Podcasts about florida history

Fort Mose roughly 1 mile north of St. Augustine has the distinction of being the first free Black settlement in what is now America. Despite that august history, the site remains little known inside or outside of Florida. Kathleen Deagan and Jane Landers have spent the last 40-plus years attempting to uncover and promote the history at Fort Mose. Their book, "Fort Mose: Colonial America's Black Fortress of Freedom," combines history and archaeology to provide as accurate an account of the Fort as exists.

Send us your Florida questions!Can AI make Florida better? Bess Auer joins the podcast to talk about AI, being a UF cheerleader during the Danny Rollins serial killings, and her Orlando treasure hunt.Links We MentionedCherry 2000"How Ted Bundy Ended Our Innocence" by Diane RobertsSecond Harvest Food BankFenn's treasureHoundsHouse OrlandoThe Secret: A Treasure Hunt (Byron Preiss)HaveIBeenTrained.comBess' SubStackCan AI plan a decent Florida road trip? Here's what happened when Rick and Cathy tried to get AI to do just that.Support the showQuestion or comment? Email us at cathy@floridaspectacular.com. Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com. Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee). NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

Lake Okeechobee is the most polluted lake in the United States as a result of the governor's inaction on cleaning up the state's water.Jonathan Dickinson only spent about a year in Florida, stranded here after a shipwreck on his way to Philadelphia from Jamaica, but his name lives on with the Jonathan Dickinson State Park in Martin County. Joining us to detail Dickinson's life and time in Florida is Jason Daniels, editor of "Jonathan Dickinson's Journal or God's Protecting Providence, an Early American Castaway Narrative."

In little Arcadia in southwest Florida in the 1980s, two tragedies became national news: the exoneration of a Black father wrongfully convicted in 1968 for the death of his seven children, and three little white boys being ostracized from the community after contracting the AIDS virus through blood transfusions. Jason Vuic grew up in nearby Ponta Gorda and remembers following these events closely as they unfolded. He dug back into the stories, and the story of Arcadia, in his newly released book for fall of 2025, "A Town Without Pity: AIDS, Race, and Resistance in Florida's Deep South."If the James Richardson portion of this episode interests you, be sure to visit our Florida Black History YouTube channel with all of our previous shows about Black History in Florida.

Send us your Florida questions!Brandy Carlisle, a tour guide at St. Augustine's Fountain of Youth Park, is fascinated with the woman who bought the land that is now the park. So much so she's published a book about her: Luella. The trio talks about Luella, prostitution, and the Fountain of Youth.Links We MentionedLuellaFountain of Youth Park in St. AugustineFind out more about Brandy — and her fascinating hobbies — on her website. Unearthing St. Augustine: America's Oldest City, by Kathy Deagan.  Support the showQuestion or comment? Email us at cathy@floridaspectacular.com. Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com. Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee). NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

More incontrovertible evidence of climate change: Florida stone crabs are living in the Chesapeake Bay. On Christmas Eve, 1951, central Florida civil rights activists Harry and Harriette Moore were assassinated via bomb blast by Orlando members of the Ku Klux Klan in their home. The married couple became America's first civil rights martyrs.  Robert W. Fieseler is a journalist, scholar and the author of "American Scare: Florida's Hidden Cold War on Black and Queer Lives," a book published in 2025 with newly discovered details about the assassination. Visit the Harry and Harriette Moore museum in Mims, FL.Visit our "Florida Black History" YouTube channel to hear previous "Welcome to Florida" episodes sharing Florida Black History.

Ron DeSantis is using his personal version of a Department of Government Efficiency to harass areas that didn't vote for him; he should turn the magnifying glass on the state's Everglades immigrant concentration camp.Mark Proctor leads the trust in charge of overseeing the historic Moseley Homestead in Branden. Proctor joins us to discuss the property's history and future."Come to My Sunland: Letters of Julia Daniels Moseley from the Florida Frontier, 1882-1886.""Welcome to Florida" patrons can watch a Labor Day 2025 speech given by Chadd Scott in Fernandina Beach along with accessing our weekly Florida Conservation Newsletter.

