The Winter Park Historical Museum is a small free museum located across the railroad from Central…read morePark. It is operated by the Winter Park Historical Association and resides in a former railroad freight depot. There is a one room exhibit hall that features changing exhibits. The goal of the museum is to engage people in the history of Winter Park. The current exhibit is about the hotels and motels of Winter Park throughout the city's history. The exhibit highlights include the luxury hotels of the late 1800s, like the Seminole Hotel, built in 1886 on Lake Osceola. It was a place that attracted northerners and had luxuries such as steam heating and gaslights. President Grover Cleveland was a visitor but it burned down in 1902. Also included in the exhibit is information about the roadside family motels, tourist courts and the boarding houses used by the workers who built Winter Park. The museum offers programs throughout the year. It is staffed by a volunteer so if you want to know more about the history of Winter Park you can actually speak to someone about it. It also has a small gift shop. If you are in the area it is worth stopping by.

If you wanna check out the beginnings of your neighborhood, the best place to start is the Winter…read morePark history museum on 200 New England Avenue. The current exhibit is motels and hotels. There is a volunteer who will answer your questions. This used to be the lobby for the Atlantic Railroad. There is free parking on the street and donations are recommended.

I love a Christmas parade to get me in a holiday mood and this is the oldest continuous parade in…read morecentral Florida. December 4th was the parade's 69th year in Winter Park. It is hosted each year by the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce. The parade begins at Park Ave. travels south before turning right on New England Ave. and then ends at Hannibal Square. For ease of parking I left my car at the Hannibal Community Center, walked a block up, and caught the end of the parade. The parade is made up of more than 80 organizations including marching bands, the police and fire departments, scouts, local businesses, and the grand finale, Santa and Mrs. Clause riding atop of a fire truck. I loved the hometown feel of the parade. The floats were beautifully decorated and many of the businesses handed out coupons and candy. My favorite parade participants were the antique automobiles decked out in their holiday best. Knightro, the UCF mascot made an appearance as did the Grinch and the truck from my favorite Winter Park bakery, the Glass Knife. It was a beautiful community experience. The only downer was when a train cut the parade in half causing a bit of delay. The spectacle of Santa Clause more than made up for it. Before the parade you can attend a fundraising pancake breakfast hosted by Leadership Winter Park. This was their 22nd year serving up pancakes, sausages, and beverages the morning of the parade. After the parade a great stop is the Winter Park Farmer's market which has a large selection of farm fresh fruits and vegetables, plants, and prepared foods. Winter Park is beautifully decorated this time of year and the Christmas parade is definitely worth getting up early for.

For a small, free museum on local history, the depth of information was very impressive! There were…read moremany interesting exhibits related to local history, city planning, the railroads, riverboats, agriculture, business, and sports achievements. The founder of the City of Sanford was Henry S. Sanford. Sanford was a distinguished diplomat and businessman. After he passed his personal papers were donated to the city by his daughter, Carola Sanford Dow. The Sanford Museum opened in 1957 as The Henry Shelton Sanford Memorial Library and Museum. The building was expanded in 1974 and again in 1993. On display are Henry Sanford's personal items that include European and American paintings, furniture, objects and books from 1820-1890. The Chase Gallery was added to the museum in 1993. It is named in honor of Sydney O. and Margaret Chase. The gallery has many exhibits pertinent to local history. Topics covered include: steamboats, The Senator which was a champion bald Cypress tree, businesses from the town's history, Native American history, African-American history in Goldsboro, early police and fire departments, the Great Freeze of 1895, Swedish immigration in Upsala, Naval Station Sanford, 19th Century funeral practices, and local sports history. My favorite exhibits were on Old Bob, the funeral horse who transported bodies to Lakeview Cemetery for 28 years before being laid to rest there, the Native American history that included a dug out canoe found in Loch Low believed to be from the year 800, and the recreation of the library from Henry Sanford's home in Derby, Connecticut. At the museum you can learn how the town of Sanford sprang up from Fort Mellon during the Second Seminole War and how after the Great Freeze it became strongly identified with celery. I had previously visited the Seminole County Museum which was helpful in understanding some of the exhibits here. The lady who was working on the day I visited said the two museums sometimes work collaboratively. The Sanford Museum has lectures and events and you can find out more about dates and times on their website. They can also point you in the direction of significant historical sites all throughout town. If you want to know more about the history of Sanford, this is the perfect place to start. Don't forget to stop by their small but carefully curated gift shop area where you can pick up maps and brochures and they sell unique items like celery earrings and Sanford key chains.

