Florida Cracker Architecture

Link to Wikipedia Detail on Florida Cracker Architecture

Florida Cracker Style House

A Florida native, I can proudly say that I grew up in a couple very simple "cracker" style houses in Daytona Beach. One of which I can recall had the center hallway down through to the back of the house with a back door right out onto the covered back porch. Another thing I can recall about the interior was that it had been painted in bright turquoise and lavender...probably not a true cracker house interior but we did live in the home in the 1960's so that might explain things a bit. Developers around the state still today are constructing homes and communities that are influenced at some level by the "Florida Cracker" style. Not to be confused by the "Key West" style of architecture which often times has similar elements but sometimes built on a larger and grander scale with their far more elaborate trim and all painted up in a colorful style all their own using a pastel color scheme. A more vintage modest Florida Cracker style home can still be spotted throughout the earlier established downtown areas and all throughout Florida's rich cattle farming regions. True Florida Cracker homes have characteristic identifying details from the homes smaller footprint, wood frame on pier construction, large front porch, metal roof, to the interior "dog run" or "shotgun" designed center hallway. It's these historical looking details when paired with the living conveniences that we've become accustomed to that help to make a Florida Cracker style house a modern home for today. There are a several homes in the area that are open to the public. Some have been designated as historical landmarks.

An easy scenic afternoon drive out through beautiful cattle grazing farmland and orange groves where you can see many Florida Cracker homes along the way.
The town of Arcadia especially, has a nice selection of homes to see in their historical downtown district. If time permits, Arcadia is a great antiquing spot and a topic for another blog post.