It doesn’t have the panache and Art Deco of South Beach & Miami or the classic architecture of Old St. Augustine. It didn’t host the recent Super Bowl as did Jacksonville. So why was I in Gainesville, Florida population 120,000? Located in North Central Florida, on the I75 corridor halfway between Atlanta and Miami (85 miles from Jacksonville; 110 from Orlando). As a sports fan I knew that the University of Florida was located there but until I spent 1 ½ days recently in Gainesville I did not realize what an impact the university had on the community.
Let’s start with one of my passions: sports.
The University of Florida football stadium, affectionately nicknamed “the swamp,” holds 88,500 fans for Gator football and they are always sold out. The field house is almost 300,000 square feet and is home to track, swimming, volleyball, gymnastics and 12,000 seats for basketball and concerts. But the campus, with many buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, is more than sports. You can even spy those scaly creatures in their natural habitat (no, not students, alligators) at the western end of the campus.
If culture is your thing you never have to leave the campus of 48,000 student to see the Harn Museum of Art featuring American paintings, African and pre-Columbian collections as well as film and lecture series. The Florida Museum of Natural History has added a new educational and exhibition center. Visitors are transported into Florida ecological and cultural experiences, waterways and wildlife, people and the environment. It is the state’s official natural history museum.
Admission to the museum is free but there is a charge at the outdoor, screened Butterfly Rainforest exhibit containing tropical and subtropical plants and trees to support the 55 to 65 different species of Lepidoptera (butterflies to you).
Next door is the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts with a 1,700 seat proscenium hall and a 200 seat theatre. Is there life outside the university? I traveled a half-hour outside town to the Dudley Farm Historic State Park, an authentic, not recreated, 19th Century working farm with 18 historic structures. In town the Thomas Center contains art galleries, 1920’s period room and local history exhibits. It is a restored Mediterranean Revival-style former hotel and serves as the cities cultural center. I was in town near the end of the two month Plaza Ice Palace. Every mid-November a company comes in and covers the Community Plaza with a bubble and converts it into an ice skating rink.
The best part of downtown was my accommodations at the Laurel Oak Inn, a 5 room 1885 Queen Anne Victorian Bed & Breakfast. Next door is the Magnolia Plantation with 5 rooms in the main house and 6 cottages spread over its 1 ½ acres. Recommended for dining are the Paramount Grill and Wine & Cheese Gallery (over 4,000 wines) named “Florida’s best wine store” by Florida Trend Magazine. No glitz, no glamour, just good old southern hospitality and family entertainment.
Real Travel Adventures 