As Evan Landrum holds his phone’s flashlight under an old Sanborn map, he reveals details of Marion County’s streets and buildings that have long disappeared. His face lights up with childlike wonder.
From hours of research to deep knowledge of historical artifacts, few would guess that this work is all done for free in his spare time. Ever since childhood, Landrum has been fascinated by the past, a passion he turned into years of devotion as a Marion County Museum of History volunteer.
Across the county line, Vivian Filer has devoted much of her retirement to another cornerstone of local history, the Cotton Club Museum and Cultural Center in Gainesville.
Volunteers like Landrum and Filer do more than greet guests; they are the caretakers of memory. From century-old homesteads to 1950s dance halls, there are historic sites across North Central Florida that endure largely because of the selfless dedication of people who believe their community’s history is worth preserving.
Silver Springs State Park
5656 E. Silver Springs Blvd., Silver Springs, FL
A romantic stroll along trails lined with towering trees was a top priority for Ander Foltz and his girlfriend when planning their trip to Silver Springs State Park. But they also made time to visit the Silver River Museum and Environmental Education Center, located inside the park, to learn more about the area’s history and environmental significance.
“I don’t think there is any place you visit that can be separated from the history of that area,” Foltz said. “Although the nature is beautiful in and of itself, I think it’s very important to recognize the Indigenous people who were here first and how it came to become a state park.”
Foltz, a 22-year-old Michigan resident, said it was his first time visiting North Central Florida. He traveled to the area to visit his aunt, who lives in The Villages.
Silver Springs State Park in Ocala is best known for its glass-bottom boat tours, but beyond the sparkling water and sunlit manatees is a layered history, one that visitors such as Foltz seek to understand better.
The Silver River has attracted human activity for over 10,000 years, from Neolithic peoples to the Timucua, Spanish explorers, missionaries and Seminoles. By the 1820s, travelers reached the springs through the Ocklawaha River. By the 1850s, the area had grown into a commercial hub with river transport and orange, tobacco and vegetable plantations.
For some visitors, like retired couple Tom and Debbie Hogle, the park’s history is personal.
“We’ve always heard of Silver Springs Park. As old as I am, I have stories from my grandmother, great aunts and great uncles,” said Tom Hogle, 66.
When Mike Melbourne is not out on his tricycle picking up aluminum cans and electric wires along the road, he spends his free time volunteering at the museum.
Melbourne wears an outfit based on the 18th and early 19th century lifestyles. When elementary schoolers visit during field trips, he adds even more, wearing various furs from bears, beavers, coyotes and rabbits.
“They go crazy over the furs. It helps educate them and makes it so much more fun for the kids,” said Melbourne, who’s been volunteering for three years, “because I know probably in school you hated sitting in class all day and said, ‘let’s get out and do something,’ and with this, it gives them the chance.”
The Silver River Museum and Environmental Education Center is a program of Marion County Public Schools and serves school groups during the week. The museum is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Admission is $2 for adults and free for children under 6.
Marion County Museum of History and Archaeology
307 S.E. 26th Terrace, Ocala
Built in 1936, the building that housed the isolation and detention facility of the Florida Industrial School for Girls is now part of a repurposed complex. In East Hall, cells have been replaced by display cases and photographs. Other buildings on the property, such as the former cafeteria, serve as county offices and public services.
Located in Ocala, East Hall houses the Marion County Museum of History and Archaeology, which offers access to documents and artifacts for a sweeping overview of the county’s history. Exhibits stretch back to the prehistoric period, around 13,000 years ago, and highlight unique local stories and artifacts.
For example, there’s an 1883 bird’s-eye view drawing of downtown Ocala before the great fire that same year. Another highlight is a 1938 Life magazine featuring the wedding of Lt. Louis N. Dosh, an Ocala serviceman during World War II, to Miss Betty Drummond Bloxsom.
Evan Landrum, who has volunteered at the museum since 2012, said the Dosh artifacts are among his favorites.
“It really brought a personal touch to our World War II, Great Depression display,” Landrum said.
The public can visit from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., except Wednesdays and Sundays. Admission is $3 for adults, cash only, and free for children under 13.
The museum also sells paintings by local artists and enlarged postcards. Programs take place throughout the year, with a $5 admission fee for nonmembers that includes museum entry.
“There is a building up the hill called ‘Green Clover Hall’ because it used to be the color of green clover. It’s more like key lime pie now,” Landrum said. “We have speakers come in, authors, and then we have a reception with food back here [the museum].”
The museum is operated entirely by volunteers. Marion County provides support through maintenance, utilities and the loan of artifacts. Together, they preserve and share the county’s history.
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park
18700 S. County Road 325, Cross Creek
Nestled in the quiet corners of Cross Creek is the home of 1939 Pulitzer Prize-winning author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. Her home and source of inspiration for 25 years is now the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park.