Took in the museum this afternoon. Small but well appointed. Nice local history. Never knew…read morecelery was so important in the towns growth..

Small museum which also shows local artist work on occasion…read more Came here whilst having a little wander round the area. Interesting place to come to find out more. Free entry with lots of information about the area and people along with various displays and photos to look at. Wouldn't necessarily make this my mission to see but worth popping in if you are passing by.

Lots of old…read morestuff The Lake Mary Historical Museum is a cool old building that was built back in 1926 as a community center. It then served as the town hall from 1973 to 1996 and now it serves as the historical museum and historical society. The building isn't particular large but has a wonderful front porch and an interior that is stuffed full of cool artifacts and displays. The exhibitions change from time to time and when I went the the theme was Honor our Military. Lots of old helmets, uniforms, models, magazines, papers and other stuff that represents the military, especially Lake Mary's contribution to the various wars. They manage to get quite of bit of stuff in here, especially since the front of the building also has to serve as a meeting place for the historical society and needs open space for tables and chairs. Other exhibitions show and emphasize different aspects of Lake Mary's past so there is something new displayed frequently. The people working here are exceptional friendly and nice and will answer any possible questions you might have and the museum even has a small gift shop. A cool little museum for anyone wanting to know about the history of Lake Mary.

I enjoyed the festive lights on the ball dropped, the music, the food and the t-shirt.read more

This is a once a year event. It takes place on New Years Eve…read more I had to list this on yelp... so others will hopefully partake in this awesome New Year's area tradition! THIS IS A MUST... forget the neighbourhood block party. Do this first, as the block party will still be going on when you come back! THIS IS A FREE EVENT! This is based on the NYC ball drop with a twist, they drop the ball at 9pm so you can be in bed by 10! This is put on by a bunch of local business owners and residents that have to work the following morning. Great music mix by IPOD, Great food, Great strangers... you couldn't ask for a better venue. Also there were the traditional fire works (shot out of a dumpster) and singing the New Year in! It is recommended that you bring as dish to share, Dogs, Burgers, water provided... BYOB&C (that's a chair folks) Plenty of parking. There was even a 50/50 raffle and you could buy a tee-shirt to commemorate the event. (I did, as no one back home is going to believe this!) Here's the print to the article that was in the paper You gotta love Lake County Posted: 28 Dec 2011 07:36 AM PST Here's an option for New Year's Eve that transcends the traditional Times Square dropping of the ball. It is a distinctly Lake County event. You have to love this place. This email comes from Douglas Koskey, one of the organizers of the Astatula "Blue Collar Ball Drop." "I am writing to you to announce a most unusual event that will be taking place in the little ole town of Astatula, Florida on New Years Eve. It is the "Blue Collar Ball Drop", a family friendly event that you and your friends are invited to attend. "Conceived by a group of Astatula locals, the people of this sleepy little Blue Collar burg wanted a New Year's celebration that folks could attend without disturbing the sleep patterns of hard-working types that had to report to work someplace the next day. So they pushed the clock forward three hours and celebrated their own ball drop at 9:00pm! "Three years ago, a ball made of dixie-cups and Christmas lights was attempted to be dropped from the Astatula City hall flag pole. The ball jammed at the top in the wind and at 9 pm, one local resident gave the extension cord a hard tug and the ball crashed to the ground. Last year, a ball was constructed of one of those plastic contraptions that expand and lock into a much bigger ball, then it was loaded with several strings of lights again. This time, it was hauled to the top of a rented scissor-lift in front of the Race Car Diner by a truck-winch and lowered at 9pm. This went much more smoothly, however the ball sagged under the weight of the lights and it looked more like a pear than a ball! "This year, ring-leader and Astatula Mayor Jake Farley has constructed a 7 foot diameter ball made of welded rods that rivals the infamous Times Square Ball. Loaded with hundreds of LED lights and a mirror ball inside the outer ball, this one will certainly hold it's shape and will be lowered from a crane that is ten stories tall! "You will be able to see it from the Howey bridge across Little Lake Harris" says brother Arlie. "Celebrations start at 6pm on New Years Eve. Hamburgers and Hot Dogs will be served and attendees are asked to bring a covered dish. Music will be provided all the way up to the countdown and other surprises are planned as well. Anyone interested in dropping in is welcome and this is a Family-Friendly event. For the all-nighter crowd, this could be your pre-party! "It is absolutely free, just drop on in for the "Blue Collar Ball Drop" located one mile south of the Astatula City Limits on County Road 561 at the field in between Farley's Frigeration and Petrotech."

