From ghost towns to river crossings, these are the strange, sacred, and sunbaked corners of Florida you won’t find on a postcard.
Florida is not a state known for whitewater. Beaches? Absolutely. Springs? We have some of the most beautiful in the world. Swamps? More than enough, thank you. Mountains, dramatic elevation changes, and raging rivers? Not so much. And yet, hidden along the Suwannee River near White Springs is a place where Florida breaks its own … Read more
There are plenty of places in Florida named for people who shaped the state’s history. Explorers. Governors. Soldiers. Pioneers. And then there’s Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park in White Springs. Here, beside the Suwannee River, Florida built a museum dedicated to one of America’s best-known 19th-century songwriters. Nearby, a massive carillon tower rises … Read more
Most ghost towns leave something behind. Empty houses. Abandoned storefronts. Crumbling churches. Streets slowly disappearing beneath weeds and trees. Brewster, Florida, is different. When this former phosphate company town in Polk County reached the end of its life, people didn’t simply pack their belongings and leave their houses behind. Some of them took the houses … Read more
Long before Florida became synonymous with beaches, theme parks, and roadside attractions, people were already traveling to the state in search of something remarkable. They came for the water. Along the banks of the Suwannee River in the tiny town of White Springs, Florida, a sulfur spring once poured millions of gallons of mineral-rich water … Read more
Wild horses, bison, Seminole history, Florida cowboys, and the state park we kept driving past There are some places you intentionally seek out. And then there are places you drive past again and again before finally realizing you probably should have stopped. For us, Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park was the second kind. Located just … Read more
Some historic places announce themselves. They have signs along the highway, parking lots, interpretive markers, and plaques explaining exactly why you should stop. Others are much quieter. Sometimes you glimpse a few old headstones through the trees as you drive past and think— Wait. Was that a cemetery? That’s exactly how Dusty and I discovered … Read more
Sometimes the wrong turn is the one worth remembering. There are places we carefully plan to visit. We research them. Add them to an itinerary. Figure out where to park and what we want to see when we arrive. And then there are places we find completely by accident. Micanopy Historic Cemetery was one of … Read more
Sometimes the best discoveries aren’t on the itinerary—they’re the ones you almost drive past. I almost missed this stop. Just after crossing the St. Johns River, a small green historical marker caught the corner of my eye. By the time I realized what I’d seen, I was already past it. If you’ve followed Travel Made … Read more
A three-day North Florida journey built from one simple errand, a lot of extra time, and more detours than expected Some road trips begin with a carefully chosen destination. Others begin because somebody needs paperwork signed. This was definitely the second kind. What started as a simple weekend trip to Lake City, Florida, quickly turned … Read more
Sometimes history announces itself with a towering monument, a roadside marker, or a museum filled with artifacts. And sometimes it quietly hangs a little bronze plaque on the side of a building and waits for somebody nosy enough to stop and read it. Hi. I’m somebody. In May 2026, I was wandering through downtown DeLand, … Read more