Florida’s landmarks reach back further than almost anywhere else in the country, all the way to the first European footholds in what would become the United States. This is a state of Spanish stone forts and Gilded Age mansions, of rocket launches and river-of-grass wilderness, of histories both proud and painful. I taught American history for years before I started visiting these places, and Florida always reminds me how layered the American story really is.
Several of these 25 are National Park Service units, and I have noted the exact designation for each. For more on the state’s heritage, see our guide to historic sites in Florida.
Florida Landmarks At A Glance
| Landmark | Area | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Kennedy Space Center | Merritt Island | Spaceport / visitor complex |
| Everglades National Park | South Florida | National Park (NPS) |
| Walt Disney World | Orlando | Theme park resort |
| Dry Tortugas National Park & Fort Jefferson | Gulf of Mexico | National Park (NPS) |
| Miami Beach | Miami-Dade | Beach city |
| Fernandina Beach | Amelia Island | Historic town |
| ZooTampa at Lowry Park | Tampa | Zoo |
| Timucuan Ecological & Historic Preserve | Jacksonville | National Preserve (NPS) |
| Nike Missile Site HM-69 | Everglades NP | Cold War site (NPS) |
| Fort Matanzas National Monument | St. Augustine | National Monument (NPS) |
| Art Deco Historic District | Miami Beach | National Register district |
| Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse | Ponce Inlet | Historic lighthouse / NHL |
| Castillo de San Marcos National Monument | St. Augustine | National Monument (NPS) |
| Gulf Islands National Seashore | Pensacola | National Seashore (NPS) |
| De Soto National Memorial | Bradenton | National Memorial (NPS) |
| Fort Caroline National Memorial | Jacksonville | National Memorial (NPS) |
| Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge | Sebastian | National Wildlife Refuge (USFWS) |
| Key West Lighthouse | Key West | Historic lighthouse |
| Kingsley Plantation | Fort George Island | Historic plantation (NPS) |
| Vizcaya Museum & Gardens | Miami | Historic estate / NHL |
| Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum | Key West | Historic home / NHL |
| Okeechobee Battlefield State Historic Park | Okeechobee | State Historic Park / NHL |
| Lightner Museum | St. Augustine | Museum |
| Fort King | Ocala | National Historic Landmark |
25. Fort King National Historic Landmark
We start at one of the most consequential sites of the Seminole Wars. Fort King, in Ocala, was a U.S. Army post built in 1827, and the killing of Indian agent Wiley Thompson here by the Seminole leader Osceola in 1835 helped ignite the Second Seminole War.
That conflict, from 1835 to 1842, was the longest and costliest of the wars fought to remove Native peoples from their homelands. A faithful reconstruction of the fort now stands on the site, designated a National Historic Landmark in 2004 and owned by the city of Ocala and Marion County.
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24. Lightner Museum
At number 24 is a museum housed in a Gilded Age palace. The Lightner Museum occupies the former Hotel Alcazar, a lavish Spanish Renaissance Revival resort built by railroad magnate Henry Flagler in 1888 in St. Augustine.
Publisher Otto Lightner filled the building with his collection of Victorian-era art, furnishings, and curiosities, and it opened as a museum in 1948. Strolling the old hotel, with its grand indoor pool now part of the galleries, is a trip into Florida’s golden age of tourism.
23. Okeechobee Battlefield State Historic Park
Number 23 marks one of the major battles of the Second Seminole War. The Battle of Lake Okeechobee was fought on Christmas Day in 1837, when U.S. forces under Zachary Taylor clashed with Seminole and Miccosukee warriors in the sawgrass near the lake.
Though both sides claimed victory, the Seminoles inflicted heavy casualties and slipped away, and the battle burnished Taylor’s reputation on his road to the presidency. The site is preserved as a Florida State Historic Park and a National Historic Landmark.
22. The Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum
At number 22 is the Key West home of one of America’s greatest writers. Ernest Hemingway lived in this Spanish Colonial house in the 1930s, and it was here that he wrote some of his most famous work, including To Have and Have Not.
The house is a National Historic Landmark and a museum, complete with his studio and the dozens of six-toed cats said to descend from Hemingway’s own. It is one of the most popular stops in Key West, and a genuine literary pilgrimage.
21. Vizcaya Museum & Gardens
Number 21 is a Gilded Age dream on Biscayne Bay. Vizcaya was built between 1914 and 1922 as the winter estate of industrialist James Deering, an Italian Renaissance-style villa surrounded by formal gardens and a working farm village.
The mansion is filled with European antiques and art, and its gardens step down toward the water past fountains and a famous stone barge breakwater. A National Historic Landmark, Vizcaya is one of the most beautiful estates in the country.
