (pop. 7,723), named in 1856 for South Carolina Congressman Preston Brooks, who nearly caned abolitionist Senator Charles Sumner to death on the floor of the U.S. Senate.
Brooks at left
Boyett’s Citrus Attraction in Brooksville dates from the 1960s. It features a small zoo, fruit stand, miniature golf, aquarium, citrus-packing plant, and a “Dinosaur Cave.”
The Dinosaur Cave
Downtown Brooksville is known for its colorful murals.
East of Brooksville is the largest Wal-Mart distribution center in Florida, and one of the largest in the U.S.
Near Interstate 75
The largest community in Hernando County is the unincorporated, planned community of Spring Hill (pop. 98,621), which opened in 1968.
Service station dinosaur, Spring Hill
Legendary bank robber Willie Sutton spent the last few years of his life at his sister’s home in Spring Hill, and he died there in 1980.
Citrus County (pop. 141,236) is on the Gulf of Mexico, west of Sumter County. It’s the only Citrus County in the U.S. Its population has grown from 19,196 in 1970.
The county was created in 1887, when the area was a center of citrus production. After the devastating Great Freeze of 1894-95, most of Florida’s orange and grapefruit groves were moved farther south.
Overnight temperatures dropped to 18 degrees in Orlando.
The county seat of Citrus County is the city of Inverness (pop. 7,210). The old Courthouse is now a museum.
Built in 1912
The Valerie Theatre in Inverness, built in 1925, has recently been renovated, after being closed since 1987.
The grand reopening was June 6.
The unincorporated communities of Homosassa and Homosassa Springs are west of Inverness. “Homosassa” was derived from a Seminole word meaning either “river of fishes” or “pepper ridge.”
Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park is one of the best places in Florida to view manatees.
Bubbles the Manatee marks the entrance to the park.
Made of fiberglass
Baseball great Ted Williams (1918-2002) lived in Citrus County in his later years and died at Citrus Memorial Hospital in Inverness.
Sumter County (pop. 93,420) is west of Lake County. Its population has grown from 31,577 in 1990.
One of 4 Sumter counties
Sumter County has the oldest median age (62.7 years in 2010) of any county in the U.S.
The majority of Sumter County’s citizens (more than 51,000) live in the unincorporated retirement community of The Villages, in the northeastern part of the county.
The Villages has another 60,000 people in Lake and Marion counties.
The Villages, which has grown rapidly since its founding in the 1980s, has 39 golf courses and a polo stadium.
Golf carts are a popular form of transportation.
The county seat of Sumter County is the city of Bushnell (pop. 3,004).
Sumter County Courthouse (1914)
The city of Wildwood (pop. 6,603) is at the intersection of Interstate 75 (from Michigan to Miami), U.S. Route 301 (Delaware to Sarasota), Florida Road 44 (from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic), and Florida’s Turnpike (south to Miami).
Dade Battlefield Historic State Park, south of Bushnell, preserves the Second Seminole War battlefield where Seminole Indian warriors fought U.S. troops in 1835.
Lake County (pop. 297,052), west of Seminole County, has more than 1,000 lakes. It’s one of 12 Lake counties in the U.S.
In addition to its many lakes, the county is the site of Sugarloaf Mountain (312 feet) – the highest point in peninsular Florida and the state’s most prominent point, relative to its surrounding area.
View toward the mountain
The county seat of Lake County is the city of Tavares (pop. 13,992). The old courthouse now houses the Lake County Historical Museum.
Built in 1922
The largest city in Lake County is Clermont (pop. 28,849), site of the 226-foot Citrus Tower. It was designed as an observation tower overlooking citrus trees, Today, it’s above a growing city.
There’s an elevator.
Nearby, the Twistee Treat building is shaped and painted like a giant ice cream cone.
The city of Eustis (pop. 18,605) has hosted the GeorgeFest, in honor of George Washington, for 113 consecutive years. It’s the second-longest-running George Washington’s Birthday festival in the U.S.
The city of Mount Dora (pop. 12,230) has no mountain, but it has the Mount Dora Ghost Walk, every Saturday at 8 p.m.
The movie “Honky Tonk Freeway” (1981) was filmed in Mount Dora. Much of the town was painted pink for the filming.
Pulled from theaters after one week
The city of Leesburg (pop. 20,464) is known for the 64-acre Venetian Gardens, a park on the shores of Lake Harris.
