March 01, 2006

10 great places to discover the 'hidden' Florida


USA Today recently published ten "unspoiled" areas of Florida. The list is a good beginning, but by no means exhaustive.

  • The Panhandle
  • The Big Bend
  • Gainesville and towns south
  • Highway A1A through Nassau and Duval counties
  • Deland, Lake Helen, Cassadaga
  • Lakeland
  • Pinellas County
  • Stuart
  • The Redland
  • Calusa Blueway Paddling Trail
Here's a sample of the descriptions provided by author Herb Hiller to USA Today reporter Anne Goodfriend:
The Panhandle

This region of northern Florida is "typified by State Road 2, aka Hog and Hominy Road," Hiller says. You'll see old, steam-driven grist mills and "still-operating general stores where you can buy county newspapers no one ever heard of." Among its highlights is the old Chautauqua town of DeFuniak Springs with its Victorian architecture. In Falling Waters State Park, the state's highest waterfall pours up-side down into a sinkhole: "You stand and look down at it, not up."

[Photo: Cedar Grove Church is on Hog and Hominy Road in Holmes County. The church was built on land donated by my great-grandparents about 1895.]

Read the rest of the USA article here . . . .

(HT to Empirical Polk.com)

5 comments:

Liz Blondsense said...

How lovely! I once went and discovered the hidden everglades. That was tres cool too.

Love the background on the blog!

Aikäne said...

Thanks. I still don't have all the bugs out, but the fun's in the experimenting (ain't it always?)!

Anonymous said...

I'm trying to figure out how PIEnellas is a 'hidden' part of Fl. Do they mean the beaches? It's the most densely populated county in the state. Hidden? :)

Aikäne said...

I had a doubletake at Pinellas's listing too -- especially when dozens of other undiscovered places went unmentioned.

The article did list some interesting places in the county, well worth a visit, that may be unfamiliar to national readers -- but the "hidden" description doesn't quite match Hwy 19 traffic, does it? :-)

Anonymous said...

heh. you mean HIghway of Death?!

HA. As I was moving here, even people up north knew of the Highway of Death!