The Civil War came to the square itself. On August 17, 1864, Captain J. J. Dickison's Florida cavalry surprised a Union raiding force at the town's main crossing and routed it in a brisk, close fight — Gainesville stayed in Confederate hands for the rest of the war. Peace brought the East Florida Seminary in 1866, brick rebuilding after the fires of the 1880s, phosphate and citrus money, and a city charter in 1907. The year before, the University of Florida had moved to town — the decision that would shape the next century, turning the courthouse-square market town into North-Central Florida's center of learning, medicine, and research.
And yet the wild kept its seat at the table — that is the Gainesville difference. Paynes Prairie became Florida's first state preserve in 1971, returning bison and wild horses to Bartram's savanna. Devil's Millhopper — the 120-foot sinkhole with a rainforest in its bowl — became a geological state park. Sweetwater Wetlands, San Felasco Hammock, Boulware Springs, and the springs country beyond ring the city in green, while the Duckpond's Victorian streets, the Thomas Center's gardens, Depot Park's restored railyard, and Tom Petty Park — named for the city's most famous musical son — keep the town's own story close. Few American cities of this size live this near to their landscape.
Why People Visit Gainesville Florida
- Hike Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park, Florida's first state preserve and a National Natural Landmark, with chances to spot wild bison, free-roaming horses, and alligators from the La Chua Trail and Alachua Sink overlook.
- Walk into Devil's Millhopper Geological State Park, a 120-foot, 500-foot-wide sinkhole with a rainforest microclimate and a chain of small waterfalls.
- Follow the Bartram Trail through the Alachua savanna country described by William Bartram in 1774, the canonical Western account of Paynes Prairie and the surrounding springs.
- Stroll the Duckpond / NE Gainesville Residential District, with its wide porches, live oaks, and late-19th and early-20th-century homes.
- Catch a show or tour the 1911 Hippodrome downtown, a Beaux-Arts former Federal Building now the city's anchor theatre and architectural landmark.
- Wander Sweetwater Wetlands Park for boardwalk views of alligators, wading birds, and the headwaters that drain into Paynes Prairie.
- Day-trip to nearby Micanopy, Cedar Key, and the Santa Fe and Ichetucknee springs region for spring runs, antique shops, and Gulf-coast back roads.