Walt Disney’s parents, Elias and Flora Disney, were married in 1888 in Lake County – about 50 miles from where Walt would build Walt Disney World.
Seminole County (pop. 422,718) is south of Volusia County, between Daytona Beach and Orlando. The only other Seminole counties are in Georgia and Oklahoma.
The county seat of Seminole County is the city of Sanford (pop. 53,570).
Ritz Theater (1923)
Sanford is on the southern shore of Lake Monroe, the head of navigation on the north-flowing St. Johns River. Boats can reach the Atlantic Ocean from Lake Monroe.
Marina on Lake Monroe
The city has a two-mile RiverWalk that’s actually along Lake Monroe.
Sanford is the southern terminus of Amtrak’s 855-mile Auto Train, whose northern terminus is in Virginia. The non-stop Auto Train carries passengers and their cars, taking about 17 hours.
Cars loading onto train
Orlando Sanford International Airport is not as busy as Orlando International Airport, closer to Orlando, but it has many daily Allegiant Air flights, as well as an active flight-training business.
Built in 1942 as Naval Air Station Sanford
Tennis pro Jim Courier and baseball star Tim Raines were both born in Sanford.
7-time All-Star
The city of Oviedo (pop. 33,342) is known for the wild chickens that roam the downtown area.
They hang out at the Popeye’s drive-thru.
The American Automobile Association has its headquarters in the unincorporated community of Heathrow.
Volusia County (pop. 494,593) is south of Flagler County. Its name’s possible origins include an Englishman named Voluz, a Frenchman named Veluche, and the Roman jurist Volusio.
The county seat of Volusia County is the city of DeLand (pop. 27,031).
The Athens Theatre (1922) now hosts the Athens Theatre Company.
The former courthouse, built in Neoclassical style in 1929, now houses county offices and an art collection.
Copper-clad dome
DeLand is the home of Stetson University (1883), Florida’s oldest private college. It was named for John B. Stetson (1830-1906), inventor of the cowboy hat.
The sports teams are known as the Hatters.
DeLand calls itself “The Skydiving Capital of the World” because of its concentration of parachute industry-related businesses.
Longtime Atlanta Braves star Larry “Chipper” Jones was born in DeLand and grew up in the area.
#1 pick in the 1990 draft
The largest city in Volusia County is Daytona Beach (pop. 61,005), home of NASCAR, the Daytona International Speedway, the LPGA, Bethune-Cookman University, and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
Auto racing on the beach ended in 1961.
Jackie Robinson Ballpark dates from 1914. Daytona Beach was the first Florida city to allow Jackie Robinson to play in a Spring Training game, in 1946. It’s now the home of the Daytona Tortugas of the Florida State League.
Class-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds
The town of Ponce Inlet (pop. 3,032), south of Daytona Beach, has the Ponce de Leon Inlet Light (1887), second-tallest lighthouse in the U.S. (175 feet).
Now also a museum
The unincorporated Volusia County community of Cassadaga is known as the “Psychic Capital of the World.” It was founded in 1894 as the Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp.
The city of New Smyrna Beach (pop. 22,599) has a grave in the middle of Canova Drive, dating from the 1950s.
The road goes on both sides of the grave.
In the city of Port Orange (pop. 57,207), the Last Resort Bar features memorabilia of serial killer Aileen Wuornos (1956-2002), who was arrested there in 1991. Wuornos was played by Charlize Theron in “Monster” (2003).
Flagler County (pop. 95,696) is east of Putnam County, on the Atlantic Ocean. It has been one of the fastest-growing counties in the country; its 1970 population was just 4,454.
The county was named for Henry M. Flagler (1830-1913), founder of the Florida East Coast Railway and a leader in the development of Florida’s Atlantic Coast.
The county seat of Flagler County is the city of Bunnell (pop. 2,676).
Former courthouse (1927)
The largest city in Flagler County is Palm Coast (pop. 75,180), developed starting in 1969 and incorporated in 1999.
Many residents commute to St. Augustine or Daytona Beach.
The 21-acre Washington Oaks Gardens State Park, near Palm Coast, is best known for its formal gardens.
The property was donated to the state in 1964.
Flagler Beach (pop. 4,484), partly in Volusia County, has six miles of beach and a municipal pier.
