Celebration of America's 250th Anniversary
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Explore the places where history unfolded as the nation begins commemorating America's 250th anniversary. Florida’s state parks are living connections to the people, places and events that helped define America long before it became a nation. From barrier islands and riverbanks to forts and frontier settlements, these sites offer visitors a chance to walk the same ground where history was made.
Florida’s role in the Revolutionary War-era
Florida played a complex and often overlooked role during the Revolutionary period. At the time, British West Florida was sometimes described as the “fourteenth colony,” and several present-day state parks preserve sites connected to that era.
Explore Revolutionary War-era connections at parks including:
- Big Talbot Island State Park and Fort George Island Cultural State Park, where plantations once produced indigo and Sea Island cotton that helped support the British cause.
- Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park, where a frontier trading post facilitated commerce between Native Americans and British settlers.
- Tomoka State Park, the site of a British indigo plantation along the Tomoka River.
- San Marcos de Apalache Historic State Park, where control of the fort shifted during periods of British rule.
- Fernandina Plaza Historic State Park, Amelia Island State Park and Fort Clinch State Park, which were connected to small military conflicts and border tensions with the neighboring colony of Georgia.
Florida’s role in America’s 250 years of history
Florida State Parks also offer a window into other important moments in the nation’s history.
Explore other more moments in history at parks including:
- Constitution Convention Museum State Park where 56 territorial delegates drafted Florida's first constitution in 1838.
- John Gorrie Museum State Park, where Dr. Gorrie’s work to care for yellow fever patients led him to invent a mechanical device to produce ice and made him a pioneer in the field of air conditioning and refrigeration.
- Forest Capital Museum State Park, which pays homage to the area's longleaf pines and is home to an authentic 19th-century cracker homestead, much like those scattered throughout Florida at the turn of the century.
- Olustee Battlefield Historic State Park, where more than 10,000 cavalry, infantry and artillery troops fought a five-hour battle during the Battle of Olustee.
- Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park, which preserves the author’s cracker-style home and farm where she wrote Pulitzer prize-winning novel "The Yearling" and other wonderful works of fiction.
- Fort Mose Historic State Park, the site of the first legally sanctioned free African settlement in what is now the United States.
- Dade Battlefield Historic State Park, the site of Dade's Battle of 1835 which was the start of the Second Seminole War, the longest and most costly American Indian war in U.S. history.
- Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park, where explorer Ponce de Leon visited and named during the first Spanish expedition to Florida in 1513.
- Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park, which houses the largest cache of Civil War armament in the world and is the southernmost state park in the continental United States.
History Through Your Lens
These images, submitted through the 2025 Capture Florida Photo Contest’s Historic Encounters category, highlight how visitors connect with Florida’s past in meaningful moments found throughout our state parks.
