10 Florida Towns Erased From the Map (You Can Still Visit No. 1)

In 1841, St. Joseph was one of the biggest towns in Florida. A few years later, yellow fever and a hurricane had almost wiped it off the map. Florida has more than 21 million people today, and it feels like a place that only grows. But under the highways, the palm trees and even the Kennedy Space Center, there are towns that were swept away by storms, killed by a freeze, burned down, shut down by the army or bought out for the Moon race. In this video, we count down 10 Florida towns that were erased from the map, from a Gulf island where houses floated to the mainland after a 1896 hurricane to a Black town in Levy County that was destroyed in 1923. Along the way: a lumber town with a mansion that burned, a citrus village killed by two freezes, a fort town on a key off Tampa Bay, three communities bought up for the space program, a county seat attacked at 2 a.m., and a fort of free Black settlers that was blown up in 1816. For every town, we look at what happened, what is left today, and how you can go and see it. Number 1 is a place you can still visit. Which of these towns was closest to where you live? Have you visited any of them? Tell us in the comments. #florida #floridahistory #losttowns #ghosttowns #abandonedplaces #forgottenhistory #rosewood