Relatively uncrowded, for Florida
The town of Marineland (pop. 10) is the home of Marineland of Florida, which was Florida’s first marine theme park when it opened in 1938. The park is now called Marineland Dolphin Adventure, a subsidiary of the Georgia Aquarium.
Marco Polo Park was another attraction in Flagler County. It opened in 1970 (a year before Walt Disney World opened) and closed in 1978. The site is now the Plantation Bay Golf and Country Club community.
In 1994, the entire county was evacuated because of huge brush fires that were threatening the area. About 40,000 people were forced to leave the county.
Putnam County (pop. 74,364), northeast of Marion County, was named for Benjamin A. Putnam, first president of the Florida Historical Society.
One of nine Putnam counties
The county seat of Putnam County is the city of Palatka (pop. 10,558).
Angel’s, in Palatka, is Florida’s oldest diner. The former railroad dining car has been parked there since 1932.
Curb service is available.
St. Johns River State College in Palatka was established in 1958 as St. Johns River Community College.
The Larimer Memorial Library (1929) is now the Larimer Arts Center.
Palatka Union Depot serves Amtrak’s “Silver Meteor” and “Silver Star” trains, both between New York City and Miami. The station is also the home of the David Browning Railroad Museum.
Built in 1909
Ravine Gardens State Park is in Palatka.
Established in 1934
The town of Welaka (pop. 586) is the home of the Welaka National Fish Hatchery, the only national fish hatchery in Florida.
Observation tower
Crescent City (pop. 1,780) was the birthplace of A. Philip Randolph (1889-1979), founder of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and civil rights leader.
The Fort Gates Ferry, a one-mile auto ferry across the St. Johns River, is the oldest operating car ferry in Florida.
Marion County is south of Alachua County. It’s one of 16 Marion counties and one of the many named for Revolutionary War General Francis Marion of South Carolina.
As portrayed by Leslie Nielsen
The county’s population has grown from 69,030 in 1970 to 331,298 in 2010.
The rolling hills of Marion County are best-known today for their thoroughbred horse farms, with more than 1,200 farms in the county. Affirmed, the 1978 Triple Crown winner, was bred and raised in Marion County.
The thoroughbred industry began there in the 1940s.
The county seat of Marion County is Ocala (pop. 57,468).
Lexington, Kentucky, also claims this title.
The Marion Theatre in downtown Ocala dates from 1941 and still shows first-run movies.
Streamline Moderne style
Ocala Union Station was built in 1917. Its only passenger service today is bus service.
Including Amtrak buses
Don “Big Daddy” Garlits, the “Father of Drag Racing,” has his Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing in Ocala.
Almost 300 cars
The Royal Guardsmen, an Ocala-based band, had a hit in 1966 with “Snoopy vs. the Red Baron.”
Silver Springs was one of Florida’s first tourist attractions, beginning in the late 1800s, with glass-bottom boats, a “Jungle Cruise” ride, and an amusement park.
Alachua County (pop. 247,336) is south of Bradford County. The word “Alachua” may have been derived from a Timucua Indian word meaning “sinkhole.”
The county’s best-known sinkhole is in Devil’s Millhopper Geological State Park. A 200-step stairway leads to the bottom of the 120-foot-deep sinkhole. It got its name from its resemblance to the storage bin of a mill.
Water at the bottom
The county seat of Alachua County is the city of Gainesville (pop. 124,741), home of the University of Florida – largest university in the state, with about 49,000 students, and one of the 10 largest in the U.S.
The university has the largest occupied bat house in North America, with about 300,000 Brazilian free-tailed bats in residence.
They fly out at dusk to feed.
Professor Robert Cade led the research team that in 1965 invented Gatorade – to help Florida Gator football players overcome dehydration in the hot, humid climate. The university eventually made many millions of dollars in royalties.
The beginning of the sports drink industry
The Hippodrome State Theatre in downtown Gainesville was built in 1911 as a U.S. post office and courthouse. It’s now the home of a regional professional theater.
Also a cinema showing independent films
Musician Tom Petty was born in Gainesville in 1950, and his Heartbreakers started their career there in 1976.
The 34th Street Wall is a Gainesville landmark – a 1,000-foot retaining wall that has been covered with up to 250 layers of graffiti since its construction in 1979.
Technically illegal, but unenforced
The city of Alachua (pop. 9,059) is the home of the largest Hare Krishna community in the Western Hemisphere.
