North Central Florida

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Map of the counties in North Central Florida. North Central Florida.png
Map of the counties in North Central Florida.

North Central Florida is a region of the U.S. state of Florida which comprises the north-central part of the state and encompasses the North Florida counties of Alachua, Marion, Putnam, Bradford, Columbia, Dixie, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Lafayette, Levy, Madison, Suwannee, Taylor, and Union. [1] The region's largest city is Gainesville, home of the University of Florida and center of the Gainesville metropolitan area, which is the largest metro area of the region. As of 2020, the region had a population of 575,622 people. [2]

Contents

Like the rest of North Florida, [3] including the Florida Panhandle, the region is recognized as part of the Deep South, as compared to the southern regions of the state. [4]

Map of the counties in the Gainesville Metropolitan Area, the population center of North Central Florida. Gainesville Metropolitan Area.png
Map of the counties in the Gainesville Metropolitan Area, the population center of North Central Florida.

The landscape and climate of North Central Florida are distinct from the sub-tropical environment most associated with the rest of the state. The landscape of North Central Florida has gently rolling hills dominated by magnolia trees and large Southern live oak hammocks draped with Spanish moss. The region also has large expanses of pine forests. The climate is mild throughout the year but often has winters with temperatures dropping below freezing.

Cities and towns

Economy

As of 2016, the region had Florida's largest concentration of 18 to 44-year-olds and people with advanced degrees thanks to the presence of the University of Florida and Santa Fe College in Gainesville. [5]

The City of Alachua is home to one of the State's largest bio and life science corporate sectors. [6]

Overall, education and healthcare are the leading employers in the region as several major hospitals are located in Gainesville such as the UF Health Shands Hospital, HCA Florida North Florida Hospital, and the Malcolm Randall Veterans Affairs Medical Center. [5]

Tourism is central to communities such as Cedar Key, White Springs, and Micanopy.

Leading employers as of 2016 are: [5]

CorporationIndustryNumber of Employees
1University of FloridaEducation27567
2UF Health Shands SystemHealthcare12705
3Veterans Affairs Medical CenterHealthcare6127
4Alachua County School BoardPublic Education3904
5City of GainesvilleCity Government2072
6HCA Florida North Florida HospitalHealthcare2000
7Gator Dining ServicesFood Service1200
8Nationwide Insurance CompanyInsurance960
9Alachua CountyGovernment809
10Publix SupermarketsGrocery780
11Santa Fe CollegeEducation750
12Wal-Mart Distribution CenterGrocery738
13Dollar General Distribution CenterRetail600
14RTI SurgicalOrthopedic/Cardio Implants518
15Wal-Mart StoresGrocery312
Total60524

Education

The following institutions of higher education are located within North Central Florida:

Culture

North Central Florida is world-renowned for its fresh water springs and rivers which make it one of the best cave diving regions in the world. [7] Several of the springs are connected to the Suwannee and Santa Fe River systems, some of the more popular being:

There are a large number of nature parks and cultural centers throughout the area such as:

Florida pioneer life in the 1800s is the focus at both Morningside Nature Center and Dudley Farm Historic State Park. There are several small, turn-of-the-century towns that represent the culture of the Deep South and are geared toward tourists:

Several museums of note spanning topics such as local and natural history, science, and art are:

Gainesville is home to notable performing arts venues like the Curtis M. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, University Auditorium, Constans Theater, and The Hippodrome Theater. The Gainesville Orchestra has been performing regularly since 1983.

The most popular sporting events are the major sports associated with the University of Florida in Gainesville, including Florida Gator Football, Basketball, and Baseball. Gatornationals is one of the most important annual drag races for the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA).

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alachua County, Florida</span> County in Florida, United States

Alachua County is a county in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 278,468. The county seat is Gainesville, the home of the University of Florida since 1906, when the campus opened with 106 students.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Levy County, Florida</span> County in Florida, United States

Levy County is a county located on the Gulf coast in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 42,915. Its county seat is Bronson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alachua, Florida</span> City in Florida, United States

Alachua is the second-largest city in Alachua County, Florida and the third-largest in North Central Florida. According to the 2020 census, the city's population was 10,574. The city is part of the Gainesville metropolitan area, which had a population of 339,247 in 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gainesville, Florida</span> City in Florida, United States

Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, and the largest city in North Central Florida, with a population of 141,085 in 2020. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, which had a population of 339,247 in 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Micanopy, Florida</span> Town in the state of Florida, United States

Micanopy is a town in Alachua County, Florida, United States, located south of Gainesville. The population as of the 2010 census was 600. The oldest community in the interior of Florida that has been continually inhabited, it has a downtown that is designated as the Micanopy Historic District and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It contains a number of antique stores, as well as several restaurants, a library, firehouse, and post office. The town's unofficial slogan is "The Town that Time Forgot."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chiefland, Florida</span> City in Florida, United States

Chiefland is a city in Levy County, Florida, United States. The population was 2,316 at the 2020 census. Chiefland calls itself the "Gem of the Suwannee Valley" and was incorporated in 1929.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">U.S. Route 129</span>

U.S. Route 129 (US 129) is an auxiliary route of US 29, which it intersects in Athens, Georgia. US 129 currently runs for 582 miles (937 km) from an intersection with US 19/US 27 ALT/US 98 in Chiefland, Florida, to an interchange with Interstate 40 (I-40) in Knoxville, Tennessee. It passes through the states of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. It goes through the cities of Macon, Athens, Gainesville, and Knoxville.

