Fun Activities and Historic Landmarks of Gainesville, Florida

Gainesville is the largest city in Alachua County. The city was born after the proposed route of the Florida Railroad that links Fernandina and Cedar Key bypassed Newnansville.  The residents of Alachua County decided to create a new town in the railroad line and make it the county seat.  The city was named after Seminole Indian War General Edmund P. Gaines, a hero of the War in 1812, and was founded in 1853.

Gainesville offers a lot of fun activities and historical landmarks for family and tourist. The city is known for its beautiful landscapes that have a wide range of set and pine forests, wetlands and farms and panoramic view even while you are just driving through Gainesville. The city is leaving you breathless. Due to the city’s advocacy in conserving the natural beauty and its rich history, Gainesville is home to lots of parks and museums. Here are the fun places to go in Gainesvlle, Florida:

·         The Florida Museum of Natural History has a collection of 28 million artifacts. It has one of the world’s largest collections of butterflies and moths. The main attractions in the museum are the permanent exhibits that show Florida’s diversified culture and unique habitats.  This permanent exhibit includes a live butterfly display, nature artwork, and coastal wildlife and how people connect to the environment. There is also other exhibit like Fossil Plant Garden and the Florida Wildflower. Florida Museum of Natural History is located at the University of Florida.

·         Santa Fe College Teaching zoo is part of Zoo Animal Technology Program. The zoo offers hands-on experience to students in taking care of the animals. It is a fun program since children can enjoy working in the zoo after they graduated from the program.  The Santa Fe College Teaching zoo has a collection of 75 different species and animals. Visitors can enjoy strolling around the zoo.

·         Gum Root Park and Swamp Conservation Area covers 741 acres of forest wetlands including bald cypress, gum trees and pond cypress domes. It is a fun place for wildlife viewing and bird watching. Gum Root Swamp is a good place to visit for its diverse, natural habitats of different species of fish and birds.

·         Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art is for art enthusiasts. Visitors can take a look on Gainesville’s featured artists such as Ansel Adams, George Bellows and Maggie Taylor. It is known to be one of the largest art museums in the Southeast part. The museum is home to 6200 works of collected arts. It is located in the University of Florida.

·         Paynes Prairie is a historical place in Gainesville. It was granted as a U.S. National Natural Landmark. It is where Seminole tribe of the Alachua band settled in the 18^th century under the leader, chief Ahaya the Cowkeeper. The park features exhibits and audio visual program that explains the areas rich cultural history.

·         Gainesville-Hawthorne State Rail Trail is made to provide a place for walking, jogging, cycling, and horseback riding. The trail is 16 miles from the Gainesville’s Boulware Springs Park and stretches through the Paynes Prarie Preserve State Park and the Lochloosa Wildlife Management Area.

Climate and Storm History of Gainesville, Florida

Climate

           Gainesville is one of the best places to live in Florida. The weather and the climate are nice. It was even called “Sunshine state.  The climate here is mild summer and mild winter. It is also known as humid subtropical climate. Even if the weather is warm during the summer, there is still an air of cool evenings that comes from the Gulf of Mexico. In summer, the temperature reaches 20 degrees at night and winter is short. Spring is a favorite season here because you can see a lot of beautiful deciduous trees and shrubs in the family of Cornaceae. Gainesville’s calmed weather is occasionally interrupted by wild thunder and tempest storms. During winter, many tourists who are looking for retirement place in Florida would choose further south than Gainesville. They wanted to avoid the freezing weather.

            January and February are pleasant months in Gainesville. It has an average temperature of 44F and a high temperature of 67F. January is known to be the coldest month in Gainesville. While February tends to have a low temperature of 46F and the highest recorded was 91F. Gainesville has generally clear skies around this month and short occasional rain. In March, expect to have a high temperature of 91F or a low 22F. There is a round of 8.1 wind speed and average humidity of 74.5. Spring arrives in the month of April were low temperature comes and makes the climate warm. It is perfect for pretty floras to bloom around this time.

            June and July are hot summer months in Gainesville. Thunderstorms and typhoons also happened in this month. The highest temperature recorded in Gainesville is 103 F. Sun is extremely hot in Florida at this time due to its position in the equator. August is a rainy month in the city. There are small downpours in the morning and heavy rain in the afternoon. In September, summer season ends and comes the hurricane and storm season. October and November are the driest month because it’s already autumn season. There is a temperature of 82F and after this is December where winter occurred very rare.

