When does "permanent" have an expiration date? When the term is applied to a conservation easement in Florida.

Our guest is Florida historian and author Robert Redd who's written numerous books on Florida, including two on the state's role in the Civil War.

Cathy and Rick talk about how nature influences their writing, Cathy's camping experience at Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park, Rick's upcoming keynote at the MKR annual conference, and where to find wild citrus.

Links We Mentioned

Matheson Museum, with the anniversary exhibit Rick designed

Squarehouse Pizza in Gainesville (Formerly Satch Squared, partly owned by Satchel's Pizza)

Rawlings Society and annual conference in May

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park and its Citizen Support Organization (also called a "friends group")

Sour Orange Pie and Sour Orange Margaritas

Volunteer at a Florida State Park

Support the podcast! For $5/month, you get premium Florida Keys history and travel tips with Brad Bertelli and Cathy Salustri.

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com.

Find her on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy; Twitter/IG: @CathySalustri

Question or comment? Email: cathy@floridaspectacular.com.

Free, weekly episodes of "The Florida Spectacular" are co-hosted by Rick Kilby.

Get Rick's books at rickkilby.com/ and http://studiohourglass.blogspot.com/. Connect: Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Twitter (@oldfla), and IG (@ricklebee).

Premium, biweekly episodes of "The Florida Keys" Spectacular are co-hosted by Brad Bertelli. Find Brad's column in The Keys Weekly newspaper, ch...

People love pirate lore — but what did it mean to be a pirate in Florida? According to Cathy, a lot more bureaucracy than you'd think. Rick and Cathy talk about pirates, real and imagined, and make a few Florida detours along the way.

Links We Mentioned

Legend of Jose Gaspar

Sir Francis Drake and privateer Robert Searle

Florida Pirate Festivals

Pirates in St. Augustine

A history of pirates in Florida

Sir Frances Drake in St. Augustine

Support the podcast! For $5/month, you get premium Florida Keys history and travel tips with Brad Bertelli and Cathy Salustri.

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com.

Find her on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy; Twitter/IG: @CathySalustri

Question or comment? Email: cathy@floridaspectacular.com.

Free, weekly episodes of "The Florida Spectacular" are co-hosted by Rick Kilby.

Get Rick's books at rickkilby.com/ and http://studiohourglass.blogspot.com/. Connect: Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Twitter (@oldfla), and IG (@ricklebee).

Premium, biweekly episodes of "The Florida Keys" Spectacular are co-hosted by Brad Bertelli. Find Brad's column in The Keys Weekly newspaper, ch...

Subscriber-only episode

Did the Florida Keys have pirates? Brad and Cathy debate. Brad unearthed an 1829 Keys newspaper and talks about an article warning of land sharks and advertising a house for rent for $20 a month in Key West. 

They also chat about the San Carlos, the Key West Firehouse Museum, and Carysfort Reef.

Links We Mentioned

Key West Firehouse Museum

San Carlos Institute

Carysfort Reef National Marine Sanctuary

The U.S.S. Schooner Alligator and Alligator Key

Support the podcast! For $5/month, you get premium Florida Keys history and travel tips with Brad Bertelli and Cathy Salustri.

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com.

Find her on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy; Twitter/IG: @CathySalustri

Question or comment? Email: cathy@floridaspectacular.com.

Free, weekly episodes of "The Florida Spectacular" are co-hosted by Rick Kilby.

Get Rick's books at rickkilby.com/ and http://studiohourglass.blogspot.com/. Connect: Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Twitter (@oldfla), and IG (@ricklebee).

Premium, biweekly episodes of "The Florida Keys" Spectacular are co-hosted by Brad Bertelli. Find Brad's column in The Keys Weekly newspaper, ch...

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings made Cross Creek famous through her writing, and if you want to experience Florida as she did, there's no better place. From free-range venison starters at a Cross Creek restaurant to paddling the same creeks she did, immerse yourself in the world of Cross Creek. Here's how!

Spoiler alert: Cathy gives away the ending of The Yearling at the start of the podcast, because she says everyone knows. Rick disagrees, so if you don't know the story, consider yourself warned!

Links We Mentioned

The Yearling Restaurant

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park

Cross Creek paddle trips

Wood & Swink general store in Evinston

Ocean Grill in Vero Beach

Cathy Salustri's Writer's Talk at Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park (Feb. 24, 2024)

Salt Springs

Real Florida? The Ocklawaha River

Explore More of the Area

Exploring Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings' homestead

Where's Waldo?

Support the podcast! For $5/month, you get premium Florida Keys history and travel tips with Brad Bertelli and Cathy Salustri.

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com.

