Longwood, FL

Longwood is a city of about 15,000 people in Seminole County, along Interstate 4 north of Orlando. Founded in 1878, it keeps a small historic district near its SunRail station, and it is home to Big Tree Park, one of the most memorable short nature stops in Central Florida.

Things to do in Longwood

Big Tree Park, run by Seminole County inside the 1,500-acre Spring Hammock Preserve, has a boardwalk through the swamp to Lady Liberty, a bald cypress roughly 2,000 years old and nearly 90 feet tall. Nearby are the remains of The Senator, a cypress estimated at 3,500 years old that was destroyed by arson in 2012. In town, the Longwood Historic District, on the National Register since 1990, includes the Bradlee-McIntyre House, an 1885 Queen Anne cottage open as a museum on Wednesday and Sunday afternoons; the Longwood Village Inn, a 1920s hotel that appeared in the 1965 film Johnny Tiger; and the Inside-Outside House, a prefabricated home shipped from New England in 1873. Reiter Park hosts community events.

Getting to Longwood

I-4 runs along the western city limits with an exit at State Road 434, which crosses town east to US 17-92. Orlando Sanford International (SFB) is about 20 minutes away and Orlando International (MCO) about 35 minutes. SunRail stops at the Longwood station, with plenty of parking near the historic district, making a weekday visit by train easy. The cooler months are the most comfortable for the Big Tree Park boardwalk, where mosquitoes are thick in summer.