Storms, Tornadoes and Hurricanes

             Florida is known to be strike by tornado and hurricanes. Gainesville residents are still unaware of the coming of these tornadoes. They should know that heavy thunderstorms could signal the arrival of tornado formation. Hurricanes are also prone in the Gainesville area in the month of June to November. Gainesville is lucky to have an inland formation that makes them protected from the coming hurricane. In the year 1936, tornadoes hit Gainesville coming from west and southwest causing destruction to the town.  A pair of tornadoes hit the town around 8:30 am. There were 750 houses destroyed by the tornadoes and 254 of them were damaged. It caused a total damage of properties around $12,500,000. It destroyed business and residential buildings. Around 200 people were killed and 1,600 citizens are injured.

             The Gainesville tornado of 1936 was the worst weather disaster that happened in the history of the state. There were reports that in the after math of the disaster, Gainesville was a complete waste land. It massively damaged the business and residential area of Gainesville. There were even fires erupted throughout the downtown area causing the Gainesville Fire Department to immobilize and was forced to put dynamite in the buildings to control the fire. The eastern side of Gainesville was also seriously damaged as many residential areas were wrecked by the tornado. Gainesville tried to endure the hardship and return to normal state despite the cities massive damaged. Local and state relief agencies with the collaboration of Georgians, Gainesville started to rebuild and repair new buildings. President Roosevelt made a speech to 20,000 people of Gainesville expressing his gratitude that once again Gainesville survived the great tornado. 

Top Gainesville Florida Restaurants

Aside from Gainesville’s rich culture and history, people can also have a good dining experience in and around the city. You may be thinking what could be the top places to eat in Gainesville? What delicious foods could we found from these restaurants?

Gainesville has a wide array of restaurants to eat. There are online reviews, food critics and countless articles that suggest places to eat around Gainesville. If you are a seafood lover, you will surely enjoy a wide range of seafood choices that is a staple in Florida. But since Gainesville has a diverse culture, food lovers will surely enjoy the restaurants listed below.

One of the famous dinning places in Gainesville is the Bar and Grills Café Gardens situated in the West University Avenue.  This café offers hamburgers, grilled chicken, fish sandwiches and sweet potatoes. Café Gardens is enjoyable because foods are served in a patio setting.  A lot of customers prefer to eat in this place in the evening with a glass of beer. While another restaurant called Barbecue Sonny’s Real Pit Barbecue can be found in the Archer road. This dinning place is famous for its sumptuous barbecue. If you want to enjoy the barbecue, you must eat it with baked beans and sweet tea. Vegetarians will have a problem keeping off from meat because at Sonny’s you have to enjoy the barbecue meals. 

The famous TGI Fridays (TGI Bennalos) is also situated in the Archer Road. TGI Fridays maintain a fun vibe for customers while they are dinning. Even their waiters are wearing wacky uniforms with suspenders, colorful buttons and a Dr. Seuss hat.  If you want a reasonable price but excellent meal, try Texas Road House along Archer road. The place has a corporate vibe but the foods are well prepared. They have excellent ribs, steaks, and chicken complemented with baked sweet potatoes with honey-butter as side dish for your dinning pleasure.

If you are looking for something different like Mediterranean foods, the best place in Gainesville is the Falafel Plus. They have reasonable prices and the foods are satisfying. The place was owned by two Lebanese business partners. They serve middle-eastern cuisine including falafel, spinach pie, grape leaves and gyros. These are standard Mediterranean fast food. While if you are looking for Korean cuisine in Gainesville there is a restaurant named Hometown Korean Restaurant. They serve traditional Korean dishes including kimchi and bulkoki.

Another top restaurant in Gainesville is the Caribbean Emiliano’s that serves the best Caribbean cuisine. Emiliano’s is found in the 1st Avenue Road where you can find reasonable prices if you are on a budget. Some of the restaurants dishes are expensive too. A consistent in the best restaurants in Gainesville is the Sovereign. It is known for its fattening meats and creamy sauces that meat lovers will surely enjoy. If you chose to eat at Sovereign, make sure you make first a reservation because a lot of people are eating in this place.