20. Kingsley Plantation
At number 20 is a site that confronts the history of slavery in Florida. Kingsley Plantation, on Fort George Island near Jacksonville, preserves the oldest surviving plantation house in the state, along with the ruins of 25 cabins where enslaved people lived and worked.
The site tells a complex story, including that of Anna Madgigine Jai Kingsley, an enslaved African woman who was freed, became a plantation owner herself, and navigated the brutal racial world of the Spanish and American frontier. Now part of the Timucuan Preserve and run by the National Park Service, it is an important and sobering place.
19. Key West Lighthouse
Number 19 is a beacon at the southern edge of the country. The Key West Lighthouse first lit in 1848, replacing an earlier tower destroyed in a hurricane, and guided ships through the treacherous reefs off the Florida Keys for more than a century.
Now a museum operated by the Key West Art and Historical Society, the lighthouse and its keeper’s quarters are open to visitors. Climb the 88 steps to the top for one of the best views of the island and the surrounding sea.
18. Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge
At number 18 is the birthplace of a national conservation system. Pelican Island, on the Indian River Lagoon, was set aside by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1903 as the first national wildlife refuge in the United States.
Roosevelt acted to protect the island’s nesting brown pelicans and other birds from plume hunters who were slaughtering them for the millinery trade. The refuge launched a system that now numbers more than 560 units nationwide. A boardwalk and observation tower let visitors watch the birds that started it all.
17. Fort Caroline National Memorial
Number 17 recalls a short-lived French presence in early Florida. Fort Caroline National Memorial, near Jacksonville, commemorates the French Huguenot colony established here in 1564, one of the first European attempts to settle in what is now the United States.
The colony ended brutally in 1565 when Spanish forces from St. Augustine attacked and destroyed it. A reconstruction of the fort sits within the Timucuan Preserve, managed by the National Park Service, telling the story of this early and bloody clash of empires.
16. De Soto National Memorial
At number 16 is a site marking a fateful expedition. De Soto National Memorial, near Bradenton, commemorates the 1539 landing of Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto, who began a long and devastating march through the American Southeast in search of gold.
The expedition brought violence and European diseases that proved catastrophic for the Native peoples of the region. The memorial, run by the National Park Service, offers a coastal nature trail and living-history demonstrations that present this difficult history with honesty.
15. Gulf Islands National Seashore
Number 15 protects some of the finest beaches on the Gulf Coast. Gulf Islands National Seashore stretches across Florida and Mississippi, preserving barrier islands of sugar-white sand, clear emerald water, and historic coastal forts.
The Florida district near Pensacola includes Fort Pickens, a 19th-century brick fortress that once held the Apache leader Geronimo as a prisoner. Established in 1971 and managed by the National Park Service, it blends pristine nature with military history.
14. Castillo de San Marcos National Monument
At number 14 is the oldest masonry fort in the continental United States. Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine was built by the Spanish between 1672 and 1695 to defend their oldest city, constructed from coquina, a soft shellstone that absorbed cannon fire rather than shattering.
The fort never fell to assault, changing hands only through treaties over more than three centuries of Spanish, British, and American rule. Designated a national monument in 1924 and run by the National Park Service, it is the centerpiece of America’s oldest continuously occupied European-founded city.
13. Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse & Museum
Number 13 is one of the tallest lighthouses in the country. The Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse, completed in 1887 near Daytona Beach, rises 175 feet in red brick and remains one of the best-preserved light stations in America.
A National Historic Landmark, the restored station includes the original keepers’ dwellings and a collection of historic lighthouse lenses. Climb the 203 steps to the gallery for a sweeping view of the coast.
12. Art Deco Historic District
At number 12 is the largest concentration of Art Deco architecture in the world. The Miami Beach Art Deco Historic District holds around 800 historic buildings from the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, painted in the pastel palette that defines South Beach.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, the district was saved by a grassroots preservation movement led by Barbara Capitman. A walk along Ocean Drive, especially when the neon glows at night, is one of the great Florida experiences.
11. Fort Matanzas National Monument
Number 11 is a small Spanish fort with a dark history. Fort Matanzas, south of St. Augustine, was built of coquina in 1742 to guard the southern approach to the city, a watchtower over the inlet that gave it its name.
Matanzas means slaughters in Spanish, recalling the 1565 massacre of French Huguenots by Spanish forces nearby. Established as a national monument in 1924 and run by the National Park Service, the fort is reached by a free ferry and offers a quiet counterpoint to the larger Castillo upriver.
10. Nike Missile Site HM-69
At number 10 is a Cold War relic deep in the wilderness. Nike Missile Site HM-69, inside Everglades National Park, was built after the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis to defend South Florida against air attack from Cuba, just 100 miles away.
The base housed surface-to-air missiles and the soldiers who manned them around the clock, operating into the late 1970s. Now a National Register site, it is open for ranger-led tours in the winter season, a striking reminder of how close the Cold War came to home.
