Hello Mrs. Soulier’s Fourth Grade Class!My name is Kelly and I’m Adventure Dog’s caretaker while he visits Florida! I took a picture of Adventure Dog relaxing by my pool drinking Florida's official state drink-- orange juice! He's also wearing my sunglasses, and so far he's having a great time! I'm really excited to share some interesting facts with you about Florida.
Florida is a unique state because it is a peninsula, which means it is almost completely surrounded by water. The Gulf of Mexico is on Florida’s west coast, and the Atlantic Ocean is on Florida’s east coast. Georgia and Alabama border Florida to the north.
The state reptile is the alligator, which is native only to America and China. At my school, the University of Miami, three alligators live in the big lake on campus. This means that no students are allowed to swim in the lake because it would be dangerous; alligators can easily out-swim and even out-run a human. Alligators live in many lakes and swamps in Florida, even in neighborhoods, because alligators are usually timid and scared of humans. There are signs in most neighborhoods that read, “Please do not feed the alligators.” This is because if humans feed the alligators, the alligators will get used to people and will no longer be afraid of us, and then they would become more likely to attack someone who accidentally got too close. Thankfully, alligator attacks remain very rare, and alligators have thrived despite being endangered. The alligator in the picture is one of the alligators that live in the lake at my school.
In addition to alligators, many other marine animals, like dolphins, manatees, and sharks, live in and around the state of Florida. When I visit the beach, I have to check with the lifeguard station to make sure there have been no shark sightings before I go into the water. If a shark has been seen swimming near the shore, the lifeguard puts out purple flags to warn everyone that dangerous marine life is in the water. If it’s safe to swim, the flags are green. If the weather is dangerous, the flags are red. This warning system is important because there are many tropical storms and hurricanes in Florida.
The state animal is the Florida Panther, which is currently one of the most endangered mammals on earth. Loss of habitat is the main culprit; because Florida’s population continues to grow every year, construction of cities and towns threatens wildlife, along with automobile collisions. Once on the verge of extinction, the Florida panther population is now around 100 felines. Awareness and public support for endangered species is key to ensuring that these animals won’t become extinct.
I live in Miami, which is the second largest city in Florida. A lot of people from Cuba immigrate to Florida, so there are a lot of people here who speak Spanish. In fact, the Miami Airport announces all flights in Spanish first, and then in English! Miami has a culture that is very heavily influenced by Cuban American music, art, literature, and food. There are a lot of restaurants where you can order Cuban food made by people who are really from Cuba! Some examples of Cuban food are Cuban pastries (pastries filled with guava fruit or meat) and arroz con pollo, pronounced “A-roz con poi-YO” (rice with chicken).
I like living in Florida because it is sub-tropical, so the weather is usually sunny and hot. I love to go to the beach on a sunny day to study and do my homework by the ocean! Many exotic plants and animals are native to Florida because of its climate, which is similar to the tropical climate found along the equator. Beautiful flowers like hibiscus grow here, as well as palm trees and banyan trees (the same trees that grow in Hawaii!). The summer is the wet season, which means it rains almost every day for a short period of time. During the summer months it will be sunny in the morning, and then in the afternoon it will suddenly start to rain for about half an hour, and then it will suddenly stop again and the sun will come right back out! The rain here is warm, and the droplets are really big and fat, so the short rain storms can be fun to watch. However, if it starts to thunder and lightning, it’s important that we go indoors for safety.
Tampa, my hometown, is the lightning capital of the world—more people are struck by lightning in Tampa than anywhere else on earth, which is why our hockey team is called the Tampa Bay Lightning. Tampa’s sports teams are becoming almost as famous as its lightning storms! A few years ago the Lightning won the Stanley Cup, which is the most important championship in hockey. The Tampa Bay football team, the Buccaneers, won the Super Bowl in 2002, and then the Tampa Bay baseball team, the Rays, played in the World Series this year, but we lost to Philadelphia. The Yankees even have a stadium in Tampa that they use during Spring Training, because the weather is so nice! Other Florida sports teams are also very famous, like the Miami Dolphins, who may play in the Super Bowl this year. The famous basketball player, Shaquille O’Neal, played with two Florida teams—the Orlando Magic and Miami Heat.
