Things to do / Travel Guide
While Central Florida is well-known for being quite modern, there are some interesting historical attractions present in this region as well. Some of these historical attractions are listed and described below, in chronologically significant order.
Historical Sites around Cape Canaveral Area (Space Coast)
The Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral on Central Florida's Atlantic Coast is not only historical, but also continues to make history. Located at Kennedy Space Center is a museum dedicated to space exploration, as well as the actual launch pad where Apollo 11 lifted off on its historic trip to the moon. As this is still a working space launch facility, history continues to be made here with each liftoff.
Cocoa Village, near Cape Canaveral, has a quaint, restored downtown, featuring many original shops and homes from the late 1800s. Visitors to the area can see a variety of historic buildings and can purchase goods at the oldest operating retail store on the entire east coast of Florida, which dates back to 1885.
Historical Sites around Orlando, Florida
The Orange County Regional History Center in Orlando is a history museum serving the greater Orlando area, which sits in Orange County. The museum is housed inside the historic old county courthouse built in 1927. The majority of the exhibits showcased in the museum focus on Orlando B.D. (Before Disney).
Historical Sites around Tampa Bay, Florida
Heritage Village in Largo, off of Tampa Bay, is a re-created Florida pioneer village, with over 20 historic homes, the oldest of which is a log house dating back to 1852. Also in Heritage Village are a picture-perfect replica of a one-room schoolhouse of that era and the home that Henry Plant, the main developer of Tampa, built for his foreman.
Fort De Soto, on Tampa Bay, is an historic fort built by the U.S. government in 1898 to help protect the bay area from attack during the Spanish-American War. As the fort was never the scene of any battle activity, an interesting feature here is that there are still some original mortars left in place. The fort complex is now part of the greater Fort De Soto Park, which also features many beaches and other water activity facilities.
The Tampa Theatre in downtown Tampa is a restored, grand “movie palace” that first opened in 1926. The theater is still in operation today, mainly showing classic movies and hosting film-related special events. It still contains a huge Wurlitzer theater organ, which harks back to the era of silent films. There is also a popular rumor that the theater is haunted.
Historical Sites in Orlando, Tampa, Cape Canaveral and Central Florida
Historical-Sites
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