Welcome to Florida

"Welcome to florida By Gabriele Maltinti" Adobe stock images

1. In 1565, the Spanish settled in Saint Augustine, making it the first European settlement in the United States.
2. Eatonvile was the first town in the United States to be organized, governed and incorporated by African-American citizens.
3. Florida became the 27th state in 1845.
4. The Seminoles call themselves "the Unconquered People." 
5. Stephen Foster's Way Down Upon the Swannee River became Florida's official state song in 1935.
6. Cape Canaveral is where the Space Age began for Americans.
7. The nearest beach is only an hour's drive form Orlando.
8. Florida has world class sunsets.
9. The gentle giant known as the manatee is Florida's state marine mammal.
10. The St. Johns River is one of the eighteen major rivers that flow from south to north.

"American White Pelican" from Birds of America (1827) by John James Audubon (1785 - 1851 ), etched by Robert Havell (1793 - 1878).
Courtesy: Audobe Stock Images

1. John James Audubon, artist and naturalist
2. Mary McLeod Bethune, educator
3. Jimmy Bufffet, musician
4. Ray Charles, musician
5. Gloria Estefan, musician
6. Ernest Hemingway, novelist
7. Florida Highwaymen, artists
8. Zora Neale Hurston, storyteller
9. Jack Kerouac, novelist
10. John D. MacDonald, novelist
11. Osceola, Seminole warrior
12. Tom Petty, musician
13. Pitbull, musician
14. Sidney Poitier, actor
15. Marjorie Kinan Rawlings, novelist
16. Burt Reynolds, actor
17. John N. Ringling, circus entrepreneur
18. Serena Williams, athlete
19. Tennessee Williams, playwright
20. Tiger Woods, athlete

Sources: Famous Floridians in History, Florida Artists Hall of Fame, & Click Orlando.