Send us your Florida questions!Ryan Worthington joins the podcast to talk about a new initiative he and Cathy are working on — a podcast to document and discuss history in Florida that doesn't get taught in schools. Submerged Stories is the name of the forthcoming podcast, and the Facebook group they've created to crowdsource information. Check out the link below, join the group, and share it with your like-minded friends.Links We MentionedSubmerged Storie: Florida's Other History (Ryan and Cathy's Facebook Group)Magnolia Lakes State ParkDon't Tread on Me history Support the showQuestion or comment? Email us at cathy@floridaspectacular.com. Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com. Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee). NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

Unsurprisingly, the Florida Department of Environmental Prostitution/Protection continues putting the interests of industry and developers ahead of the interests of our springs.One expert source in Craig's latest Florida Phoenix article linked above is springs advocate Ryan Smart. Smart co-hosts an essential podcast for Florida conservationists called "As Bad As It Is." Two recent episodes highlighted the damage Florida's legislature has done to environmental causes through defunding conservation projects in the state budget.Our guest this episode is author, historian, and lecturer Robert N. Macomber. Macomber has studied the Civil War and Reconstruction in Florida, focusing on the state's freedmen, formerly enslaved African Americans emancipated following the war.

Send us your Florida questions!With Cathy traveling through what she calls "historic West Florida", she and Rick talk about forgotten parts of Florida's history — and geography, the War of 1812, and some less savory parts of the early history of the United States and why they get left out of history classes.Links We MentionedMap showing Florida and a "contested" area "sold" to the US by FranceDocuments Accompanying the Message of the President of the United States of the Fourteenth Instant on the Subject of East Florida (abstract only; paid subscribers should email us for a full copy of the letters)The Other War of 1812, by Jim CusickImage in the public domain. Support the showQuestion or comment? Email us at cathy@floridaspectacular.com. Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com. Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee). NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

The Manatee County Commission did what county commissions in Florida almost never do: it told a real estate developer "no."Our guest this episode is novelist, playwright, and Cedar Key clam farmer Michael Presley Bobbitt.  Michael joins us to discuss Cedar Key history, his Cedar Key novel series, and clam farming in the Gulf of Mexico.More Florida history can be found at our "Florida Black History" YouTube channel and on Facebook where our friends and fellow Florida podcasters Cathy Salustri and Ryan Worthington have started a Florida history group titled "Submerged Stories" which is free to join.Remember to sign up for our weekly "Florida Conservation Newsletter." Just $5 per month gets you exclusive access to a weekly accounting of the state's top environmental stories.

Send us your Florida questions!Historian Holly Baker joins the podcast to talk about her work in preservation in St. Augustine, Vero Beach, and throughout Florida. The trio also talks about what makes a building historic, preserving historic evidence of Jim Crow, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.Links We MentionedSt. AugustineDavis ShoresBridge of LionsDr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in St. AugustineLincolnville MuseumWhere is Lincolnville?Cathy's article about Lincolnville Rick's post about St. Augustine and the battle for civil rights Vero BeachPocahontas ParkThe DriftwoodElsewhereMore about the Orlando Public LibraryPhoto: Orlando Public Library Casa FelizMarjorie Kinnan Rawlings' homeImage via (State Archives of Florida) Support the showQuestion or comment? Email us at cathy@floridaspectacular.com. Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com. Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee). NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

The Panthers are back in the Eastern Conference Final after their game 7 victory over the Maple Leafs last night. As the Cats continue their third successful season, it's about time we start figuring out where Paul Maurice ranks amongst the greatest head coaches in South Florida Sports History.

