Dudley Farm Historic State Park

Dudley Farm near Gainesville is an early pioneer farm established before the Civil War. Currently it covers 325 of the original 640 acres that were operated by the Dudley family for three generations. An authentic working farm, the homestead consists of eighteen buildings. These are restored - NOT recreated - and include the family farmhouse with original furnishings, an 1880's kitchen outbuilding, a general store and post office, and a cane syrup complex. Park staff in period clothing perform daily chores, raising crops, and tending to livestock. The farm features seasonal cane grindings, corn shuckings, and heritage varieties of livestock and plants. Deer, wild turkeys, gopher tortoises, and bluebirds are still seen in the fields. Our hope is that it will become not simply a static historic site, but rather a living laboratory where future Floridians can step back in time to feel what it is like to till the earth, plow a field, plant a crop, bring the harvest in, mark the changes of the seasons, and like the Dudleys, call a place home.