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Named for railroad magnate Henry B. Plant, Plant City was incorporated in 1885. Rich in history and the flavor of strawberries, it is known as the Winter Strawberry Capital of the World. Images featured are from the Quintilla Geer Bruton Archives Center and the East Hillsborough Historical Society. Shelby Jean Roberson Bender, an eighth-generation Floridian, and Roberta Donaldson Jordan, a native of Pennsylvania, have devoted many years to historical and genealogical research, publications, and instruction.

This pictorial history of Lake Okeechobee illustrates the people, places, and events that have shaped the area's cultural and natural history.

From the Calusa Indians to the travelers who used boats for transport in the early 1900s and up to the prosperous farms and cattle ranches of today, the Everglades has evolved into a mecca for fishing, birding, and hiking. The smell of orange blossoms entices the settler to an untamed land where bears, deer, and snakes still inhabit the wilderness and where alligator hunting and fishing are still popular sports. Lake Okeechobee is 110 miles around from Pahokee to Canal Point, Okeechobee, Lakeport, Moore Haven, Clewiston, South Bay, and Belle Glade. To cross Florida from the Atlantic to the Gulf, a boat starts in Stuart and ends at Port Mayaca, crossing Lake Okeechobee to the Moore Haven lock and out the Caloosahatchee River past Lake Hicpochee and west to Fort Myers. Around Lake Okeechobee presents images from the Clewiston Museum, Lawrence E. Will Museum, state archives, and private collections, painting a history of the boom and bust, the boaters and farmers, and the cattlemen and ranchers who have settled and raised their families here.

Quirky, unique, and unexpected, the history of Ermony Key comes to life in rare historic images.

Egmont Key has been a sentinel for ships entering Tampa Bay from the Gulf of Mexico for hundreds of years. Early European explorers recognized the island's strategic location. Its story reflects major events in the history of the United States and Florida, as the island played a role in the Seminole Wars, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War and World Wars I and II. Its lighthouse, now automated, is still a beacon for ships. For many years, people have enjoyed the beaches of Egmont Key, walked the red brick ""roads to nowhere"" and explored the ruins of Fort Dade. Authors Don and Carol Thompson aim to foster an appreciation of the uniqueness and beauty of Egmont Key, as well as an understanding of its place in history.

Boynton Beach, located on South Florida's Atlantic coast, is known as the "Gateway to the Gulf Stream." Ernest Hemingway once called these great ocean currents the last wild country left. Fishermen who study navigational charts understand that Boynton Beach is unique as the closest community to the Gulf Stream. Just minutes from the Boynton Inlet, water reaches a depth of 800 feet. Maj. Nathan Boynton came to the area in 1894, built a hotel, and envisioned a prosperous future for the idyllic village. Today Boynton Beach celebrates its diverse population, ideal location, and a rich and fascinating history that includes Henry Flagler's railroad, land booms, hurricanes, shipwrecks, and steadfast farmers.

Chronicling Indians and aviators, stock cars and sand traps, Florida's First Coast is a delightful collection of vintage images and local lore, sure to enchant newcomers and residents alike.

p>A well-loved local, retired U. S. Navy Captain Jack Pate decided to tell others the story of the First Coast Beaches after falling in love with the area himself. Using the extensive collections of the Beaches Area Historical Society, Captain Jack introduces the history of the people who settled the Beaches area and their love-hate relationship with the two bodies of water that define it: the St. Johns River and the Atlantic Ocean.

Florida's First Coast covers Mayport, Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach, Pablo / Jacksonville Beach, Ponte Vedra Beachh, and Palm Valley!

In recent years, Florida's playgrounds have produced an abundance of exceptional professional baseball players: Alex Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield, Luis Gonzales and Tino Martinez, to name only a few. Before 1950, however, only twenty-six Florida boys made it to the pros got their shot in the big leagues.

Players like Tampa's Al Lopez, a Hall of Fame member and baseball's first Hispanic manager, and Pensacola native Russ Scarritt, who set the Boston Red Sox record for most triples in a season his rookie year, blazed a trail that has opened the door for many of today's baseball superstars. Florida's First Big League Baseball Players, by baseball historian and enthusiast Wes Singletary, is a narrative journey into the early days of baseball in Florida before 1950.

When this project was undertaken only eight of the original twenty-six players were still living. Written from hours of interviews and presented in a narrative form that is engaging and informative, this collection allows the reader to journey back to a time when the game was more innocent and the heart of the men playing, a little bigger.

Known as the "Winter Capital of Harness Racing," Pompano Park has provided the only nighttime standardbred harness competition in Florida since its 1964 inaugural season. Prominent Kentucky horseman Frederick Van Lennep and his wife, Frances Dodge Van Lennep, built a $5.5-million track on the property of a failed 1926 thoroughbred track in Pompano Beach. Pompano Park has since hosted leading trainers, drivers, and champion horses, including Hall of Famers Stanley Dancer, Bill Haughton, and Delvin Miller and current leading drivers Bruce Ranger and Wally Hennessey. It also has been a mecca for celebrities who have enjoyed the racing action and entertainment.

Explore the Boulevard of Dreams?from 87th Street, just north of Miami, to 151st Street?El Portal, Miami Shores, Biscayne Park and North Miami?are the intriguing communities bound together by history and by the grand street of Biscayne Boulevard. From the Tequesta tribe to the Boulevard of Dreams?U.S. Highway 1?Seth Bramson leads a photographic tour of this beloved area of Miami-Dade County, and the remarkable growth of four influential South Florida communities. An insightful and nostalgic look at prominent neighborhoods and residents, beaches and vibrant thoroughfares, this history of Biscayne Country is sure to delight residents and tourists alike.