Featured Listings
Canoe Outpost - Peace River
Canoe Outpost is the oldest and largest outfitter in Florida. Florida Monthly Magazine named it “Best Place to Canoe” in the state. So get ready for the ultimate canoe or kayak experience on the scenic Peace River. The canoes are premium quality, 17-foot Grumman aluminum boats. The kayaks are from top manufacturers like Emotion, Perception and Old Town. All camping gear is from Coleman – and all camping gear, boats, safety devices, even the paddles are washed before every use. You can rent canoes, kayaks, tents and sleeping bags, propane lamps and stoves, coolers and camp boxes. Canoe Outpost has everything you need to provide an extraordinary adventure on the river.
View towering cypress trees with hanging moss. Watch birds soar and flit through the trees. Relax to the sounds of rippling water. Feel the thrill of finding a million year old mastodon tooth. This is Old Florida at its best. Like to fish? Bring your pole and try your hand at catching fresh water fish like bream and bass, or saltwater species like mullet, snook and tarpon. The spectacular Oak Hill site offers 150 private acres of Florida wildnerness with picnicing, camping and hiking trails. Canoe Outpost is open seven days a week and closed on Christmas Day. You can choose outings from half- or full-days to overnight and multiple day adventures. Kids and pets are welcome.
Peace River Charters, LLC
Enjoy a REAL airboat experience! You’ll meet Captain Zac, an experienced airboat captain and knowledgeable tour guide on the Peace River. Peace River Charters, LLC caters to their clients by offering a family-oriented airboat rides!
Peace River Florida
Located in Southwest Florida the Peace River is one of Florida’s best-kept secrets. With shallow waters in the dry season and swamps lands in the rainy season, the Peace River is a truly unique and ever-changing experience for an airboat ride. Take a trip down the river and weave and wind through an amazing scenic landscape covered with huge cypress trees and water oaks draped with Spanish moss. Wildlife on the Peace River is plentiful with over 400 various species such as bird, salt/freshwater fish, mammals and reptiles which includes: Roseate Spoonbill, white-tail deer, bald eagle, and the Florida alligator. There is more to the river than just nature, you can also get a little taste of history. During your airboat tour, you can get a glimpse of mining structures built in the late 1800s.
Captain Zac being an airboat enthusiast takes special pride in his vessels. If you desire to take a real ride here is the place to do it, their boats are built for performance and pleasure!
City of Arcadia
The City of Arcadia is the county seat for DeSoto County. It is centrally located between Orlando, Ft. Myers; Sarasota and Lake Okeechobee at the crossroads of US 17 and State Route 70.
Arcadia is famous throughout Florida for its historic downtown antique district. Additionally, on the fourth Saturday of each month, vendors from surrounding locations take over our streets with even more wares and precious finds. Tucked between the shops, you'll have the chance to enjoy cafés, home cooking, a tea room and even an old fashion ice cream parlor, complete with homemade delicious flavors, sundaes and shakes.
Car shows, Oak Street Market, festivals, parades, and special events take place throughout the year.
Click Here to take the Historic Walking Tour of Downtown Arcadia.
We invite you to visit Arcadia
the best small town in Florida!
Ingraham House Museum/Melton Historical Research Library
Operated by the DeSoto County Historical Society, the Howard and Velma Melton Historical Research Library is open in the John Morgan Ingraham Seed House, 120 W. Whidden Street, Arcadia, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Thursdays (except the second Thursday of the month) and from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the second and fourth Saturday of the month.
The Research Library includes historic photographs, newspaper articles, letters, receipts, family histories, and many other documents.
Open to the public is the adjacent John Morgan Ingraham House Museum, 300 N. Monroe Avenue, Arcadia.
This restored, late 19th century home is a memorial to all early pioneer families of the City of Arcadia and DeSoto County. It showcases a simple kind of “Florida Cracker” architecture and lifestyle and includes furniture and artifacts from that period.
The DeSoto County Historical Society, Inc. is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 corporation dedicated to preserving and promoting the history of DeSoto County, Florida for future generations.
Educational Field Trips
FIELD TRIPS to the John Morgan Ingram House and Seed House
The DeSoto County Historical Society welcomes teachers to bring their students for a “field trip to the past!"
The Society provides hands-on activities for the students so that they may “learn by doing.” For example, they may experience washing clothes using a scrub board, bar of laundry soap, and wash tubs. Or, they may learn how to write using a pen dipped in a bottle of ink or type their name on a manual typewriter.
The Society will ask the teacher to divide the class into groups of 4 or 5 students, and the small groups will rotate through the activities, so that each student will have an opportunity to do each hands-on activity.
The activities can be tailored to fit with the class’s curriculum. For example, a class studying geometrical shapes may have an activity that invites students to make their own quilt square pattern using geometrical shapes.
Middle-school and high-school students will also enjoy hands-on activities that are the same tasks but designed to be more complex. For example, instead of simply learning to use a pen dipped in ink, the students will use that skill as if they were a U.S. Census taker in 1920, the same year as Mrs. Ingraham completed the federal census for West Arcadia.
To schedule a field trip, please contact Carol Mahler at 863-445-0789 or online at HistoricDesoto.org/museum/.
Curious to know more? Click here to enjoy a mobile-friendly, online, self-guided tour of Historic Downtown Arcadia.
Fossil Recovery Exploration
Fossil Recovery Exploration
For every level of adventure.
Swamp buggy rides, airboat rides, fossil hunting and even a camping option.
Air boat and swamp buggy trips and fossil hunting in DeSoto County. Choose a 4, 5, 6 or 10-hour fossil hunting tour, or even a two-day experience with boat tours, camping and live blues music!
El Charro Authentic Mexican Restaurant
EL CHARRO AUTHENTIC MEXICAN RESTAURANT was awarded Desoto County's Best Mexican Restaurant in 2019 by the Peace River Shopper.
Mary Margaret’s Tea & Biscuit
Mary Margaret's Tea and Biscuit is conveniently located in the historic downtown district of Arcadia, Florida. Take a delightful step back in time; as it is decorated with the grandeur of the Victorian era. They offer a variety of soups, salads, sandwiches, and elegant desserts. Do not forget to try their tea selection, serving (the ever-popular) Earl Grey, Hibiscus, Chai, English Breakfast organic, and Lemon Lavender (the most popular!). For Dessert, the baker makes traditional English favorites such as; White Chocolate Bread Pudding with caramel and "clotted cream", Sticky Toffee Pudding, Chocolate Log with Raspberry filling, and of course, Scones with "clotted cream" and either Lemon Curd or Strawberry Jam.
Martin’s Country Market of Florida LLC