Florida also boasts the oldest continuously occupied European-established city in the continental United States, St. Augustine. St. Augustine was founded by Spanish conquistadors (conquerors) in 1565, almost fifty years before the first permanent English settlement in Jamestown, Virginia. The famous Spanish conquistador Ponce de Leon led the first European excursion into Florida while searching for the mythical Fountain of Youth. Ponce de Leon believed that the Fountain of Youth was in Florida, and that anyone who drank its water would become young again. While Ponce de Leon never discovered the magical fountain, St. Augustine has a national park called the Fountain of Youth National Archaeological Park, and tourists often drink from the fountain built there. Today there are rumors of a secret society in St. Augustine that protects the Fountain of Youth from discovery and whose members are said to be extraordinarily aged, yet still appear young.
Nearly two hundred years after St. Augustine was established, the city came under British rule following a treaty ending the French and Indian War. During the American Revolution, St. Augustine was still under British rule and therefore was a Loyalist colony, meaning it did not want the American colonies to separate from England. However, since the American colonies won the Revolutionary War, the British were forced to relinquish control of St. Augustine and the city fell back into Spanish hands in 1783. All of the territories North of Florida became U.S. territories, but since Spain had helped the American colonies win independence from the British, they were given control over Florida. However, years later, from 1808 to 1812, Spain needed to concentrate its efforts in Europe because the French Emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte, was invading. Florida was peacefully ceded to America and became a territory and then eventually a state in 1845.
During the Civil War, which began in 1861, Florida seceded from the Union and became part of the Southern Confederacy. However, a small contingent of loyal Union soldiers were able to take back St. Augustine and the city remained in Union hands until the war ended in 1865, upon which time Florida rejoined the United States. The sixteenth U.S. President, Abraham Lincoln, had succeeded in keeping the United States together, and ending slavery. However, the plight of Native Americans, such as the Seminole tribe in Florida, was still largely unacknowledged and ignored. Even today there are many injustices facing Native American communities who have had their land taken away from them by Spanish conquistadors and, later, by Americans. Of the many wars fought between the U.S. government and Native Americans, only one such war was won by Native Americans. The Florida Indian tribe, the Seminoles, was victorious in the Second Seminole War, also known as the Florida War.
The Florida War was the most expensive Indian war fought by the U.S., and lasted longer than any other war between the American Revolution and Vietnam. The peace treaty that followed the Florida War is also the only treaty with Native Americans that the U.S. government has not broken or betrayed. Unfortunately, all other promises Americans have made to the Native Americans have been broken, and today some efforts are being made to repatriate (which means “to return”) sacred objects and remains that were stolen from Indians by the U.S. government. Today the Seminole tribe has its own museum that documents the history of their tribe and European settlement in Florida, and many important cultural artifacts are being returned and featured in the museum. The Seminole museum is called the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum, which means "a place to learn."
Pictured here is a young Seminole girl wearing traditional garb.I hope you will enjoy the postcards I am sending in the mail and the pictures I post to your blog! I would love to answer any questions you may have about me or Florida. Adventure Dog and I look forward to telling you even more about my favorite state!
Love,
Kelly &
Adventure Dog
P.S. Here is a picture of me and a friend next to the Banyan tree! If you look closely you can see the many trunks of the tree, as well as roots hanging in the air dropping down to the ground below. This particular banyan tree's home is at my school, the University of Miami, in southern Florida.
FLORIDA FAST FACTS
Capital: Tallahassee
Date of Statehood: March 4, 1845
State Flower: Orange Blossom
State Tree: Sabal Palm
State Bird: Mockingbird
State Butterfly: Zebra Longwing
State Marine Animal: Manatee
State Saltwater Animal: Porpoise
State Motto: “In God We Trust”
State Gem: The Moonstone (In honor of Apollo 11 and the moon landing in 1969, which had launched out of Florida at Kennedy Space Center, pictured here)
State Beverage: Orange Juice
State Shell: The Horse Conch
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