Maritime Tourism Trail Overview Located only a few miles from the coast, Florida’s beautiful Capital City of Tallahassee offers Maritime Heritage travelers three “must see” museums. Route: From Coastal Highway (US Highway 98) in Wakulla County, take US Highway 319 to Tallahassee. Tallahassee can also be accessed from Interstate 10. Minimum time: One day. Distance: 50 miles from US 98, including side trips. Accommodations: Numerous hotel and motel choices. Airport: Tallahassee Regional Airport . Reservations: For information, go to www.seetallahassee.com Museum Stops
Facilities: Three exceptional museums highlight this tour, with something for everyone in the family. Food service, walking trails, restaurants, shops, films, interpretive displays, docents, reenactors, and wildlife. Minimum time: Two hours at each site. Tallahassee Museum Directions: From intersection of Capital Circle SW and Orange Avenue, follow signs west for .8 miles to Museum Drive and turn left to the Museum parking lot. Description: Exciting opportunity to learn about the rich history and natural beauty of the Big Bend region. This site combines a natural habitat zoo of indigenous wildlife (as well as exotic animals on loan) with a collection of historic buildings, exhibits, and artifacts in a beautiful 52-acre lakeside setting. Among the collection is a Naval Store, farmstead, and Bellevue, the 1840s plantation house and home of the great-grandniece of George Washington. Bellevue is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and is an excellent example of mid-19th century plantation "cottage" architecture. Fee: Yes. Hours: 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Monday-Saturday; 12:30–5:00 p.m. Sunday. Contact: 850/ 576-1636; www.tallahasseemuseum.org Mission San Luis de Apalache Directions: Follow signs on Tennessee Street (SR 90), turning north at the intersection with Ocala Road. Description: A beautiful 60-acre archaeological park. The site of a 17th century Spanish mission, San Luis contains archaeological evidence of a Spanish fort, church, and residences, as well as an Apalachee Indian council house and village. Interpretive displays and programs bring these early settlers to life. Regular tours are provided on weekdays at noon. There are beautiful grounds, a reconstructed Apalachee Indian council house (one of the largest historic Native American structures in the southeastern United States, accommodating 2,000-3,000 people), and other buildings, gift shop, and bathrooms. Hours: Monday-Friday 9:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m.; Saturday 10:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m.; Sunday 12:00 noon-4:30 p.m. Contact: 850/487-3711; www.taltrust.org/san_luis Museum of Florida History Directions: Located in the R.A. Gray Building, 500 South Bronough Street. Description: The state history museum in Tallahassee celebrates Florida's long maritime heritage in several galleries. "Transportation in a Watery World" in the Florida's First People exhibit explains the construction and use of canoes by early inhabitants statewide with examples from the St. Johns culture. The “Plate Fleet” exhibit explores Florida's role in international maritime commerce during the Spanish colonial era with navigational tools, weapons, personal effects, coins, and other artifacts recovered from fleets lost off the Florida coast during hurricanes in 1715 and 1733. In the Waterways exhibit, military, commercial, and leisure aspects of Florida's maritime heritage are interpreted aboard a full-scale, partial reproduction of the steamboat Hiawatha. In the same gallery, a collection of 19th- and 20th-century dugout canoes reflects functional and environmental factors that affected their design and use. In Waterways and elsewhere in the Museum, artifacts, models, and graphics describe the more than ten vessels that bore the state's name during the 19th and 20th centuries. Highlights include the captain's wheel and ship's bell from the World War I-era USS Florida . Hours: Monday-Friday: 9:00am - 4:30pm, Saturday: 10:00am - 4:30pm, Sunday and holidays: Noon - 4:30pm. Fee: None. |
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