These are all the best restaurants in Gainesville. Due to the relaxing vibe of the city, many people are attracted to live in Gainesville and experienced the Florida cuisine. There are still more restaurants around Gainesville. The important thing is to enjoy and appreciate all of them.

Gainesville, Florida Real Estate Market

According to professionals, Gainesville real estate market is slowly doing well. The area does not have any problem when it comes to selling because a lot of people are being attracted to the old feeling of living in Gainesville. The real estate market is slowly recovering from the recession it experienced in the state’s history. There are foreign and domestic investors who continuously enter the state to look for quality investments. Even life insurance companies started to invest again in 2010.

On the other hand, Gainesville suffers from increase unemployment rate of 12.3%. It is the highest level recorded since the 1970’s. Companies are not increasing workforce thus there is no need to increase office space. Companies are not willing to spend enough money. According to a report done by University of Florida, people are buying apartments rather than owned a real house. Condominiums are increasing in prices around South Florida and downtown Miami.

 Gainesville is a beautiful place that real estate professionals agreed that buyers won’t have any problem looking for the best location for investment. Gainesville is diverse in culture and anyone can buy homes at a reasonable price. The key to buying a good place to invest is by studying and analyzing the real estate market of Gainesville. There are many options to choose in this city from homes for sale, condominium, and lands that are affordable in rate. Gainesville has many amenities of a large city that students and professionals will find enjoyable. There is Oaks mall for shopping and University of Florida for education. Families can enjoy parks and recreation such as Newman’s Lake, Paynes Prairie, San Felasco Hammock Preserve State Park and Kanapaha Botanical Gardens. Gainesville also offers lakefront homes, secluded country lots, and historical Victorian homes. Buyers can also find golf and country homes, mountain houses, river homes and even log homes.

In the 2010 report of Gainesville real estate market, statistics shows that in the 3^rd quarter the Historical Home Price Appreciation has declined from all time high of 20.93%. On the last 20 years was 121%, last 10 years is 60%, last 5 years was-6%, last year was -8.9% and on the last quarter was -1.40%. Gainesville performed better in the last quarter because it reached the 7^th percentile. Many professional real estate investors are hopeful for the future of Gainesville real estate market. They have a positive outlook that the Gainesville real estate market will be in the market for so long. A growth in the medical field has helped the economy. Buyers who have a lot of money have more options and can buy more lands. Buyers are starting to look at commercial and residential real estate.

 But professionals are also worried that the slow job rate of Gainesville could affect the performance. There is also foreclosures and tight-lending. They also concluded that home builders built homes and put low prices. The changing of land laws affects the economic development. Students who are looking for a place to stay around University of Florida are increasing. What they need is more banks that will take care of their loans. These are all just what the city of Gainesville is facing in the real estate market. The important thing is having patience in investing. That their efforts will soon paid off.

City of Gainesville, Florida General Information

About Gainesville

One of the largest city in Alachua County is Gainesville. It is famous for their old Victorian house that reflects the city’s rich culture and history.  It is the center of education and commercial in the north central of Florida. The city provides professional and government services such as public water system, construction services, police and fire protection services, recreational parks, transportation services and a golf course. Gainesville is known for the site of University of Florida. It was built in 1905 as the oldest and largest university in the state. It has brought a significant emerge to the economy of Gainesville when it was face with economic crisis in the year 1894-1899. Since then Gainesville prosper to a city as a commercial district.

Geography

Gainesville has a total area of 49.1 square miles, 48.2 square miles of land, and 0.9 square miles of water. It has one of the most beautiful landscape and urban forest that it attracted many tourists to come and visit Gainesville. It has a wide range of species including conifers and broadleaf evergreens. Since the year 1982, it was awarded by the Arbor Day Foundation as “Tree City, USA”. Gainesville was also ranked in 2007 as one of the best places to live and play by National Geographic.

Demographics

In 2005, it has a population of 100,879. Then in 2008 conducted census, it has a population of 258,555. In 2009, the census estimate is 114,375 population in the city while 258, 555 in the metro. In 2010, the estimated population is 130, 898.

According to a July 2007 census, the population was 104,875. There are 48.9% of males while women are 51.1%.  The median resident age is 26.4 years. The estimated median household income in 2009 is $27, 420. In Gainesville, it is $27, 420 while in Florida $ 44, 736. The estimated per capita income in 2009 is $ 18,420. The estimated house or condo value in 2009 is $ 162,400. In Gainesville it is $ 162,400 while in Florida it is $ 182, 400.

