"The City Beautiful" is Orlando's official nickname, and it points back to a quieter past. The Seminole people knew this lake country long before European settlement. Cattle pioneer Aaron Jernigan became the first permanent settler in 1843, and the frontier outpost was named Orlando around 1857 — by local lore for a sentinel named Orlando Reeves, or, some say, for Shakespeare's "As You Like It." In 1875 the Town of Orlando was incorporated with about eighty-five residents, a courthouse town on the Central Florida cattle frontier.
Orlando's older downtown still holds that history: "Old Orlando" along Orange Avenue, the 1889 Church Street depot, the historic neighborhoods around Lake Eola, and the oaks and brick streets that give the City Beautiful its name. It is an inland city of lakes — dozens of them across Orange County — set in the subtropical flatlands of Central Florida, about an hour from either coast.
Why People Visit Orlando
Orlando draws the world for its attractions, but its enduring charm is the City Beautiful underneath — lakes, oaks, swans, and a citrus-country past. Visitors who slow down find gardens, historic downtown streets, and lakefront paths that feel a world away from the crowds.
