Much more than the typical vacation destination, Key West combines a free-spirited ambiance with magnificent coral reefs, a unique historic legacy with an enduring artistic sensibility. For centuries, explorers and adventurers, immigrants and entrepreneurs, artists and wanderers have come to the island oasis, and today Key West, a city like no other, is home to them all. Through hurricanes, fires, labor strikes, and the tourism boom, the community of Key West has sustained a unique way of life and attracted a wide variety of people to its shores, including such famous figures as writers...

In 1941, Tuskegee, Alabama, was selected as the site of an important new development in military training. For the first time, black Americans were to be allowed to serve their country as members of the United States Army Air Corps. During its five-year history, Tuskegee Army Air Field was home to almost 1,000 African-American pilots. More than 10,000 black men and women served as their vital support personnel. Together, they filled the ranks of the 99th Fighter
Squadron, the 332nd Fighter Group, and the 477th
Bombardment Group. Their remarkable achievements at home and overseas...

Munnville, Rome City, and Redbug were just a few of the suggested names for the small Central Florida community that would come to be known as Lakeland. Not long after its founding, other descriptive monikers-"Lovely City of Lakes" and "Highest, Healthiest, Busiest"-would be applied. Recently ranked as the tenth "Best Place to Live" of medium-sized cities in the South, Lakeland today offers an entrancing combination of contrasting elements that all work well together. Fields of strawberries and rolling hills covered with citrus groves surround a growing city comprised of a mixture of...

Located on Florida's Gulf Coast, Citrus County boasts a rich and diverse landscape, where modern amenities are found side by side the traces of "old Florida" that remain. Opportunities to experience the natural beauty of "the real Florida" are plentiful, and the singular history of the region, including the prehistoric creatures, native cultures, and early settlers who called the region
home, is accessible in the county's wide variety of historic sites and public resources. From the countless disappointments of Spanish conquistadors
searching for riches in the region to the...

Florida's contribution to aviation history cannot be underestimated. Wings over Florida chronicles the story of flying in the "Sunshine State," from the early pioneers in gliders and balloons, to the recent developments in the space program. The story of Florida in flight is even older than its statehood, with Colonel John Sherburne planning to use balloons as early as 1840 in the Second Seminole War. Not only was the first scheduled passenger airline (the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line) begun in Florida, but it is also home to the world's oldest international airline.
Many heroes and...

From the January 1958 launch of the first American satellite to the creation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration by President Eisenhower just a few months later, from the heated space race of the Cold War era to the heroes of shuttle launches, the United States has been on the leading edge of space exploration and technology. Initially developed from one of Adolph Hitler's most feared weapons, the V2 rocket, the space program has accomplished much in just a few short decades. The first American manned space flight, which put astronaut Alan Shepard into space, was launched in...