Climate

There is a fluctuation of temperature in Gainesville because of its location. Summer season starts from June 1 to September 30. There is an occasional freezing temperatures at night that could be experienced in the early- October to late May. In late November and December, Gainesville experiences brief fall and a long spring in late February until early April.

Economy

The local economy of Gainesville is still strong despite its slower real estate. The nearby restaurants in University Florida are inexpensive. Gainesville is low cost in living. In 2010, the economy of Gainesville posted a GDP growth of 0.2%. It is said that in nominal terms from 2007 to 2008, the economic growth was 2.5 and in real terms the growth was 0.2$. The trade industry has started the lead in the metro economy. It has contributed a $980 million in 2008. The professional and business service has contributed $752 million while leisure has $432 million.   The largest employers in the city are University of Florida and the Shands Healthcare system.

Interesting sites in Gainesville

Gainesville has a lot of parks and recreation where visitors, tourists or families can enjoy the natural wonders. There is the Bivens Arm Nature Park, the Alfred A. Ring Park, Palm Point Nature Park, Devil’s Millhopper Geological State Park and Morningside Nature Center. Where people can swim, enjoy picnics, long walks or ride a bike. There are also other interesting sites such as Florida Museum of Natural History, Harn Museum of Art and Payne’s Prairie. Surely, these places would catch your fancy and guarantee an enjoyable time in Gainesville, Florida. 

History of the city of Gainesville, Florida

Gainesville has a long history that dates back by around 700 AD. Its first settlers were the people of Alachua culture.  A Spanish merchant named Don Fernando de la Maza Arredondo was given a Spanish land were Gainesville is situated.  Spanish colonists then use Payne’s Prairie as a cattle ranch which is named La Chua. The ranch was then destroyed by raiders but eventually gave the name to the Alachua band who settled in the 18^th century.

The modern Alachua county seat was moved to Newnansville and used the name Gainesville in the year 1853. It was named after Seminole Indian War General Edmund P. Gaines. Florida achieved statehood in 1845 when the population began to grow. This happened due to the proposed Florida Railroad which bypassed Newnansville. After a month, a man named Major James B. Bailey sold over sixty acres of his land to be used for this city. It was known that his house remained the oldest house in Gainesville.  The place was then restructured and is now a nursing home for elders.

The original city was composed of a courthouse, a school, and has a passenger train. The first school was built in 1856 and the first passenger train was conducted on the year 1859. In the year 1860, Alachua county had a population 0f 8000 and the main city of Gainesville had 232 people. The civil war has greatly affected the development of Gainesville. It slowed down its development when it became the site of a Confederate storehouse and witnessed two battles. The first one was February 15, 1864 while the second was August 17, 1864. When the civil war was over, the town was reconstructed and thrived to prosperity. The first school founded was East Florida Seminary for white students and the Union Academy for African Americans. During this time, Gainesville becomes the center of a largest cotton shipping station. Gainesville reached 2000 of its population. By 1880’s, citrus and vegetable farming was their main crop but ended when the great freeze happened in 1894-1899. Although, they tried to replace the crops with phosphate and lumbering business. The economy did not do well.

In 1880’s, two major fire broke in Gainesville that forced the town to rebuilt its structures to a new red brick courthouse. It was known before that Gainesville’s old buildings are made of woods thus they are prone to fire. This development signaled the town to becoming a city as major public improvement followed. There was a public water system built, telephone and electricity. The streets were built with bricks all over. Gainesville became the largest city after it almost reached 4000 population in 1900’s.

In 1905, a significant event happened in the city of Gainesville when it was chosen as the site of University of Florida. The University helped Gainesville emerged from economic downfall during World War 1. The University has a Gothic style when it first opened to students. In the World War 2, the University had expanded and the population began to grow. Neighborhood parks were built to attract residents and students studying in the university. It has become one of the main attractions in Gainesville.

By the year 1970, Gainesville became a professional center and government buildings were built. New residents were attracted to the old Victorian houses and wanted to preserve the neighborhood. This inspired the people to give financial support in restoring the old buildings like the old post office, hotels and other landmarks as they are already historical. This made Gainesville rich in culture and history.