Payne's Prairie: A History of the Great Savanna

by Lars Andersen, Lars Anderson

This new paperback edition of Paynes Prairie still offers the sweeping history of the shallow-bowl basin in the middle of Florida, just south of Gainesville, but now adds a guide to outdoor activities that can be enjoyed in the state preserve there today, along with maps of trails for biking, hiking, and canoeing.

156 pages, Hardcover

First published March 3, 2001

About the author

Lars Andersen is a sports author, nutritional researcher and fitness enthusiast. In his spare time he participates in competitive running, swimming and cycling events and enjoys hiking with his two border collies.

Reviews

[LP · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a quick, easy, excellent read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is a perfect read for those wondering why Highway 441 is now closed due to flooding in both directions. The history of the Payne's Prairie fluctuations over time and the ensuing cultural impacts are fascinating and this is a great perspective.
It will be very interesting to see how the DOT addresses this issue as it seems that flooding is bound to increase due to climate change.

By the way, I picked this book up at The Pearl. They have an excellent selection of FL natural history books!

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

How fortuitous! I recently finished reading "The Other War of 1812" - a history about the Patriot War in NE Florida. I started reading this because I had recently visited Payne's Prairie and thought it would be more about the ecology of the prairie and an insight into allllllll the alligators. It has a lot more -- including several chapters about the Patriot War and subsequent Seminole Wars from the point of view of the Native Americans in the Payne's Prairie region! This book dovetailed perfectly into my recent historical interests.

This is a very easy read. While it has a satisfactory bibliography, there are no citations that link the information in the text to the source. So for the bits that I found especially interesting, I have no way of figuring out where the info came from for further research. A bit frustrating.