Surrounded by 72 acres of orange groves and palm trees in southeast Alachua County, Rawlings wrote most of her celebrated works on this property. Today, visitors get a taste of the serenity she enjoyed.
A 200-year-old magnolia tree stands steady next to the restored barn that offers shade for visitors waiting for the guided tour to begin.
The home itself is a time capsule of 1930s Florida. From the metal roof to the covered porch with a cypress table and deer skin chairs. According to resident volunteer Mark Allen, the style is typical of the homes built by the Florida crackers, who were settlers from Georgia and the Carolinas.
Allen lives mostly in Tennessee, spending winters in Florida with his wife Judy. The Allens knew little about Rawlings before they started volunteering three years ago, but they read her books in preparation for the tours and became interested in her life and work.
“Between the two of us, I think we’ve read almost all her books,” said Mark Allen.
They are two of four resident volunteers who camp near the park grounds during their stay. Together with several paid staff and park rangers, they offer tours and maintain the park.
Their one-hour guided tour takes visitors through the interior of Rawlings’ home. They retell stories from her time in Florida, drawing connections to her books and their film adaptations and demonstrating the joys and difficulties of life at the time.
The Allens are looking forward to the monthly wood stove cooking demonstration this year. As part of the tour, the volunteers will prepare a recipe from Rawling’s cookbook, “Cross Creek Cookery,” on the third Friday of every month.
Trails around the homestead extend in all directions. The “quotation trail,” which leads to the tenant's house, provides an immersive experience as plaques of her writing are dotted along the path.
The tenant house was occupied by Rawlings’ hired staff who worked the land and handled her daily chores. While visitors cannot enter the home, the doors are covered in netting that allows a view of the interior. From the porch, one can see a dinner table set for four and a made bed with clothes draped over it — a house alive in every way but one. Entry to the park costs $3 per vehicle.
Cotton Club Museum and Cultural Center
837 SE 7th Ave., Gainesville
Few places can boast of hosting Bo Diddley, B.B. King and Ella Fitzgerald. But the stage at the Cotton Club Museum and Cultural Center can. And it does.
Built in 1940-1941, the building was originally home to a movie theatre frequented by members of the African American community. It became a nightclub four years later. Then a juke joint. At one point, it was even a furniture warehouse.
By the time it was bought by the Mt. Olive African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1995, the building had lived a thousand lives. A non-profit was established to preserve it.
Today, it is a museum, an exhibition room and a rental space. Currently and into the summer, it is also the home of a sculptural exhibit by Ghanaian artist and University of Florida graduate student Alex Awuku.
The museum hosts several events throughout the year, including commemorating African American culture with Kwanzaa celebrations, a Juneteenth breakfast and a weekend-long learning experience on Black ranchers and farmers.
“I think they bring a very important element to Gainesville, particularly to the African American community,” said Deloris Rentz, chair of the exhibition committee.
Rentz also serves on the board as the financial secretary. She and the rest of the board members volunteer their time to manage the museum. Though they receive some support from the city and the Florida African American Heritage Preservation Network, the museum does not receive public funding unless it applies for grants.
Rentz said they rely on donors and fundraising, and the financial constraints force them to “be creative” in the event planning.
The museum is free to enter and open on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Historic Halie Homestead
8500 SW Archer Road, Gainesville
A household to one of about a thousand Floridian cotton plantations, the Historic Haile Homestead differentiates itself through its walls.
Upon entering the home, a visitor could not take ten steps without beholding the overwhelming sight of scrawl and script abounding on each wall from end to end.
Thomas Evans Haile and Esther Chesnut Haile moved to Gainesville along with their children in 1854, establishing a Sea Island cotton plantation. The family wrote along the walls of their home, a scattered record of over 12,500 words and artwork. Now those 19th-century writings are preserved for modern-day eyes, glimpses into the lives of people generations past.
Visitors see imprinted on the fiber of the homestead layers of voice. Every entry represents a moment in time, an attitude, a message added to a vast informal archive.
The plantation operated a business extensively involved in slavery, a notion well-explored by the preservation efforts of the homestead’s docents. Some descendants of the people enslaved at the Historic Haile Homestead were able to trace their lineage back there, despite the lack of recorded last names for their ancestors.
Thomas and Serena left the house to Evans Haile, a defense attorney who used it as a vacation home. The house was later abandoned, then rediscovered and transformed into a movie set for the filming of “Gal Young Un.”
The state later restored the house in 1996 and opened it for tours in 2001. Tours cost $5 per person on weekends; weekday tours cost $10 per person and require advance notice.
“I think my favorite part of volunteering is just meeting the different people that come and visit,” said volunteer tour guide Denise Thomas, 43, who has served as a Historic Haile Homestead docent for three years. “You never know who you’re going to meet or when they’re going to come.”
Thomas said that at the moment, there is a dire need for docents.
“So if you are interested in volunteering,” Thomas said, “please check out our website.”