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TALLAHASSEE |
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State capital it may be, but TALLAHASSEE is a provincial city of oak
trees and soft hills that won't take more than two days to explore in
full. Around its small grid of central streets - where you'll find
plenty of reminders of Florida's formative years - briefcase-clutching
bureaucrats mingle with some of Florida State University's 250,000
students, who brighten the mood considerably and keep the city awake at
night.
Though built on the site of an important prehistoric meeting place and
taking its name from Apalachee Indian ( talwa meaning "town", and
ahassee meaning "old"), Tallahassee's history really began with
Florida's incorporation into the US, and its selection as the state's
administrative base - the local Native Americans, the Tamali tribe,
being unceremoniously dispatched to make room for the trio of log cabins
in which the first Florida government sat in 1823. The scene of every
major wrangle in Florida politics - including the controversial ballot
recount of the 2000 presidential election - Tallahassee has seen its
fortunes hindered by the lightning-paced development of south Florida.
Oddly distanced from most of the people it governs, the city has a slow
tempo and a strong sense of the past - the city remains a conservative
place.
The Town
A fifty-million-dollar eyesore dominates the square mile of downtown
Tallahassee - the vertical vents of the towering New Capitol Building ,
at Apalachee Parkway and Monroe Street (Mon-Fri 8.30am-5pm; free).
Florida's growing army of bureaucrats had previously been crammed into
the 1845 Old Capitol Building (Mon-Fri 8am-5pm; free; tel 850/488-6167)
that stands in the shadow of its replacement. For a more rounded history
- easily the fullest account of Florida's past anywhere in the state -
visit the Museum of Florida History , 500 S Bronough St (Mon-Fri
9am-4.30pm, Sat 10am-4.30pm, Sun noon-4.30pm; free). Detailed accounts
of Paleo-Indian settlements, and the significance of their burial and
temple mounds - some of which have been found on the edge of Tallahassee
- are valuable tools in comprehending Florida's prehistory. The
imperialist crusades of the Spanish are outlined with copious finds.
There's little on the nineteenth-century Seminole Wars - one of the
bloodier skeletons in Florida's closet - but plenty on the crucial
c.1900 railroads.
It's well worth making the trip out to the Florida A&M University campus
west of downtown, where the Black Archives Research Center and Museum (Mon-Fri
9am-4pm; free) holds one of the largest and most important collections
of African-American artifacts in the nation, with oral histories and
music stations, as well as an awe-inspiring group of Ethiopian crosses.
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Vacation Rentals in Tallahassee |
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from $50.00
USD