Micanopy, Florida

Ancient live oaks hang over the city and provide the perfect perch for draping Spanish moss.

The stately Herlong Mansion Inn sparkles during the holidays. Now a 12-room inn, its original structure dates back to 1845, when it was built by one of the area’s earliest settlers.

Micanopy looks and feels like a snapshot of a different era. Its turn-of-the-century buildings, as well as cracker-style cottages and gargantuan live oaks have attracted Hollywood filmmakers looking for a ready-made Southern setting.

According to local accounts, Tom Petty, during his brief stay in Micanopy, lived on the second floor of the two-story, Cholokka Boulevard building on the left. Today, the first floor houses Delectable Collectables, an antique and cameo shop.

Riding under covered sidewalks, kids on bikes add to the town’s picturesque appeal.

Standing at the T-end of Cholokka Boulevard, the Stewart-Merry House, one of Micanopy’s oldest and prettiest homes, began as a two-room log cabin in 1855. The determined efforts of local residents and businesspeople have saved many of the town’s old homes and other buildings, as well as Micanopy’s Old Florida feel.

At Mosswood Farm Store, you can pick up a vintage apron or pair of recycled overalls for as little as $10. Seen here, from left to right are Conner Lassiter, Jessica Piazza, Emily Piazza, and Joseph Pierce. Molly, the lab, models the Santa cap.

O. Brisky Books on Cholokka Boulevard offers one of the best selections of books―new and used―about Florida. Owner O.J. Brisky, seen here, also runs a small publishing company that specializes in books about local subjects.

The old two-room Micanopy jail still stands on the southwest side of town.

Built in 1873, the building that now houses the Episcopal Church of the Mediator sports a renovated steeple, refurbished just last year.

Steve Leonardo sells collectable stringed instruments at Leonardo’s on Cholokka Boulevard. The building in which the store is located served as the butcher shop in the movie Doc Hollywood with Michael J. Fox and as the backdrop for Jeff Foxworthy’s Blue Collar Comedy Tour.

Looking more like African savanna than North Florida, the area within the 21,000-acre Paynes Prairie Preserve, a state park just north of Micanopy, is a topographical oddity created when several giant sinkholes formed in prehistoric times. Occasionally one of those holes, the Alachua Sink, floods to form a temporary lake in the park.

Paynes Prairie is home to a variety of wildlife, including bald eagles, bison, and alligators, seen here.

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