Florida Slice: An Independent Record of Florida's Cities

Florida Slice is an independent editorial record of Florida's cities — architecture, history, culture, civic identity and the people who shape each place.

City records

Ybor City, Florida — Cigar Factories, Mutual Aid Societies & Seventh Avenue — Inside Ybor City, FL — Tampa's historic cigar district, where Cuban, Spanish, Sicilian and Afro-Cuban workers built factories, mutual aid societies and a brick downtown. August 2026 deep-dive from Florida Slice.
Delray Beach, Florida — Atlantic Avenue, Mediterranean Revival & Morikami — Inside Delray Beach, FL — the most-walkable downtown on the Gold Coast. Atlantic Avenue's Mediterranean Revival storefronts, Old School Square, the Sundy House, Morikami Japanese Gardens, and Pineapple Grove. June 2026 deep-dive from Florida Slice.
St. Augustine, Florida — America's Oldest City, Castillo & Flagler — Inside St. Augustine, FL — founded 1565, America's oldest continuously inhabited European-established city. Castillo de San Marcos, Flagler College, the colonial quarter, Lincolnville, and the Gilded Age that rebuilt the town. July 2026 deep-dive from Florida Slice.
Winter Park, Florida — Park Avenue, Rollins & the Morse Museum — Inside Winter Park, FL — brick-paved Park Avenue, Rollins College, the Morse Museum's Tiffany trove, Hannibal Square, and the chain of lakes that defines one of Florida's most enduring small downtowns. May 2026 deep-dive from Florida Slice.
Winter Haven, Florida — Chain of Lakes, Cypress Gardens & LEGOLAND — Inside Winter Haven, FL — 50+ interconnected lakes, the Cypress Gardens legacy, LEGOLAND Florida, citrus heritage, and a downtown built on a century of reinvention. April 2026 deep-dive from Florida Slice.
Lake Wales, Florida — Olmsted Plan, Bok Tower & Crown Jewel of the Ridge — Inside Lake Wales, FL — the 1929 Olmsted master plan, Bok Tower Gardens, the Rhodesbilt Arcade, Lincoln Avenue, and the $22.9M federal RAISE grant (2024) funding the downtown revitalization of the Crown Jewel of the Ridge. March 2026 deep-dive from Florida Slice.
DeLand, Florida — Athens of Florida, Stetson University & Athens Theatre — Inside DeLand, FL — the 'Athens of Florida.' Stetson University (1883), the restored 1921 Athens Theatre, Woodland Boulevard's walkable Main Street, Skydive DeLand, and the West Volusia arts district. May 2026 deep-dive from Florida Slice.
Bartow, Florida — Polk County Seat, 1908 Courthouse & the Bone Valley — Inside Bartow, FL — the Polk County seat. The 1908 Neoclassical Revival courthouse, three NRHP historic districts under live-oak canopy, the Wonder House, the L.B. Brown House, and the Bone Valley phosphate heritage that built the modern county. September 2026 deep-dive from Florida Slice.
Islamorada, Florida — Village of Islands & Sportfishing Capital of the World — Inside Islamorada, FL — the 'Village of Islands' — the Sportfishing Capital of the World, Robbie's tarpon, the Overseas Highway, the Florida Keys Memorial, and the laid-back Old Florida island life of the Upper Keys. November 2026 deep-dive from Florida Slice.
Marco Island, Florida — Calusa Shell Mounds & the Ten Thousand Islands — Inside Marco Island, FL — the largest of the Ten Thousand Islands — Calusa shell mounds, the Mackle brothers' 1960s planned community, Tigertail Beach, and the gateway to the western Everglades. October 2026 deep-dive from Florida Slice.
Matlacha, Florida — The Fishing Village on the Road to Pine Island — Inside Matlacha, FL — an unincorporated Lee County fishing village on Pine Island Road over Matlacha Pass — the fishing bridge, painted galleries, a protected estuary and the only road onto Pine Island. October 2026 deep-dive from Florida Slice.
Everglades City, Florida — Stone-Crab Capital & the Gateway to the Ten Thousand Islands — Inside Everglades City, FL — Barron Collier's 1923 company town and Collier County's first seat — the Smallwood Store, the Rod and Gun Club, a working stone-crab waterfront, and the last harbor before the Ten Thousand Islands. October 2026 deep-dive from Florida Slice.
Mount Dora, Florida — Antique Capital, Lake Dora & a Festival City — Inside Mount Dora, FL — the hilltop 'Festival City' above Lake Dora. The 1883 Lakeside Inn, the 1893 Donnelly House, Renninger's antique markets, the inland lighthouse, and a year-round calendar of art and craft festivals. June 2026 deep-dive from Florida Slice.
