DUDLEY FARM
HISTORIC STATE PARK

By  Mike Miller November 22, 2025

Dudley Farm Historic State Park covers 325 acres near Newberry, Florida. It preserves a complete late-19th to mid-20th-century Florida Cracker farmstead.

The site includes a two-story 1880s farmhouse, 18 outbuildings, and open fields. Visitors step back in time to a working farm with live animals, heirloom crops, and period interpreters.

It’s an authentic historical working farm rather than a re-created farmstead.

Philip Benjamin Harvey Dudley settled the land in 1859. He built the first log cabin that year. His son, P.B.H. Dudley Jr., expanded the farm after the Civil War and developed the farmstead you see today.

The family grew Sea Island cotton, corn, sugarcane, and pecans. They raised hogs and cattle. Family members and local carpenters constructed all structures using heart-pine lumber and hand-split shingles.

Three generations lived here until 1983. Myrtle Dudley, the last resident, left the farm untouched. She kept original furniture, tools, and even canned goods from the 1940s.

The state acquired the site in 1984. Miss Dudley lived at the farm until her death in January of 1996 at the age of 94. The park became a Florida State Park in 2001.

Eighteen original buildings built between the 1880s and 1940s still exist, including the restored 1880s family farmhouse with original furnishings, separate kitchen, general store, post office and cane syrup complex.

Staff and volunteers in period farm clothing perform chores, raise crops and tend to livestock like Cracker horses and cows, bronze turkeys, mules and heritage breed chickens.

The farmhouse and complex were added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 2004 for agriculture and vernacular architecture.

In 2021 it became a National Historic Landmark for illustrating the history of owner-operator farms in the south during the late 19th and 20th centuries.

The farm reflects self-sufficient Cracker culture and tells the story of the evolution of Florida farming from the 1850s to the 1940s.

The park is located at 18730 W. Newberry Road, Newberry, FL 32669. It's about 15 miles west of Gainesville via State Road 26.

Before you visit, download a guide and a podcast cellphone tour from the park's website.

The park and Visitor Center are open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, and closed Monday and Tuesday. The farmstead is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Parking is in the main lot by the visitor center.

A tram is available upon request to assist with transportation. You can walk the 0.3-mile loop trail past the cane mill, smokehouse, and barns.

See the farm animals and take a turn at farm chores like pumping water, watering plants and farm animals, or washing food.

Visitors can see the spring blooms at their peak from March through May. Heirloom roses, amaryllis, larkspur and coreopsis provide an explosion of color.

Guided tours are available; groups are limited to 40 people. Wear closed-toe shoes (it’s a farm!) and bring water. Restrooms and picnic tables are available.

Leashed pets are only allowed in the visitor center area, but not inside buildings or the historic homestead.

Check their website for special events like corn grinding, live music or the annual Cane Festival. The Friends of Dudley Farm website also has an event calendar for the Park.

Cane grinding and cane boiling takes place in the fall as they did when the Dudleys lived here. The farm market sells cane syrup, sugar cane stalks, honey, jams, fresh vegetables and crafts.

DUDLEY FARM HISTORIC STATE PARK WEBSITE

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