Just below Gainesville, the Micanopy Historical Society Museum (607 N.E. 1st St.; 352-466-3200), located in an 1890 warehouse, retells the story of Micanopy's days as an Indian trading post - dating back to 1821. Walking tours are available.

A number of other county museums recapture the early years of North Central Florida. In Jasper, the Hamilton County Historical Museum (501 N.E. 1st Ave.; 386-792-1300). And in Madison, The Treasures of Madison County (405 S.W .Pinckney St., Madison; 850-973-3661), located in an 1888 jail. Florida's 19th-century history also comes alive at the Tallahassee Museum of History and Natural Science (3945 Museum Dr.; 850-575-8684) with 14 historical structures. Living-history programs each weekend demonstrate pioneer skills.

For a real overview of the history of the region, Tallahassee's Museum of Florida History (R. A. Gray Building, 500 S. Bronough St.; 850-488-1488) chronicles early Florida through more than 40,000 artifacts and permanent exhibits spanning time -- from a prehistoric mastodon to a 1920's tin-can tourist camper. The R.A. Gray Building is also home to the Florida State Archives and Photo Archives (both at 850-487-2073). By the time of the Civil War, the Seminole and Creek Indians were largely gone, and planters from Virginia to Georgia bought huge tracts of land creating a plantation belt extending across five counties from Jackson to Madison.

Florida contributed 15,000 soldiers to the Confederacy and St. Marks served as a haven for sailing ships attempting to run the Union's coastal blockade. The bittersweet tale of the Civil War lingers at Olustee Battlefield State Historic Site (U.S. Hwy. 90, about 15 miles east of Lake City; 386-758-0400) and Natural Bridge Battlefield State Historic Site outside Tallahassee (six miles east of Woodville, off SR 363; 850-922-6007). Each February, thousands of authentically garbed reenacters including cavalry and artillery units from all parts of the nation and several overseas countries gather at Olustee to fight again a battle that originally cost more than 200 Union and almost 100 Confederate lives. Equally committed groups in March return to Natural Bridge to reenact the scene of a Union force made up mostly of black soldiers and a Confederate defense that included cadets as young as 14 from a military academy that eventually became Florida State University.

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