A federal judge ruled that the State of Florida and its Department of Environmental “Protection” violated the Endangered Species Act resulting in the mass manatee die-off of 2021. This occurred primarily in the Indian River Lagoon. Before Daytona Beach, auto racing's capital was one beach north, Ormond Beach. Ormond Beach Councilman Harold Briley is a student of this history and shares it with us.Listen to our previous episode on the birth of NASCAR in Daytona Beach.Learn more in the book "Beach Racers: Daytona Beach Before NASCAR" by Dick Punnett."Welcome to Florida" patrons receive exclusive access to our "Florida Conservation Newsletter" every week for just $5 per month.Check out our Florida Black History YouTube channel with edited versions of our podcast interviews related to Black History.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials are again pursuing a black bear hunt for the state. Citizens don't want it, and the last one was a disaster. Read Craig's column and send your comment to state officials in opposition.The Palace Saloon in Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island is Florida's oldest bar. Thea Seagraves from the Amelia Island Museum of History joins us to discuss.Every week, "Welcome to Florida" patrons receive exclusive access to our "Florida Conservation Newsletter." For only $5 per month, you too can receive our roundup of the most important environmental news headlines from across Florida and the national stories impacting our state.

Donald Trump's threatened tariffs would be another nail in the coffin for Florida's citrus industry.Greg Asbed from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers joins us on this episode to discuss the history of working conditions for agriculture workers, especially tomato pickers, in southwest Florida. The CIW was instrumental to enacting one of the most effective programs to improve working conditions for agriculture workers in U.S. history, the Fair Food Program. If you're interested in working conditions for agricultural workers in Florida, the limited edition "Big Sugar" podcast is essential listening revealing the historic and ongoing abuses of workers by Florida sugar companies. The weekly "Seeking Rents" podcast examines corporate power and influence run amok in Florida and our politicians' complicity with corporate power to the detriment of citizens.

Donald Trump signed an executive order seeking to open the eastern Gulf of Mexico to oil drilling, potentially endangering Florida's beaches and economy from the spills that inevitably follow drilling.In 1960, Cuban parents began sending their children, unaccompanied, to Miami on Pan-Am flights to get them out of the country and away from Fidel Castro. This program was called "Operation Pedro Pan" - Peter Pan. Yvonne Conde was one of the Pedro Pan child immigrants from Cuba and has written a book about her personal experience, as well as the experiences of more than 200 other Pedro Pan children she interviewed.If you want to stay updated on the biggest news stories related to conservation and the environment in Florida you can do so by subscribing to our "Florida Conservation Newsletter" available for just $5 per month at our Patreon page.

The Cape Sable seaside sparrow is one of the most endangered birds in the continental United States, numbering only 2,000 or so individuals, all living in the Everglades. Conflicting water management aims in South Florida pitting Big Sugar against the environment is resulting in the state taking drastic measures to pursue survival of the species.In 1960, African American equal rights activists in Tampa followed suit along with those in other cities around the South, staging sit-ins at segregated lunch counters in department stores like Woolworth's. Joining us to discuss this little known aspect of Florida history are Steven Lawson, an historian of the Civil Rights Movement and the former chair of the History Department at USF, and Karla Hartley, Producing Artistic Director of Stageworks Theatre, which will be performing a play based on the sit-ins, "When the Righteous Triumph," March 6-9, 2025, at the Straz Performing Arts Center in Tampa. Our previous episode about oysters featured a documentarian working on a film about oyster bed restoration. That documentary is now available on PBS stations and streaming.Help support "Welcome to Florida" by becoming a $5 a month patron at www.patreon.com/welcometoflorida. Patrons receive exclusive access to our weekly Florida conservation newsletter highlighting the top environmental stories around the state.

Buyer beware when it comes to a new organization promoting itself as a gopher tortoise conservation solution.Miami's Criteria Recording Studios has produced a staggering volume of hit music from James Brown's "I Feel Good" to Eric Clapton's "Layla," Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours," the Eagles' "Hotel California," Jimmy Buffett's "Margarittaville," and on, and on, and on. Trevor Fletcher grew up at Criteria Recording Studios - literally - and is now the music production company's vice president. He joins us to detail a story few know about how Miami changed music.Don't miss our weekly Florida conservation newsletter at www.patreon.com/welcometoflorida. For $5 per month, patrons have exclusive access to a look at the most important environmental news from around the state.