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Wild Bison Call this Florida Prairie Home

By Michael Warren

Florida Bison at Paynes Prairie

The typical picture of “buffalo” roaming the great North American plains understates just how far the bison ranged in their heyday. In the 18th century they could be found as far afield as Alaska, New York . . . and, yes, even Florida. So when the Florida park service in 1975 reintroduced a small herd […]

Filed Under: Florida Day Trips, Florida State Parks Tagged With: bison, gainesville, paynes prairie

Paynes Prairie Wildlife Hike: LaChua Trail

By Michael Warren

Wild Bison at Paynes Prairie

PAYNES PRAIRIE STATE PRESERVE, FL — For a short hike with guaranteed wildlife sightings, you can’t beat the La Chua Trail at Paynes Prairie State Preserve south of Gainesville. This trail (3 miles round trip) is just teeming with critters: dozens of alligators, a myriad of birds, even an occasional herd of wild bison or […]

Filed Under: Florida Day Trips, Florida State Parks Tagged With: gainesville, hike, La Chua Trail, paynes prairie

Marjorie Rawlings Cross Creek Home

By Michael Warren

At home with Marjorie Rawlings in Cross Creek

MARJORIE RAWLINGS STATE PARK, FL — Marjorie Rawlings’ Cross Creek home remains a page out of one of her novels. From the veranda of her rambling Cracker house she wrote such classic Florida stories as The Yearling and Cross Creek. But it turned out perfectly. “When I came to the Creek,” Rawlings wrote, “I knew […]

Filed Under: Florida Day Trips, Florida History, Florida State Parks Tagged With: cross creek, gainesville, marjorie rawlings, ocala

Once Upon a Time at the “Theatre of Memory”

By Michael Warren

Back in the old days, the High Springs Opera House played host to countless itinerant vaudeville performers. They carted their trunks up the street from the rail depot, unpacked, then hopped the train again as soon as the curtain fell. Back then you could watch a silent movie in this place, or maybe quiver in […]

Filed Under: Florida History Tagged With: florida history, gainesville, high springs

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