9. Timucuan Ecological & Historic Preserve
Number nine protects one of the last unspoiled coastal wetlands on the Atlantic. The Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, near Jacksonville, covers 46,000 acres of salt marsh, coastal dunes, and hardwood hammocks, named for the Timucua people who lived here for thousands of years.
The preserve ties together several of the sites on this list, including Fort Caroline and Kingsley Plantation, under National Park Service management. It is a place where natural beauty and deep human history sit side by side.
8. ZooTampa at Lowry Park
At number eight is one of the top zoos in the Southeast. ZooTampa at Lowry Park, in Tampa, is known for its conservation work, especially its role as a state-designated hospital for sick and injured manatees.
The zoo is home to Florida wildlife, African animals, and one of the largest collections of Asian and Australian species in the region. Its manatee rehabilitation program has saved hundreds of these gentle animals, making it a meaningful stop as well as a fun one.
7. Dry Tortugas National Park
Number seven is one of the most remote national parks in the country. Dry Tortugas National Park lies about 70 miles west of Key West, a cluster of seven small islands surrounded by some of the clearest water and most pristine coral reefs in North America.
Reached only by boat or seaplane, the park draws snorkelers, birders, and history lovers in equal measure. Established as a national park in 1992, it protects both the marine wilderness and the great fort that anchors it. Learn more in our guide to Dry Tortugas National Park facts.
6. Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island
At number six is a town that has flown eight different flags. Fernandina Beach, on Amelia Island in Florida’s northeast corner, has passed through French, Spanish, British, and American hands, among others, earning its nickname as the Isle of Eight Flags.
Its 50-block downtown is a National Register historic district of Victorian buildings, and nearby Fort Clinch State Park preserves a well-restored 19th-century brick fort. It is one of the most charming historic towns on the Atlantic coast.
5. Miami Beach
Number five is one of the most famous beach destinations in the world. Miami Beach sits on a barrier island across Biscayne Bay from Miami, built up from mangrove swamp into a glittering resort city in the early 20th century.
Its broad sands, turquoise water, and the Art Deco landmarks of South Beach have made it a global icon of sun and style. Beyond the beach, it offers world-class dining, nightlife, and people-watching. It is Florida at its most glamorous.
4. Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas
At number four is the centerpiece of Dry Tortugas National Park and one of the largest brick structures in the Americas. Fort Jefferson is a massive hexagonal coastal fortress begun in 1846, built from more than 16 million bricks on a remote island in the Gulf of Mexico.
Though never finished or fully armed, the fort served as a Union military prison during the Civil War, most famously holding Dr. Samuel Mudd, convicted in the conspiracy to assassinate President Lincoln. Walking its ramparts above the clear blue water is an unforgettable experience.
3. Walt Disney World
Number three is the most visited vacation resort on earth. Walt Disney World, near Orlando, opened in 1971 and grew into a sprawling complex of four theme parks, two water parks, and dozens of hotels covering an area roughly the size of San Francisco.
From the Magic Kingdom’s Cinderella Castle to Epcot’s geodesic sphere, it has shaped American family travel for generations and draws tens of millions of visitors every year. Love it or not, it is one of the defining landmarks of modern Florida.
2. Everglades National Park
At number two is one of the great wildernesses of North America. Everglades National Park protects 1.5 million acres of the slow-moving river of grass at the southern tip of Florida, the largest tropical wilderness in the country.
It is the only place on earth where alligators and crocodiles live side by side, and it shelters manatees, panthers, and hundreds of bird species. Established in 1947 to protect a fragile ecosystem rather than scenery, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. See our guide to the best things to do in Everglades National Park.
1. Kennedy Space Center
Topping the list is the place from which humanity left for the Moon. NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, on Merritt Island, has been the launch site for America’s human spaceflight program since the 1960s, including every Apollo Moon mission and the Space Shuttle.
The Visitor Complex lets you stand beneath a genuine Saturn V rocket, walk through the Space Shuttle Atlantis exhibit, and watch live launches from a front-row seat on the Space Coast. For anyone moved by the history of exploration, there is no better place to end a tour of Florida.
More Things To Do In Florida
Florida rewards travelers who go deeper. If you are building an itinerary, here are a few ways to keep exploring:
- Go deeper on the state’s heritage with our guide to historic sites in Florida.
- Plan a road trip with our roundups of the best East Coast national parks and the parks of neighboring South Carolina.
- See how Florida’s parks stack up nationally with our guides to the most visited national parks, the least visited national parks, and every park ranked.
However you build your trip, give Florida the time it deserves. These 25 landmarks are a strong start, and each one connects to a larger chapter in the long and layered story of the Sunshine State.
