Virtual Galleries - Florida Heritage Month

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Library Materials | Library Online Resources | Florida Heritage
Kids and Teens | Did you Know?

If you are viewing the Virtual Gallery from home, you will need your Orange County resident library card to access some of the resources.

Florida Cracker House

Bell
A bell in the backyard could have been used to summon the family to dinner or to sound an alarm in an emergency.

Citation:
Exploring Florida: Social Studies Resources for Students and Teachers. Gallery: Florida Cracker Homestead.

Chimney
One of the architectural characteristics that distinguish this type of Florida vernacular style of architecture is a revealed fireplace.

Citation:
Valle, Erick (2005). Florida Vernacular Architecture. Feature articles. Traditional Neighborhood Design. Retrieved on 2008-03-12.

Construction Logs
Logs were cantilevered out to support sloping rafters.

From Merriam-Webster Online – “cantilever - a projecting beam or member supported at only one end.

Citation:
Reid, K. (March 2002). A sense of place: From Florida cracker to the Sarasota school, regional home design draws from a rich heritage. Sarasota Magazine, 24, 6. p.SS26(6). Retrieved March 10, 2008, from General OneFile via Gale.

Dog Trot
The most distinguishable two-room early Florida house, however, was the dog-trot, a house form created by separating the added room from the original by means of a breezy walkway.

Citation:
Haase, Ronald W. (1992). Classic Cracker: Florida's Wood-frame Vernacular Architecture. Sarasota, FL: Pineapple Press, Inc.

Front Porch
Crackers knew firsthand that Florida's climate could be brutal…They added shady porches to shield against the blistering sun, when possible wrapping them around the house.

Native Materials
The land provided abundant supplies of cedar and cypress. Often rocks or bricks made of oyster shell and lime served as pilings to keep the shelters off the ground.

Citation:
Fort Christmas Historical Park. Florida Cracker House. Dawn Henthorn. About.com.

Windows
Window areas generally made use of cross ventilation, taking advantage of prevailing winds. Many of the earlier homes did not have glass or even screens, but most all included wooden shutters. In addition to providing security from wild animals or prowlers, the shutters provided protection from wind and rain damage and direct sunlight. In the evening the shutters were closed to keep out irritating insects.

Citation:
Energy Efficiency and Environmental News: Down Home Design, Cracker Style. Florida Energy Extension Service, Florida Cooperative Extension Serve, Institute of Food and Agriculture Sciences, University of Florida. March 1991.

Well
The land provided abundant supplies of cedar and cypress. Often rocks or bricks made of oyster shell and lime served as pilings to keep the shelters off the ground.

Citation:
Fort Christmas Historical Park. Florida Cracker House. Dawn Henthorn. About.com

Library Materials

Books about Florida Heritage

Read about Florida’s people, places, and events.

Florida History

Find out about Florida’s groves, swamps, launches, and much more.

Florida Historic Buildings

Learn about Florida's rich and historic buildings.

Florida Life and Customs

Ready for some Cracker tales? Want to learn about the customs of the Calusa Indians?

Books about Famous Floridians

Explore the lives of Florida favorites like Zora Neale Hurston and Thomas Edison.

Florida Heritage

Central Florida Memory
Digital collections, Florida stories, and a section for teachers about Central Florida history through a partnership between the Orange County Library System, the Orange County Regional History Center, University of Central Florida, Rollins College, and the Museum of Seminole County History.

Florida Heritage Month
Look for event calendar, photos, and education about Florida Heritage Month.

Florida Heritage Collection
Native American and minority populations, exploration and development, tourism, the natural environment, and regional interests of Florida, including a timeline.

Florida Memory Project
Search for Florida photographs, history highlights, and digital collections from the State Library and Archives of Florida.

Office of Culture, Historical, and Information
Find Florida facts, such as symbols, statistics, and history.

The Old Florida Heritage Highway
Explore the scenic U.S. 441 highway, and get a slice of Florida’s cultural, historical, and natural heritage.

History of the City of Orlando

Go back in time and find out how the city beautiful was inhabited.

Florida’s Museums
Database of Florida museums, online exhibits, and resources.

Exploring Florida
This is a site with thousands of social studies resources for teachers and students. Don’t miss the sections on Famous Floridians or Native Americans.

The Floridians: A Social History of Florida
An interactive Florida history text book.

Florida Women’s Hall of Fame
Learn about the women who have made significant contributions to the improvement of life for women and for all citizens of Florida.

Florida Trails
Find rail, bicycling, horse, and hiking trails in Florida.

Florida Smart
Find out the history of the state of Florida through links about government, historical societies, archives, and collections.

Library Online Resources

Explore your own Florida heritage with HeritageQuest Online.

Florida [streaming video]: Geography, History, and Culture

Learn more about Florida by watching this streaming video.

Native Americans: History and Culture of Florida Tribes Virtual Gallery
Resources for students and educators on Florida's first residents.

Get a unique perspective on Florida by viewing our Meet the Author interviews with these Central Florida Reads authors:

Patrick D. Smith, A Land Remembered

Kids and Teens

Back to School Kids Virtual Gallery

Library Online Resources

Kids Edition
This fun and easy database can be used to search Florida history topics for elementary students.

Library Materials

Children’s Florida History Reads

Celebrate Florida History with books!

Florida Native Americans

Learn about Florida’s first people.

Florida Folk Tales

Check out these Florida tales by Zora Neal Hurston.

Florida Fiction

Read these fictional stories that take place in Florida.

Library Fun!

Reading is a HOOT!

Figure out the clues to this puzzle to discover the secret message about the Florida book Hoot!

Central Florida History Scavenger Hunt

Discover history about our own backyard through this fun scavenger hunt featuring Squirt!

Web Sites

Florida Kids

Learn about Florida's culture, history, and facts about our great state.

The Seminole Tribe of Florida

Learn about the history and culture of the Seminole Tribe.

Did You know?

The largest lake in Florida is Lake Okeechobee.
Key West has the highest average temperature in the United States.
DeFuniak Springs is home to one of the two naturally round lakes in the world.
Saint Augustine is the oldest European settlement in North America.
The United States city with the highest rate of lightning strikes per capita is Clearwater.
Fort Lauderdale is known as the Venice of America because the city has 185 miles of local waterways.
The Saint John's River is one of the few rivers that flows north instead of south.
The Olustee Battlefield State Historic Site commemorates the largest battle fought in Florida during the American Civil War.

from: Florida Firsts, Facts, and Trivia