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Museum membership guide
Top 10 Historic Site locations in Florida
byShiry
Live update: Updated February 15, 2022Copy link
Copy link1. Edison & Ford Winter Estates
PEOPLE ARE SAYING:
ShiryRecommended this place!
2. Florida Maritime Museum
PEOPLE ARE SAYING:ShiryFounded on the importance of the regional, commercial fishing industry, FMM tells a number of stories pertinent to all aspects of Florida’s maritime history. Exhibits include historic photographs, boat models, tools, instruments, and other historically significant material relevant to Florida’s maritime culture and history. The museum is also home to a research library that includes a variety of books, plans, logs, diaries, periodicals, letters, records and related archival material whose content is relevant to research concerning maritime subjects with special emphases on Florida’s Gulf Coast.
ALSO FEATURED IN:Top 50 NARM locations in Florida
3. Goodwood Museum and Gardens
PEOPLE ARE SAYING:ShiryRecommended this place!
4. House of Refuge
PEOPLE ARE SAYING:ShiryStep back into the era of sailing ships! Constructed in 1875 to aid shipwreck survivors on a once desolate barrier island, the House of Refuge at Gilbert’s Bar is the last one of ten such houses along the Atlantic Coast. Learn about local maritime history, the Untied States Life Saving Service, early efforts to save sea turtles, and Treasure Coast’s role during World War II. Both self-guided and guided tours available.
5. Lightner Museum
PEOPLE ARE SAYING:ShiryOriginally built in 1888 as the Alcazar Hotel, Lightner Museum houses more than 20,000 pieces of American Gilded Age art & artifacts.
6. Mound House
PEOPLE ARE SAYING:ShiryMound House is a unique archaeological and historical site on Fort Myers Beach located directly on Estero Bay. Estero Island’s oldest standing structure has recently been restored to its 1921 grandeur and is now open as a cultural and environmental learning center. Experience this one of a kind museum that sits atop a 2,000 year old Calusa Indian Shell Mound. The museum contains new exhibits that feature how the layers of shells beneath the earth’s surface revealed information about the Calusa Indians as well as others that settled on the property. A kayak launch allows access to The Great Calusa Blueway paddling trail. Guided Kayak Eco-Tours and other special programs are offered during the year.
7. Old Davie School Historical Museum
PEOPLE ARE SAYING:ShiryTake a step back in time at the Old Davie School Historical Museum! Visit the restored 1920s classroom, the Walsh and Viele homes built in 1912, and learn about life on the Everglades frontier 100 years ago – before the luxuries of paved roads, electricity or indoor plumbing! With artifacts, photographs, articles, and maps, the Old Davie School Historical Museum invites visitors to experience South Florida’s agricultural past and the vibrant and economically diverse region that exists today. Guided tours of the Old Davie School can be scheduled Tuesday through Saturday between 10am-3pm.
8. Osceola County Historical Society
PEOPLE ARE SAYING:ShiryThe Osceola County Historical Society is a 501c3 that was founded on October 29, 1949 by volunteers Charles and Twylah Hartley and Alma Hetherington looking to properly preserve artifacts and publish articles that would ensure Osceola County’s heritage lived on for years to come. Today, OCHS has 4 locations, 13 staff members and a Board of Directors that collects and preserves the county’s history.
9. T. T. Wentworth, Jr. Florida State Museum
PEOPLE ARE SAYING:ShiryThe museum is a general history museum with galleries dedicated to both permanent and changing exhibits. Housed in the three-story Mediterranean Revival architecture of the former Pensacola City Hall, built in 1907, the museum is a highlight of the Historic Pensacola self-guided tour.
10. Ximenez-Fatio House Museum
PEOPLE ARE SAYING:ShiryThe Ximenez-Fatio House Museum was built in 1798 as a grocery store, with a tavern and billiard room downstairs, and family quarters upstairs. In 1830 (and again in 1855) rooms were added and the property was converted into a high-end boarding house, the forerunner to the opulent hotels of St. Augustine in the 19th century. From 1830 to 1875, the house was owned, consecutively, by three single women. In 1939, the property was purchased by The National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the State of Florida. A member of the purchasing committee in 1939 was extremely active as a suffragist prior to the passing of the 19th Amendment. The women’s history of this 20-room, coquina (a unique sedimentary rock formation) home blends with the African-American history of the region and the upheaval created by slavery, the Civil War, and Reconstruction. But through it all, strong women maintained control of the property and continue to tell its story now!
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