Find her on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy; Twitter/IG: @CathySalustri

Question or comment? Email: cathy@floridaspectacular.com.

Free, weekly episodes of "The Florida Spectacular" are co-hosted by Rick Kilby.

Get Rick's books at rickkilby.com/ and http://studiohourglass.blogspot.com/. Connect: Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Twitter (@oldfla), and IG (@ricklebee).

Premium, biweekly episodes of "The Florida Keys" Spectacular are co-hosted by Brad Bertelli. Find Brad's column in The Keys Weekly newspaper, ch...

Members of the Florida State Legislature want to protect the rights of single use plastics.

Journalist Ben Montgomery worked as a reporting duo helping expose the Dozier School for Boys in Marianna, a facility with a horrifying 100 year history of torture. The story is graphic and gruesome, details we'll discuss in this episode. 

Additional reading on the Dozier School:

https://www.quillmag.com/2019/08/05/qa-ben-montgomery-the-reporter-whose-work-led-to-colson-whiteheads-novel-the-nickel-boys/

https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/2013/04/15/search-for-dozier-truth-raises-towns-hackles/29165956007/

https://www.axios.com/local/tampa-bay/2022/06/06/tiger-king-director-dozier-school-documentary

https://www.wmnf.org/floridas-white-house-boys-talk-about-the-promise-of-justice-for-survivors-of-the-dozier-school/

This week the Madcaps discuss two sites in Florida that have a significant historical significance, particularly with those that were seeking freedom from slavery and oppression.  

Fort Mose located in St Augustine

https://www.floridastateparks.org/parks-and-trails/fort-mose-historic-state-park

Prospect Bluff is located North of Apalachicola.  

https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/florida/recarea/?recid=83634

Please subscribe! Shares and reviews are much appreciated!

Get your FREE sticker from the Florida Springs Council at https://www.floridaspringscouncil.org/madcaps

Questions and comments can be emailed at thefloridamadcaps@gmail.com

Ryan can be found on Instagram at: the_fl_excursionist

Chris and Chelsey can be found at https://www.instagram.com/sunshinestateseekers/?hl=en

Today's guest, Charles Ellis, who serves as the Fort Mose Historical Society president, talks about the reconstruction of the Fort, what’s happening in February, and Florida's place on the Underground Railroad. 

Links We Mentioned

Fort Mose State Park

Flight to Freedom

Fort Mose Historical Society

Jazz and Blues at Fort Mose

Support Fort Mose and Black History in Florida

Gullah Geechee Heritage Trail

What is a "ring shout"?

How To Be an Anti-Racist

Middle grade offering from Zora Neale Hurston and Ibram X. Kendi

Support the podcast! For $5/month, you get premium Florida Keys history and travel tips with Brad Bertelli and Cathy Salustri.

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com.

Find her on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy; Twitter/IG: @CathySalustri

Question or comment? Email: cathy@floridaspectacular.com.

Free, weekly episodes of "The Florida Spectacular" are co-hosted by Rick Kilby.

Get Rick's books at rickkilby.com/ and http://studiohourglass.blogspot.com/. Connect: Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Twitter (@oldfla), and IG (@ricklebee).

Premium, biweekly episodes of "The Florida Keys" Spectacular are co-hosted by Brad Bertelli. Find Brad's column in The Keys Weekly newspaper, ch...

The Florida legislature is attempting to make it more difficult for home inspectors to do their jobs in securing the safety of residents moving into new construction.

The era of the Johns Committee was one of the darkest in Florida's history. Stacy Braukman's book "Communists and Perverts Under the Palms: The John's Committee 1956-1965" details the political witch hunt for Communists and gays centered on the University of Florida in Gainesville. She joins us to discuss.

Join us for another episode of LotS!  Today we discuss the history of Spiritualism and the psychic capital of the world Cassadaga, FL.

Follow us on social media for pics and updates. Consider becoming a Patreon it really does help and Y'all, it's cheaper than gas station coffee. https://patreon.com/theloreofthesouth?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

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citations
A&E Television Networks. (n.d.). 8 famous figures who believed in communicating with the dead. History.com. https://www.history.com/news/spiritualism-communication-dead-figures 

Declaration of principles. National Spiritualist Association of Churches. (n.d.). https://nsac.org/what-we-believe/principles/ 

dep. (n.d.). 75 did you know facts that will blow your mind - parade. parade . https://parade.com/1199611/marynliles/did-you-know-facts/ 

Encyclopedia.com. (2024, January 17). ." encyclopedia of occultism and parapsychology. . encyclopedia.com. 8 Jan. 2024 . Encyclopedia.com. https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/colby-george-p-1848-1933 

Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (2023, December 14). Spiritualism. Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/spiritualism-religion 

Séance City, Florida. THE BITTER SOUTHERNER. (n.d.). https://bittersoutherner.com/seance-city-florida-spiritualism-cassadaga 

Subscriber-only episode

Flying into Key West is super-convenient, but people who fly into Key West miss one of the best parts of the Florida Keys: The Overseas Highway, which connects mainland Florida with the Florida Keys. The road didn't always look the way it does today, however. Brad and Cathy explain it all. 

