Alachua County is located in the North Central part of Florida, 50 miles from the Gulf of Mexico and 67 miles from the Atlantic Ocean. Our county encompasses 965 square miles and includes twelve municipalities. There are several areas in the county that are in the National Register of Historic Districts. We have an estimated year round population of 216,000 including 46,000 University of Florida students.

History

Gainesville, the county seat, was established in 1854 on land that was part of a grant that the King of Spain gave to Don Fernando Arredondo in 1817. The name "Alachua" is a Seminole word meaning, "jug," and the county probably takes its name from the sinkhole in Paynes Prairie. Micanopy, the second oldest town in Florida, was an Indian settlement when Desoto passed through here in 1539.

Arts, Sports, Recreation

Alachua County is home to eight theatres ranging from intimate community playhouses to the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts and the Hippodrome State Theatre. Live performances are scheduled throughout the year. We also have 19 museums and galleries. Each year we look forward to the Downtown Arts Festivals in spring and fall and the Hoggetown Medieval Faire. Throughout the county a variety of local festivals are held as well.

Of course you can enjoy the natural beauty of Florida year round, and there is plenty to do in Alachua County. You can visit the Devil's Millhopper State Geological Site, view the wildlife at the Paynes Prairie State Preserve, or bicycle/roller blade down the paved Hawthorne-to-Gainesville Rails-to-Trails.

The Ichetucknee River is one of the area's best tubing sites. There are opportunities for swimming, canoeing, snorkeling, cave diving, and camping at our many springs and parks. In addition to seven fine golf courses, tennis, racquetball, and bicycling are also very popular local sports.

Gainesville is home to the University of Florida, which is nationally recognized for its high academic standards. In 1996 the University of Florida Gators won the Football National Championship. Spectators also enjoy the other college sports of baseball, tennis, soccer, swimming, track and field, gymnastics and golf.

For photos of our area and more details about attractions, activities, and events, click here to visit the Alachua County Visitors and Convention Bureau website.

Located off Newberry Road with more than 160 shops and eateries, the Oaks Mall is the place to go. We also have unique shopping centers at Thornebrook Village, Creekside Mall, the Sun Center, and Haile Village.

Nightlife is unique in historic downtown Gainesville. Diverse restaurants, nightclubs and bars make their home in a small brick-lined area. You can enjoy fine dining, grab a cup of coffee or see an old movie. Making an entire evening come to life with dinner, a play and dancing is an experience waiting to happen in downtown Gainesville.

The University of Florida

A land-grant university with a distinguished record of developing Florida's agricultural industry through The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS), UF is among the nation's leading research universities. With more than 46,000 students, the University of Florida is one of the nation's largest universities. UF offers more than 100 undergraduate majors, while the Graduate School coordinates almost 200 graduate programs. The professional degree programs include dentistry, law, medicine, pharmacy, and veterinary medicine.

For more information you may contact the University of Florida Administration and Registrar's Office at 353-392-1361 or click here to visit the UF website.

Santa Fe Community College

Considered one of the nation's best community colleges, SFCC is a comprehensive community college providing quality educational programs and services for persons in Alachua and Bradford counties. Today more than 12,000 students take credit classes and an additional 20,000 take non-credit classes through the college's popular community education courses. Students may earn their Associate of Arts degree for transfer to a university or they may graduate from one of 50 technology and applied sciences programs, ready to begin careers.

For more information you may contact Santa Fe Community College at 352-395-5000 or click here to visit the SFCC website.

Alachua County School District

A diversity of educational programs and services along with an innovative approach to program development and implementation have made the Alachua County School District one of the most highly regarded public school systems in Florida. Alachua County public schools serve more than 30,000 students in 44 schools and centers. All schools are fully accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

For more information contact the School Board Administration at 352-955-7300 or click here to visit the district's website.

The Gainesville/Alachua County area has become the primary point for health care in the Southeastern United States. Featuring an extensive network of hospitals, clinics, physicians, and advanced medical training facilities, this area is one of the most comprehensive health service locations in the world.

North Florida Regional Medical Center

North Florida Regional is a 200-bed, full service medical and surgical acute care center offering comprehensive heart care, cancer care, women's health, senior care and orthopedic/neurosurgery and spine services. The center has more than 400 physicians on staff in 40 different specialties. This hospital is one of only nine in the country that has been selected as one of the "Top 100" hospitals in America for six years in an annual study of nearly 6,000 hospitals.

For more information, please click here to visit the North Florida Regional website

The University of Florida Health Science Center

The University of Florida Health Science Center is the most comprehensive academic health center in the Southeast and is nationally known for programs related to aging, cancer, brain and spine, diabetes, drug design, genetics and organ transplantation. Programs are being developed or expanded in the areas of cellular and molecular biology, children's health and women's health.

The Health Science Center encompasses the colleges of Dentistry, Health Professions, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy and Veterinary Medicine, as well as the flagship referral hospital, Shands at UF and the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital.

Closely affiliated with the Health Science Center is the regional clinical delivery network known as Shands HealthCare, which encompasses six acute care hospitals, two specialty hospitals, and 40 satellite clinics staffed by UF College of Medicine physicians on the UF campus and throughout North Central Florida. Additional academic and clinical affiliations extend from Miami to the Florida panhandle.

For more information, please click here to visit the Health Science Center website.

Veteran's Administration Medical Centers

Close to 600,000 military veterans now have access to quality health care services through the North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Health System, formed through the 1998 integration of VA medical centers in Gainesville and Lake City and their affiliated ambulatory care clinics. This integrated system is the nation's largest health care system for veterans.

Patient care services through the regional system are directed by 16 clinical service chiefs, all of whom hold faculty or adjunct faculty appointments at the University of Florida Health Science Center in Gainesville. The Malcolm Randall Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Gainesville, which serves as the administrative center for the region, is known for its outstanding programs related to cancer, diagnostic imaging, heart disease, mental health, speech and hearing, substance abuse, post-traumatic stress and memory disorders.

A comprehensive "center of excellence" in geriatric research, education and patient care is based at the VA Medical Center in Lake City. This system-wide program draws on existing geriatric programs from the VA hospitals in Gainesville and Lake City, the colleges of the UF Health Science Center and aging-related research programs based on the main campus of the university.

For more information click here to visit the VA website

Important Phone Numbers - (Area Code: 352)

Alachua County Locator Map

1. Bivens Arm Nature Park 2. Center for the Performing Arts 3. Devil's Millhopper State Geological Site 4. Florida Field at Ben Griffin Stadium 4. Florida Museum of Natural History 4. University of Florida 5. The Fred Bear Museum 6. Gainesville Raceway 7. Gainesville to Hawthorne Rail Trail 8. The Hippodrome State Theatre 9. Kanapaha Botanical Gardens 10. Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings State Historic Site 11. Matheson Historical Center 12. Morningside Nature Center 13. Oaks Mall 14. Paynes Prairie State Preserve 15. Poe Springs Park 15. Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art 16. San Felasco Hammock State Preserve 17. Santa Fe Community College Teaching Zoo 18. Stephen C. O'Connell Center 18. The Thomas Center 19. A Walk Through Time 20. Wildlife Museum 21. Micanopy Museum 22. Gainesville Regional Airport

Content taken from "Welcome to Gainesville & Alachua County Communities" Booklet