Founded in 1977
Musician Bo Diddley (born 1928) lived for many years in the city of Archer (pop. 1,118) and died there in 2008. His real name was Ellas Otha Bates.
The unincorporated community of Cross Creek was the longtime home of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (1896-1953), author of “The Yearling,” which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1939. A 1983 film was based on her memoirs.
Union County (pop. 15,535), west of Bradford County, is Florida’s smallest county.
240 square miles
It was not named for labor unions or for the North in the Civil War; it was named for the widespread agreement that a new county should be carved from the western part of Bradford County, in 1921.
It’s one of 17 Union counties.
The county seat of Union County is the city of Lake Butler (pop. 1,897).
Union County Courthouse (1936)
The former courthouse is now the Lake Butler Woman’s Club. It was moved to its current site when the new courthouse was built.
Built in 1923
The city of Lake Butler is on the south side of Butler Lake.
There’s an annual bass fishing tournament.
The Union Correctional Institution, near the town of Raiford, dates from 1913. It is Florida’s oldest correctional institution.
Known informally as “Raiford.”
Lynyrd Skynyrd’s posthumous album “Legend” (1987) had a song called “Four Walls of Raiford.”
Bradford County (pop. 28,520), west of Clay County, is Florida’s third-smallest county in square miles.
The only other Bradford County is in Pennsylvania, along the Susquehanna River.
Florida’s is flatter
The county seat of Bradford County is the city of Starke (pop. 5,449). The former courthouse now houses the Bradford County Historical Museum and a branch of Santa Fe College.
Built in 1902
The Florida Twin Theatre in Starke, built in 1941, shows first-run movies.
Twinned in the 1980s
The Woman’s Club of Starke building dates from 1922. The organization was originally known as the Mother’s Club, and only mothers were allowed to join.
At one time it was a library.
Starke was in the news in 2013, when the American Atheists organization installed a monument in front of the Courthouse, adjacent to a year-old Ten Commandments monument.
After court-ordered mediation
The Florida State Prison (1961) is northwest of Starke, surrounded by several other prisons.
Clay County, west of St. Johns County across the St. Johns River, is one of 18 Clay counties and one of the 15 named for Henry Clay (1777-1852), U.S. senator from Kentucky.
Within easy commuting distance of Jacksonville, Clay County has grown from a population of 32,059 in 1970 to 190,895 in 2010.
Much of the western part of the county is in Camp Blanding (1939), the primary military reservation and training base for the Florida National Guard.
It opened in 1940.
The county seat of Clay County is the city of Green Cove Springs (pop. 6,908), named for a bend in the St. Johns River where the trees are perpetually green.
The spring
In the late 1800s, before the railroads starting carrying tourists to South Florida, Green Cove Springs had more than a dozen hotels near the spring, known then as “The Original Fountain of Youth.”
The old Clay County Courthouse was built in 1889 and used as a courthouse until 1977.
On the National Register of Historic Places
The Clay Theatre in Green Cove Springs opened in 1919 as the Palace Opera House. It closed in 2014.
Green Cove Springs was the birthplace of Charles E. Merrill (1885-1956), co-founder of Merrill Lynch and Company.
Now part of Bank of America
The town of Penney Farms (pop. 749) was founded in 1926 by businessman J.C. Penney as an experimental farming village. The site is now the Penney Retirement Community.
St. Johns County (pop. 190,039) is south of Duval County. Its population has grown from 30,727 in 1970.
One of Florida’s two original counties
Its county seat, St. Augustine (pop. 12,975), is the oldest continuously occupied European settlement in the continental United States. It’s been a major tourist destination since the late 19th century.
The Ponce de Leon Hotel (1888) was built by Henry Flagler, a founder of Standard Oil and an early leader in the development of Florida’s Atlantic Coast. It is now part of Flagler College (1968).
A four-year, liberal arts college
Across the street from the former Ponce de Leon Hotel is the former Hotel Alcazar (1887), which now contains the St. Augustine City Hall and the Lightner Museum.
Also built by Flagler
The Castillo de San Marcos, the oldest masonry fort in the continental U.S., was built from 1672 to 1695, when Florida was part of the Spanish Empire.
Now a national monument
The Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine is the oldest church in Florida. It was established in 1565 and rebuilt in the 18th century.
Still an active church
Bayfront Mini Golf is Florida’s oldest miniature golf course.