Florida Keys Extras

No Name Pub on No Name Key used to be a brothel

The Pineapple Express? Yup, pineapples in the Florida Keys!

The Seven-Mile Bridge in True Lies

A pictorial trip across the Overseas Highway

Last Train to Paradise

Hurricane of 1935

Have you met Fred?

Support the podcast! For $5/month, you get premium Florida Keys history and travel tips with Brad Bertelli and Cathy Salustri.

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com.

Find her on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy; Twitter/IG: @CathySalustri

Question or comment? Email: cathy@floridaspectacular.com.

Free, weekly episodes of "The Florida Spectacular" are co-hosted by Rick Kilby.

Get Rick's books at rickkilby.com/ and http://studiohourglass.blogspot.com/. Connect: Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Twitter (@oldfla), and IG (@ricklebee).

Premium, biweekly episodes of "The Florida Keys" Spectacular are co-hosted by Brad Bertelli. Find Brad's column in The Keys Weekly newspaper, ch...

Craig has a list of New Year's Resolutions to pass out around the state, starting with our idiot Department of Transportation secretary.

Author Lu Vickers is our guest this episode. She joined us back on Episode 100 along with an original Weeki Wachee mermaid. This time, we're talking about Dick Pope, founder of Cypress Gardens.

If you'd like to support the show as we enter our 5th season, you can do so by becoming a patron at www.patreon.com/welcometoflorida for just $5 per month.

When did "environmentalist" become a dirty word to Republicans?

Our guest for this episode is author Jack Davis. Davis has joined us twice before to discuss the recovery of the bald eagle and the Gulf of Mexico. Check the archive for those two outstanding shows.

This time, we're discussing a Florida icon, a feminist icon, a conservation icon, and an Everglades icon: Marjory Stoneman Douglas. Douglas coined the term "river of grass" to describe the Everglades, founded the Friends of the Everglades non-profit, and lived to be 108 years old. Davis wrote the definitive Marjory Stoneman Douglas biography, "An Everglades Providence: Marjory Stoneman Douglas and the American Environmental Century."

Davis will be one of the Florida literary legends joining Craig at the 2024 Key West Literary Seminar January 11-14. 

A pair of proposed mega-developments in southwest Florida would prevent the Florida panther from ever expanding its numbers if approved.

Critical to an understanding of Florida history is its roots as a Spanish colony, not a British colony like Georgia and South Carolina. Kevin Kokomoor is an historian and the author of "La Florida: Catholics, Conquistadores, and other American Origin Stories" published in 2023. We discuss the Spanish origins of what is now Florida.

Jacki Levine joins Rick and Cathy today to talk about Once Upon a Time in Florida, a gorgeous coffee table book celebrating 50 years of essays about Florida. Jacki edited the book, which includes essays from Stetson Kennedy, Michael Gannon, and Rick Kilby.

Links We Mentioned

Once Upon a Time in Florida (with discount code XM23) for sale

Review of Once Upon a Time in Florida

Find a talk about the book in your neighborhood.

Florida books Jacki gifts to people: 

Florida's Healing Waters by Rick Kilby

The Sound of the Sea and other Cynthia Barnett books

Jack Davis' books

Florida in Poetry, edited by Jane Anderson Jones and Maurice O'Sullivan

Support the podcast! For $5/month, you get premium Florida Keys history and travel tips with Brad Bertelli and Cathy Salustri.

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com.

Find her on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy; Twitter/IG: @CathySalustri

Question or comment? Email: cathy@floridaspectacular.com.

Free, weekly episodes of "The Florida Spectacular" are co-hosted by Rick Kilby.

Get Rick's books at rickkilby.com/ and http://studiohourglass.blogspot.com/. Connect: Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Twitter (@oldfla), and IG (@ricklebee).

Premium, biweekly episodes of "The Florida Keys" Spectacular are co-hosted by Brad Bertelli. Find Brad's column in The Keys Weekly newspaper, ch...

Global Warming is causing the oceans to acidify creating an existential threat to the ocean food chain and the seafood industry and Florida politician's largely don't care.

