Ever since the Spanish colonization in the 16th century, the focus of activity along the Gulf Coast has been around Tampa Bay, the large inlet in Florida’s west coast. The bay was a perfect natural port and became a magnet to pioneers. After the Civil War, the Gulf Coast became a significant center for trade between the US and the Caribbean. This was due in part to Henry Plant, whose rail line from Virginia, laid in the 1880s, helped to fuel both Tampa’s and the region’s greatest period of prosperity. Pioneers flooded in from all nations and backgrounds, from the Greek sponge fishermen who settled in Tarpon Springs to the circus king John Ringling.

Henry Plant used the promise of winter sunshine to lure wealthy travelers to the Gulf Coast, and the much-advertised average of 361 days of sunshine a year still helps to attract great hordes of tourists to the generous miles of white-sand beaches bathed by the warm, calm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. However, with only a little effort, visitors can kick the sand from their shoes and visit some of Florida’s most interesting cities, or explore wilderness areas that have been left virtually untouched by time.