Great group of healthy venders along side activities. Great…read moreweather here and very walkable.

Beautiful day too celebrate earth day. The multitude of different vendors representing various…read moreearth, ecological and social causes was a great place to stop and get reacquainted with a new purpose. Good to see a Yelp booth there too!

Architect and…read morecarpenter There are skilled carpenters and there are talented architects, seldom is one person both. William Waterhouse was one of these rare and special individuals and built a very cool house that reflected his unique abilities. The Waterhouse family decided to come down from New York to spend some time in the Maitland area of Florida in the late 19th century. Wasn't much down there at that time so Mr Waterhouse decided to build his own house. Since he was an accomplished architect he designed the home in the New York style that he was familiar with and since he also hapened to be a skilled carpenter he built the house himself from the abundant local pine. In 1884 the house was finished and the family moved in and lived, entertained and become prominent in the community. The house is impressive and cool but certainly not extravagant. The Waterhouse family would probably be called upper middle class today, well off but certainly not filthy rich. The house was of course changed over the years but was finally restored to reflect it's original character and even filled with antiques from the period. Tours are available with wonderful docents for only three dollars. You not only get to see the cool house, wonderful period furniture and antiques but also the workshop filled with old tools from the time the Waterhouse family lived here. The docent we had was great, she knew everything there was to know about the house, Waterhouse family and the local area in the time the home was built. Patiently answered our questions and gave us a great tour and history lesson. Since the house is right on the grounds of lovely Lake Lily Park after seeing the house you can spend some time walking around the park. A great way to spend a few hours while in Maitland.

Nice little 30 minute tour of this old house built by people that moved here over 100 years ago…read more The house remains almost the same except for a few details, the tour is nice and explains a lot about the house and the people that lived here. Tour is cheap only $3.00 and worth the money,so if you are near lake Lilly come check out it. Its Only open till 4pm so come early. Good tour if you are bored and around the area.

This is a small history museum in Maitland. It was founded in 1970 as the Maitland Historical…read moreSociety. In 2010 they merged with the Maitland Arts Center. For $6 you can tour the history museum, art museum next door, and the Mayan themed gardens across the street. This campus is Greater Orlando's only National Historic Landmark, and was originally an artist retreat founded in 1937 by artist and architect Jules André Smith. The museum may be small but it is big on charm. We took a self guided tour although friendly staff is on hand to answer any questions. The museum collection of historical artifacts dates back to the late 19th century. The permanent exhibition is titled Maitland's Attic: A Journey Through A Small City's Past. Displays begin with the history of the First Peoples of Florida, followed by the start of the Art Center, the Florida Audubon Society, and ends in the 1970s in a room that would be familiar to anyone who grew up in that era. Behind the main building is another room housing the Telephone Museum established in 1981. The A&H's Telephone Museum explores the technology of communications and the history of the telephone as you explore how communications have changed throughout time. You can learn about the history of the Winter Park Telephone Company which was founded in Maitland. The Telephone Museum has working antique phones and switchboards. We had a great time reading the signs, looking at the collection, and reminiscing about the past. Whether you're a local resident or a curious traveler, a visit to the Maitland History Center is sure to be a memorable and enriching experience.

This small museum has two parts: one covers the history of settlement in Maitland, the other is a…read morehistory of early telephone systems seen through the Winterpark Telephone Co. started by Carl H. Galloway. It is worth it's modest $3 admission. The Maitland Historical and Telephone Museum is part of the overall complex of Maitland Art and History Museums (however, in those reviews, this particular museum has no photos nor reviews of it). I will be mentioning this as part of that review also. The general local history portion of the museum is self-guided, offering about 4 small galleries of artifacts and information. The telephone portion of the museum is given as a tour, and has interactive elements -- with the guide demonstrating the use of the switchboard, and guests encouraged to 'make calls' using the crank telephones and the like. Even if the history of that specific telephone company isn't an interest, the telephone museum offers an engaging look into the development of the technology and infrastructure of the early 20th centuries, and visitors will doubtless see parallels to the information revolutions that have occurred more recently. I also want to particularly mention our tourguide, Rachel, who was extremely friendly, helpful and engaging when providing historical information. She seemed genuinely engaged in her subject, and went the extra mile in helping us plan out our day at the various little museums within the complex.