The Atlantic, Suwannee River and Gulf Railroad Company was a railroad that ran westward from Starke, Florida, eventually terminating at Wannee, Florida, on the Suwannee River. It was later absorbed by the Seaboard Air Line Railroad becoming their Wannee Subdivision.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park</span> Protected ecological system in Florida

Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park is a Florida State Park, encompassing a 21,000-acre (85 km2) savanna in Alachua County, Florida lying between Micanopy and Gainesville. It is also a U.S. National Natural Landmark. It is crossed by both I-75 and U.S. 441. It is in the center of the Paynes Prairie Basin. The basin's primary source of drainage is Alachua Sink. During occasional wet periods, the basin will become full. A notable period occurred from 1871 to 1891 when the Alachua Sink was temporarily blocked. During this period, shallow draft steamboats were a frequent sight on Alachua Lake in the center of the prairie. The region was also historically known as the Alachua Savannah. Its drainage has been modified by several canals. Since 1927, Camps Canal has linked the basin to the River Styx which leads to Orange Lake and eventually the Atlantic Ocean through the St. Johns River. That reduced the basins water intake by half. Additional changes to the prairie's environment have been detrimental to its hydrology. In 1970, the state of Florida acquired the land and has been in the process of restoring the environment to a more natural condition ever since.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Florida State Road 25</span> Highway in Florida

State Road 25 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Florida. It is mainly signed as U.S. Highways:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newnansville, Florida</span> United States historic place

Newnansville, Florida was one of the first American settlements in the interior of Florida. It became the second county seat of Alachua County in 1828, and one of the central locations for activity during the Second Seminole War, during which time it was one of the largest cities in the State. In the 1850s, the Florida Railroad bypassed Newnansville, resulting in the county seat being moved to the new town of Gainesville in 1854. Consequently, Newnansville began to decline, and when a second railway bypassed the town in 1884, most of its residents relocated and formed the new City of Alachua. By 1900, Newnansville was deserted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Big Bend (Florida)</span> Region of the state Florida, United States

The Big Bend of Florida, United States, is an informally-named geographic region of North Florida where the Florida Panhandle transitions to the Florida Peninsula south and east of Tallahassee. The region is known for its vast woodlands and marshlands and its low population density relative to much of the state. The area is home to the largest single spring in the United States, the Alapaha Rise, and the longest surveyed underwater cave in the United States, the 32-mile (51 km) Wakulla-Leon Sinks cave system.

The following is an alphabetical list of articles related to the U.S. state of Florida.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bellamy Road</span> Improved 19th century road in Florida, USA

The Bellamy Road was the first major U.S. federal highway in early territorial Florida.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Florida</span> Region in Florida

North Florida is a region of the U.S. state of Florida comprising the northernmost part of the state. Along with South Florida and Central Florida, it is one of Florida's three most common "directional" regions. It includes Jacksonville and nearby localities in Northeast Florida, an interior region known as North Central Florida, and the Florida Panhandle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nature Coast State Trail</span>

The Nature Coast State Trail (NCST) is a 31.7-mile long segment of Florida's Statewide System of Greenways and Trails System built along abandoned railroad tracks, and designated by the U.S. Department of the Interior as a National Recreation Trail. It has two primary sections following unused rail lines that were originally built by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. It includes historic sites such as a 1902 train trestle bridge over the Suwannee River near Old Town and train stations in Trenton, Cross City, and Chiefland. At Wilcox Junction abandoned rail tracks cross and connect with several communities. The trail is available to hikers, cyclists, and horse riders.

The Suwannee Valley culture is defined as a Late Woodland Southeast period archaeological culture in north Florida, dating from around 750 to European contact. The core area of the culture was found in an area roughly corresponding to present-day Suwannee and southern and central Columbia counties. It was preceded by the McKeithen Weeden Island culture and followed by the Spanish mission period Leon-Jefferson culture.

The East Florida Seminary was an institution of higher learning established by the State of Florida in 1853, and absorbed into the newly established University of Florida in 1905. The school operated in Ocala from 1853 until 1861. After being closed during the Civil War, the school re-opened in Gainesville, Florida in 1866.

The Tampa and Jacksonville Railway was a railroad in North Central Florida in the first half of the 20th century, with a length of 56 miles (90 km) at its greatest extent. It operated under several names in the half century of its existence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Historic communities of Alachua County</span> Aspect of history

The historic communities of Alachua County were populated places and/or places with a post office that were established in the 19th century or early 20th century in what is now Alachua County, Florida, but which were abandoned, annexed into an incorporated municipality, or had a much reduced population by the later part of the 20th century.

References

  1. "North Central Florida Regional Planning Council". www.ncfrpc.org. Retrieved 2022-07-21.
  2. "Explore Census Data". data.census.gov. Retrieved 2022-10-19.
  3. "Deep South". The Free Dictionary. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
  4. "Gainesville Florida Population and Demographics Resources", Retrieved 2011-06-30
  5. 1 2 3 "Economic Development". Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved 2022-10-25.
  6. "Florida's Life Sciences and Health Industry". Enterprise Florida. Retrieved 2022-10-25.
  7. "A Guide To Florida Springs Diving | Scuba Diver Mag". www.scubadivermag.com. 2021-02-19. Retrieved 2022-10-25.