Sanford, Florida — The Celery City, Lake Monroe & a Brick-Street Revival — Inside Sanford, FL — the historic 'Celery City' on Lake Monroe. Founder Henry Shelton Sanford's gateway port, one of Florida's largest commercial historic districts, a craft-brewery revival, the Riverwalk, and the St. Johns River. June 2026 deep-dive from Florida Slice.
New Smyrna Beach, Florida — Surf Town, Sugar Mill Ruins & an Arts Colony — Inside New Smyrna Beach, FL — a surf town with the East Coast's most consistent waves. The 1768 Turnbull colony, the coquina sugar-mill ruins, the Canal Street and Flagler Avenue districts, and the Atlantic Center for the Arts. June 2026 deep-dive from Florida Slice.
Fernandina Beach, Florida — Isle of Eight Flags, a Victorian Seaport & Modern Shrimping — Inside Fernandina Beach, FL — the Amelia Island town under eight flags. A 50-block Victorian historic district, Centre Street, the 1878 Palace Saloon, Fort Clinch, and its claim as the birthplace of the modern shrimping industry. July 2026 deep-dive from Florida Slice.
Fort Meade, Florida — The Oldest Town in Interior Florida, on the Peace River — Inside Fort Meade, FL — the 1849 Peace River outpost that became the oldest town in Florida's interior. The Third Seminole War fort named for Gen. George Meade, the Bone Valley phosphate era, Broadway Street's brick storefronts, and a rural downtown still framed by pasture and cypress river bends. November 2026 deep-dive from Florida Slice.
Micanopy, Florida — Oldest Inland Town, Antique Capital & Paynes Prairie — Inside Micanopy, FL — Florida's oldest inland town, chartered in 1821 and named for the Seminole chief Micanope. Cholokka Boulevard's antique dealers under century-old live oaks, the Herlong Mansion, the Micanopy Historical Society Museum, and the 22,000-acre Paynes Prairie Preserve on its southern edge. July 2026 deep-dive from Florida Slice.
High Springs, Florida — Santa Fe River, Cave Country & a Railroad-Era Main Street — Inside High Springs, FL — the North Florida spring town on the Santa Fe River — Ginnie Springs, the Devil's cave system, a preserved 1890s brick Main Street, and the Floridan Aquifer surfacing as some of the clearest water in the state. July 2026 deep-dive from Florida Slice.
Cedar Key, Florida — Clams, Art & the End of State Road 24 — Inside Cedar Key, FL — the tiny Gulf island town where clam farming replaced logging and artists found the light — stilt houses over aquamarine flats, Dock Street cafés, and a working waterfront at the end of a two-lane causeway. July 2026 deep-dive from Florida Slice.
Crystal River, Florida — Manatees, Kings Bay Springs & the Nature Coast — Inside Crystal River, FL — the Citrus County spring town where seventy-plus vents hold Kings Bay at a constant 72 degrees — Three Sisters Springs, the only legal in-water manatee encounters in North America, and a 2,500-year-old mound complex two miles from downtown. August 2026 deep-dive from Florida Slice.
Tarpon Springs, Florida — Sponge Docks, Greek Soul & the Anclote River — Inside Tarpon Springs, FL — the world's sponge capital and the largest Greek-American enclave in the Southeastern United States. Working sponge boats on the Anclote River, St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral, Dodecanese Boulevard, and the Epiphany cross-dive at Spring Bayou. August 2026 deep-dive from Florida Slice.
Dunedin, Florida — Scottish Roots, Craft Beer & the Causeway — Inside Dunedin, FL — a Gulf Coast town with genuine Scottish lineage, one of Florida's densest craft-brewery clusters, a Main Street rebuilt around the Pinellas Trail, and a causeway out to Honeymoon and Caladesi Island State Parks. August 2026 deep-dive from Florida Slice.
Safety Harbor, Florida — Mineral Springs, a Temple Mound & Old Tampa Bay — Inside Safety Harbor, FL — a small Pinellas County town on Old Tampa Bay built around five natural mineral springs at Espiritu Santo, a Tocobaga temple mound at Philippe Park, a three-century live oak on Main Street, and a walkable downtown that ends at a municipal pier. August 2026 deep-dive from Florida Slice.

Town guides

Florida Slice · Cities · Journal · Towns