Surrounded by the rising skyline of Florida's capital city but in no way dominated by it, the state's historic Old Capitol Building is one of the most beautiful landmarks in the South.
It is a little known fact that Tallahassee was a city created to serve as capital. When the United States took possession of Florida in 1821, the territory's two principal cities - Pensacola and St. Augustine - were separated by hundreds of miles of wilderness.
This situation was unacceptable to the early residents so a decision was reached to establish a new capital city half-way between the two old Spanish capitals. Dr. Henry Simmons set out from St. Augustine and John Lee Williams left Pensacola. They met in the middle and selected the present site of Tallahassee for the state's new seat of government.
Unfortunately, it was already a seat of government for Neamathla and his followers from the Creek and Seminole nations. The name Tallahassee, in fact, was taken from one of the Native American villages already located in the area. The word means "Old Fields" in the Hitchiti variant of the Creek language.
Despite his fierce resistance during the First Seminole War of 1817-1818, Neamathla agreed to let the whites have today's capitol site and a log cabin was built here to serve as the first capitol building in 1824.
Two years later construction was started on a two-story masonry building that was used but never completed.
On March 3, 1839, however, the U.S. Congress appropriated $20,000 to be used in building a permanent structure to house Florida's territorial government. Work began on the main part of the current structure that same year and it was completed in 1845, just before Florida was admitted to the Union as a state.
It was here on January 10, 1861, that Florida declared its secession from the Union. The building served as both a civil and military headquarters during the Civil War and was the military command post for the area at the time of the Battle of Natural Bridge on March 6, 1865. The last significant Confederate victory of the Civil War, the battle preserved Tallahassee's status as the only Southern capital east of the Mississippi not conquered by Union troops. The Old Capitol became a center for intense political debate during the Reconstruction era when Democrats and Republicans battled for control of the state.
Other controversies and debates followed, including one in the 1970s that threatened the historic building itself. The growth of the state and its government had prompted the construction of a new 22-story capitol to the rear of the old structure.
Many of the state's leaders considered the Old Capitol an eyesore blocking the view of the modern structure and pushed for its demolition. The people of the state rose up, however, in a massive preservation effort and Florida's historic Old Capitol was saved.
Today it houses exhibits on the government and political history of Florida, including displays of artifacts and photographs from the huge year 2000 election controversy in Florida. The building is open daily at no charge. Hours are 9-4:30, Monday throughFriday; 10-4:30 Saturdays and Noon-4:30 Sundays.
To claim this virtual, please attach a photo of a personal item (Examples include a trackable or a piece of paper with the geocacher’s username) with the Old Capital in the background from the coordinates above in your log. If the photo is not in your log, your log will be deleted. Parking is available, but it may be hard to find a space during work hours.
Virtual Rewards 4.0 - 2024-2025
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between January 17, 2024 and January 17, 2025. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 4.0 on the Geocaching Blog.