The Florida Heritage Trail guidebooks are a series of 12 free themed publications about hundreds of historical and cultural destinations across the state.
Table of Contents
I came across a copy of the Florida Civil War Heritage Trail guidebook quite by accident while visiting the Polk County History Center in Bartow, Florida, last year. I could not believe that this glossy 80-page full-color publication was free-for-the-taking, but it was. Shortly thereafter, Jerry and I visited the San Marcos de Apalache Historic State Park in St. Marks, Florida, and I acquired several more volumes in the Heritage Trail series. Finally, I sat down at my computer and did a bit of research and discovered that the Florida Division of Historical Resources would send me free copies of the guidebooks with an email request.
The Florida Heritage Trail Publications are a series of 12 themed guidebooks containing a wealth of detailed information about hundreds of destinations across the state, including maps, monuments, museums, historical sites, buildings, events, and much more. The guidebooks are arranged by regions across the state, allowing you to design your own road trip itineraries. The Spanish Colonial Heritage guidebook has an added feature of 4 ready-made multi-day driving tours. Like the Cuban Heritage Trail guidebook, it also includes English and Spanish content on facing pages. The French Heritage Trail guidebook has a similar bilingual feature.
In order to provide accurate availability information for our readers, I contacted the Florida Division of Historical Resources. The bad news is that two of the guidebooks are no longer in print. The good news is that all 12 guidebooks are available in PDF format for free download
Note: Try not to get nauseous with the animated GIF. I thought it was too cool not to include.
Guidebooks on Your Mobile Devices
As much as I love and use my mobile devices, I am still old-fashioned when it comes to the printed page. I like holding books, and turning pages, and having readily-available information that is not stored in cyberspace. However, I have downloaded these guidebooks and stored them in the Cloud so the digital versions will always be at my fingertips.
Florida Heritage Trail PDF Guidebooks
(Click on the images below to download PDF files to your computer or mobile device.)
Order Print Guidebooks
The two guidebooks that are no longer in print are the Florida Jewish Heritage Trail and the Florida Women’s Trail. Because I am a compulsive archivist and completionist, I searched online to see if I could find either of these volumes for sale. As it turned out, I just purchased a used copy of one at Amazon and bid on the other at eBay. Fingers crossed . . . . All of the remaining guidebooks are still in print and free upon request, meaning no charge for the publications themselves nor shipping and handling. You may order any or all of the in-print guidebooks by emailing Susanne Hunt (susanne.hunt@dos.myflorida.com) a list of the titles you are requesting along with your mailing address. I have received all of my past orders within a couple of days.
Online Florida Heritage Trails
The following links are additional Florida Heritage Trail web sites:
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We Would Love to Hear From You!
We enjoy dialogue with our readers, especially when they share useful travel resources and tips. We would love to hear your experiences with the Florida Heritage Trails guidebooks, as well as learn about other free guidebooks you have used. We invite you to leave your comments and questions below, and we always respond!
Image Credit: The Florida Division of Historical Resources
The Florida Division of Historical Resources is responsible for preserving and promoting Florida’s historical, archaeological and folk culture resources.
I wish someone will write some such good guide on Bangladesh.
Very interesting–thanks for sharing! We are heading back to Florida in a couple weeks again, so we will have to check some of these out!
Glad to help, Jenna! Let us know if you come across a Heritage Trail destination that is not to be missed . . . .
Nice resource, personally I prefer ebooks since that means less trees are killed in order for us to enjoy reading!
You have a point there, Raphael, and I agree. Still, I can’t deny my longing to hold a book rather than a mobile device. Love your blog, by the way!
Very cool, I bet there is just a wealth of info in those books too.
Indeed there is, Brianna!
What a terrific find Howard! I love that the books are available in print or digital that way you can enjoy the print version and have the info easily with you on your travels.
I know, right? I felt like I had discovered a gold mine when I found these free publications. So helpful for planning road trip itineraries or on the go!
What a cool resource! I’ll be sure to keep this in mind for future trips to Florida ^_^
Be sure to let us know when you visit, Francesca, so we can meet up!
Great resource Howard, thanks for sharing
My pleasure!
This is an awesome resource! I’ve grown up in South Carolina and have spent many, many vacations in Florida, but I STILL haven’t seen all of these places. I love history, so doing these trails would be right in line with my interests. Pinning in the hopes that I’ll be able to explore all of these places soon!
I am a pinner, too, Natalie. Always saving helpful posts so I don’t lose them. This one is packed with information about more historical destinations in Florida than you can imagine. Hope you find them helpful!
Guidebooks on your mobile are definitely the way to go.
Agreed, Fiona! Much easier than carrying a bookshelf on your back . . . . 😉
What a great resource and to know that you can request copies online so you could potentially do your research before going is great. I know that having these tools at our fingertips is a great idea but part of me still likes the idea of have a book to go through.
True, Tam! Like I said, I prefer the tangible and tactile over the digital. Glad I have all 10 print guidebooks now. I was able to find the two out-of-print titles on eBay and Amazon.
That’s good to know. Thanks for all these helpful info!
So welcome, Carol!
Great resource! Especially being able to locate guides that are in PDF format. Thanks for sharing!
I agree, Jennifer! PDF guidebooks are so handy.