[ferret111]

South Polk, Hardee, Desoto, Hendry, Glades, Okeechobee, parts of Highlands. I'm sure you can find them in interior Manatee and Sarasota Counties, too.

[StreetSmarts]

^^^ aka the "heartland" of FL.

[Rabflmom]

Originally Posted by FLAboy5

Is this actually true?

I was going to suggest my hometown Melbourne Florida.

So is Florida now associated with "crackers"?

The term Florida crackers actually refers to the cowboys on the cattle ranches here in Florida. Since you are from Melbourne I am sure you heard of the Duda ranch ( family actually gave land to county for the courthouse and developed the town of Viera on some of the ranch land here in Brevard county. There are also huge ranches that line Rt. 192 on the way to St. Cloud. Kissimmee still has its rodeos featuring local cowboys.

The term cracker is not what other Florida Natives want to be called. It actually is sort of a cut you down term unless you are a working cowboy. Florida Native is what is acceptable to all natives.

[StreetSmarts]

I like "cracker." FL native here.

[brinkofsunshine]

There's a line in my family that goes back generations in FL... in the 1800's they were crackers who eventually sold land (including Lake Eola) to Orlando- now that family lives in Winter Haven and surrounding areas in Polk County.

[kshe95girl]

Ocala has quite a few, Silver Springs, Dunellon, Macintosh, Orange Springs, Reddick....all the small towns in Marion County have quite a few.
There are quite a few ranches around here, just not sprawling enterprises like down south.
Despite what someone said here, no one that I know that is a native minds being called a "Cracker" one bit. My husband is proud to be one.

[SoFLGal]

To be honest, I'm not sure where you find the majority of the "Florida crackers". When I tell people I was born and raised here most people look at me like I have three heads. So, I'm guessing that I'm a rare breed.

The term Florida cracker was originally used by the early settlers and came from the sound of the cowboys cracking the whip on the cattle. This specific term was used to describe the early settlers that used the Florida Cracker Trail which runs from Bradenton (the town I was born in) to Fort Pierce.

The term is used as a proud or jocular self-description. Since the huge influx of new residents into Florida from the northern parts of the United States, and Latin America, in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, "Florida Cracker" is used informally by some Floridians to indicate that their family has lived there for many generations; and/or that they were born and raised in the state of Florida. It is considered a source of pride to be descended from "frontier people who did not just live but flourished in a time before air conditioning, mosquito repellent, and screens."

Now, your average "cracker" has somewhat of a derogatory connotation. Meaning an unsophisticated, uneducated white person.

I prefer to think of myself as the former and not the later

[qdogfball]

SOFLGAL has it right!

There is no place that has a majority of cracker folks.

My dad's families moved here in 1880's from Georgia and 1906 from Bogue sound NC.

Too bad they sold most of the land they raised cattle on in 1940's

I think that 100+ relatives have claim to about 30 acres now .. LOL

[StreetSmarts]

Originally Posted by kshe95girl

Ocala has quite a few, Silver Springs, Dunellon, Macintosh, Orange Springs, Reddick....all the small towns in Marion County have quite a few.
There are quite a few ranches around here, just not sprawling enterprises like down south.
Despite what someone said here, no one that I know that is a native minds being called a "Cracker" one bit. My husband is proud to be one.

Amen! Me too!

[Rabflmom]

Originally Posted by ComSense

Amen! Me too!

Do ya'll live in the middle of the state or on the coast? That might be the difference. Here on the coast in my group of friends it definitely just refers to the cowboys/ranchers. There is nothing derogatory about being a cracker if you really are one. Most of us aren't because we live in towns and cities and have never worked a ranch. People born here on the coast refer to each other as Natives-surfers maybe- or just Floridians.