Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
from which a complete skeleton of one of the prehistoric creatures was retrieved by pale-
ontologists in 1935.
10.
Leon Sinks Geological Area
Just off Rte. 319, not far from Tallahassee, a corner of the Apalachicola National Forest
harbors another unusual aspect of the region's geology.
TheLeonSinksareacollectionoffiveenormousholesintheforestfloor,placeswhere
the bottom seems to have dropped out of terra firma. They were created when rainwater
percolating through sandy soil dissolved segments of the weak, porous limestone below,
causing the substructure to collapse.
At Big Dismal Sink, the largest of the holes, the rim above the void measures 200 feet
across. Seventy-five feet below—beneath steep walls overgrown with magnolias, laurel
oaks, and more than 70 other kinds of plants—lies the surface of a deep, placid pool.
11.
Tallahassee
Courtly by nature and modest in size, this panhandle city has more in common with its
Deep South sisters, Savannah and Charleston, than with the metropolises of the Florida
Peninsula. Tallahassee has been the state capital since 1824, when its promoters pointed to
its“central” location—halfway betweenPensacola andSt.Augustine(backthen,folksdis-
counted the hot, malarial reaches to the south).
Tallahassee nestles amid gentle green hills, the southernmost outriders of the Ap-
palachians.Theviewfromtheobservationdeckatopthe22-storyNewStateCapitolmakes
the city seem a virtual island in a piney gulf, with the real Gulf, marked by the just-visible
St. Marks Lighthouse, a scant 25 miles distant.
Nearby is the majestically domed Old Capitol, built in 1845 and now beautifully re-
stored inside and out. White columns and resplendent red-and-white-striped awnings greet
visitors, who can step inside to view exhibits on Florida's past.
Another way to experience the past is to take a stroll through one of Tallahassee's his-
toric districts. Adams Street Commons occupies one city block of restored 19th-century
buildings and exudes an old-fashioned, southern town-square ambience. The Calhoun
Street and Park Avenue historic districts show off elaborate homes (the Bloxham, Cobb,
Randall-Lewis, Knott, Murphy, Bowen, and Shine-Chittenden houses, for example) built
by Tallahassee's well-to-do in the 1800s.
Search WWH ::
Custom Search