Micanopy Map
Micanopy is a town in Alachua County, Florida, United States. It is south of Gainesville. The population in the 2000 census was 653. As of 2004, the population according to the U.S. Census Bureau was 652. The old town of Micanopy is a historic district, and contains a number of antique stores, as well as a large used book store and a couple of restaurants.
Micanopy was the first distinct United States town in Florida, with settlement beginning after Spain ceded the Florida territory in 1821. When explorer and naturalist William Bartram visited in 1774, it was the site of a Seminole village called Cuscowilla. Bartram's favorable writings about this fertile area influenced future generations of settlers. Named after a Seminole chief, the territorial town of Micanopy was built under the auspices of the Florida Association of New York (the earliest Florida development corporation, headquartered in New York City). Both Fort Defiance (1835–1836) and Fort Micanopy (1837–1843) were located here during the Second Seminole War. Some of the bloodiest battles of that war took place along the road southwest from Fort Micanopy to Fort Wacahoota, just inside modern Alachua County.
Micanopy's historic district was listed on National Register of Historic Places in 1983. One of the town's founders, Moses E. Levy, is the subject of an acclaimed biography—Moses Levy of Florida: Jewish Utopian and Antebellum Reformer (2005). Micanopy has been used as a location for several major motion pictures including Cross Creek (1983) and Doc Hollywood (1991). The home of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, where she wrote The Yearling and Cross Creek, is in nearby Cross Creek. The house is now a museum.
Nearby cities include Gainesville, Reddick, Hawthorne, Williston, Archer.
In Micanopy
Mosswood Farm Store Payne's Prairie Preserve Rest Area The Shop