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For our drive from Brunswick, GA, to Navarre, FL, Florida’s state capital of Tallahassee provided a convenient halfway point.  We stopped off at Big Oak RV Park just off Interstate 10 on the north side of Tallahassee.

Our primary objective was to visit the capitol building.  The current capitol is a 22 story building that was constructed in the 1970s.  It is also referred to as the “New Capitol”.  When it was completed, the original plan was to demolish the “Old Capitol” but a preservation effort sprang forth and resulted in it being restored to its 1902 state.

The Old Capitol was completed in 1845.  Tallahassee had been selected as Florida’s capital in 1824 because it was midway between the state’s then largest cities of Pensacola and St. Augustine.  The Old Capitol was expanded first in 1902, then again in 1923, 1936 and 1947.  The 1902 version of the building was the list one in which all of Florida’s political business was conducted under one roof.

In the 1960’s, the conservative, north Florida politicians were being pushed to cede power to the greatly expanded central and south Florida which was then seriously underrepresented in the legislature.  A ballot measure allowed Floridians to vote on the location for the state capital and the result was to leave it in Tallahassee.  It was then that they began plans for the New Capitol.

Next stop:  Navarre, FL