Hank Asher is the most important man you've never heard of. He's a Florida man who moved to the Sunshine State in the 70s. His life would intersect with the drug trade, the 2000 presidential election and 9/11, largely because of his work in the field of data mining. McKenzie Funk's 2023 book, "The Hank Show: How a House-Painting, Drug-Running, DEA Informant Built the Machine that Rules Our Lives."

If you'd like to receive exclusive BONUS episodes of "Welcome to Florida" you can do so by becoming a podcast patron at Patreon.com/WelcometoFlorida where for only $5 per month you can support production of the show. A new episode was released in December 2023 highlighting "Our Favorite Florida," our favorite Florida state parks, books, movies, museums, big cities, small towns, musicians and more.

This week, the "Florida Spectacular" welcomes back a familiar voice — Brad Bertelli, an early and super-popular guest. Cathy, Rick and Brad talk about where to find hidden springs in the Florida Keys, an old manuscript that mentions a "fairy grotto" by Robbies, and how people are "reverse snowbirding" north of Florida.

Links We Mentioned

Robbie's

Last Local

Support the podcast! For $5/month, you get premium Florida Keys history and travel tips with Brad Bertelli and Cathy Salustri.

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com.

Find her on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy; Twitter/IG: @CathySalustri

Question or comment? Email: cathy@floridaspectacular.com.

Free, weekly episodes of "The Florida Spectacular" are co-hosted by Rick Kilby.

Get Rick's books at rickkilby.com/ and http://studiohourglass.blogspot.com/. Connect: Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Twitter (@oldfla), and IG (@ricklebee).

Premium, biweekly episodes of "The Florida Keys" Spectacular are co-hosted by Brad Bertelli. Find Brad's column in The Keys Weekly newspaper, ch...

If you thought the Pilgrims celebrated the first Thanksgiving in the present-day United States in Plymouth, well, you've been lied to. Cathy and Rick talk about the first and second Thanksgivings, both of which happened in Florida, and why the 16th-century French Huguenot Thanksgiving — celebrated in what is now Jacksonville — may be the only of the first three that didn't celebrate the darkest parts of our national origin story. 

Links We Mentioned

The French first Thanksgiving in North America

LeMoyne engravings of French first Thanksgiving 

Michael Gannon and the "Grinch who stole Thanksgiving"

How the Mayflower arrived in a world already scarred by slavery.

Support the podcast! For $5/month, you get premium Florida Keys history and travel tips with Brad Bertelli and Cathy Salustri.

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com.

Find her on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy; Twitter/IG: @CathySalustri

Question or comment? Email: cathy@floridaspectacular.com.

Free, weekly episodes of "The Florida Spectacular" are co-hosted by Rick Kilby.

Get Rick's books at rickkilby.com/ and http://studiohourglass.blogspot.com/. Connect: Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Twitter (@oldfla), and IG (@ricklebee).

Premium, biweekly episodes of "The Florida Keys" Spectacular are co-hosted by Brad Bertelli. Find Brad's column in The Keys Weekly newspaper, ch...

We enjoy every episode of "Welcome to Florida," but enjoyed this one more than most. This story takes us to Fort George Island about midway between Jacksonville and Amelia Island by the St. John's River and Atlantic Ocean. This is the location of Kingsley Plantation, named for its owner Zephaniah Kingsley.

His, however, is not the most interesting story to be told there, that story belongs to Anna Madgigine Jai.

To learn more about Jai, Craig recommends the book "Anna Madgigine Jai Kingsley: African Princess, Florida Slave, Plantation Slaveowner," which he quoted from during our interview with Emily Parker, a visual information specialist for the National Park Service specializing in the Timucuan Ecological and Historical Preserve which includes Fort George Island and Kingsley Plantation.

To listen to Johnetta Betsch Cole, direct descendant of Jai and Abraham Lincoln Lewis' great granddaughter - he was Florida's first Black millionaire and the founder of American Beach - visit our Patreon page where our patrons have exclusive access to a presentation she gave about A.L. Lewis in September of 2023.

Manatees in Florida could be placed back on the Endangered Species List.

One of the greatest miscarriages of justice in America occurred in Port St. Joe, Florida in the case of Freddie Lee Pitts and Wilbert Lee. The two Black men were convicted of a double homicide despite no physical evidence, no credible eyewitness, confessions forced via police torture, and a subsequent confession shortly after from the actual murderer.

The pair were eventually pardoned after serving 12 years. Spearheading the pardon was a Miami Herald journalist Gene Miller, and our guest this week, Pitts and Lee's defense attorney at appeal, Phillip A Hubbart. Hubbart is the author of "From Death Row to Freedom: The Struggle for Racial Justice in the Pitts-Lee Case" which he will be discussing at the 2023 Miami Book Fair.

"Welcome to Florida" is presented by Windstorm Products.