It opened in 1949.
Nombre de Dios, a Spanish Catholic mission founded in 1587, has a 204-foot cross that may be the world’s tallest free-standing cross.
208 feet
Ponce de Leon’s Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park may have been the site of Ponce de Leon’s Florida landing in 1513.
The St. Augustine Light (1874) is an active lighthouse and a museum.
Stairway to the top
The St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park, which opened in 1893, now has ziplines that pass over the alligators and crocodiles.
23 species of crocodilians
The World Golf Hall of Fame is in World Golf Village, north of St. Augustine. The headquarters of the PGA Tour is nearby in Ponte Vedra Beach.
Duval County (pop. 864,263) is south of Nassau County. The only other Duval County is in southern Texas.
Almost all of the county is within the city limits of Jacksonville (pop. 821,784). The city and county consolidated their governments in 1968.
The largest city, in square miles, in the contiguous U.S.
In population, Jacksonville is the 11th-largest city in the U.S. (and the largest in Florida), but only the 40th-largest metropolitan area.
It’s on the St. Johns River.
The former Union Station (1919) is now part of the Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center.
The Convention Center opened in 1986.
Downtown Jacksonville has a 2.5-mile automated people mover, known as the Jacksonville Skyway. It opened in 1989 and is free of charge.
It crosses the river.
The Florida Theatre opened in 1927. It now hosts a variety of concerts and other events.
Originally a movie palace
The University of North Florida opened in Jacksonville in 1972. It now has about 16,000 students.
One of 12 public universities in Florida
In the 1920s, Jacksonville had more than 30 movies studios and was the “Winter Film Capital of the World.” Norman Studios was known for its silent films featuring African-American actors.
Undergoing restoration
In 1901, much of Jacksonville was destroyed by a fire that has been called the largest urban fire in the southeastern U.S.
More than 2,000 buildings were destroyed.
Singer Pat Boone was born in Jacksonville in 1934. His family moved to Nashville when he was 2 years old.
Naval Station Mayport, at the mouth of the St. Johns River, is the third-largest concentration of naval surface fleet in the U.S.
Ships and aircraft
Jacksonville has an orange, 20-foot dinosaur that was formerly part of a miniature golf course.
The adjacent city of Jacksonville Beach (pop. 21,362) is the eastern terminus of U.S. Route 90, which goes west to Van Horn, Texas – about 120 miles east of El Paso.
Nassau County (pop. 73,314) is in Florida’s northeastern corner, projecting into Georgia. The population has grown from 20,626 in 1970.
The county was named for the Duchy of Nassau, now in west-central Germany. The only other Nassau County is on Long Island, New York.
Nassau Castle, Germany
The county seat of Nassau County is the city of Fernandina Beach (pop. 11,487), located on 13-mile-long Amelia Island.
Historic Courthouse (1891)
The 1988 movie “The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking” was filmed in Fernandina Beach.
Pippi’s house
Amelia Island is called “The Isle of 8 Flags” – it’s the only place in the U.S. that has had the flags of eight different nations flown over it.
The Amelia Island Light, built in 1838, is the oldest existing lighthouse in Florida. It marks the entrance to the St. Marys River.
Open to the public on Saturdays
The Amelia Island Museum of History is in the former Nassau County Jail.
The building dates from 1938.
Fort Clinch State Park is at the northern end of Amelia Island. The fort, dating from 1847, was the site of one Civil War battle, when Union forces captured it in 1862.
Popular for fishing and hiking
Near the town of Callahan (pop. 962), there is a giant golf ball at the intersection of Deerfield Country Club Road and State Road 115.
Baker County (pop. 27,115) is east of Columbia County, on the border with Georgia. It is one of three Baker counties in the U.S.
The 126-mile St. Marys River begins in the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia and dips into Florida, forming the border between the states until it reaches the Atlantic Ocean.
The county seat of Baker County is the city of Macclenny (pop. 6,374). The former courthouse is now the library.
Built in 1908
Macclenny was named for local businessman Carr McClenny – but the city’s name had to be changed because the post office did not allow capital letters in the middle of a word.
In the unincorporated community of Olustee, the former train depot is now the visitor center for the Osceola National Forest.
The depot has been relocated twice.
The Battle of Olustee, in 1864, was the largest Civil War battle fought in Florida. Olustee Battlefield Historic State Park commemorates the event.
Every County 