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Travails and Triumphs: 500 Years of Black history in the Tampa Bay area.
Travails and Triumphs
Discover 12,000 years of history at the heart of Tampa.
Experience sailing the high seas in the History Center's Treasure Seekers gallery.
Immerse yourself in the story of Cigar City.
Walk through Cigar City at the Tampa Bay History Center.
Journey to new depths off the coast of La Florida.
A look inside "The Pirate's Fate," an immersive experience you'll find only in the History Center's Treasure Seekers gallery.

What’s happening at the museum right now.

Forest Hills Country Club in Tampa, Fla.
Blog

Tampa’s overlooked boom-time neighborhood

Nestled among sprawling oaks and curved roads with names like Fairway, Fore, and Bogie lies an interesting neighborhood whose homes, judging by their general sizes and ages, belie the area’s 

History you
can touch.

Illustration of hands holding the globe.

Treasure Seekers

There’s more than meets the aye at this exhibit on conquistadors, pirates and shipwrecks. All aboard -- or walk the plank.
Illustration of a magnifying glass.

A Place of Your Own

Experience Tampa’s port industries from inside an actual cargo container. Test your knowledge of Florida’s natural resources. Play with regional history in a whole new way.
Sextant in Treasure Seekers Gallery at the Tampa Bay History Center
Students explore the galleries of the Tampa Bay History Center

Dig through
our archives.

illustration of a treasure map.

Touchton Map Library

Navigate more than 8,000 maps, charts and logs from the early exploration of Europe and North America.
Illustration of a stack of books.

Witt Research Center

View nearly 10,000 books, manuals, maps, documents, microfilm, and family/subject papers spanning prehistoric to present-day Florida.
Tony Jannus and the Benoist Airboat, Opening St. Petersburg-Tampa AirBoat Line, January 1, 1914
Collections archive storage at the Tampa Bay History Center
Columbia Cafe Cuban Sandwich
Cafe

Modern flavor.
Historic taste.

Resting on the Tampa Riverwalk inside the Tampa Bay History Center, this charming cafe captures the flavor of the original Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City. We offer a sampling of the Spanish- and Cuban-inspired dishes that made the 116-year-old restaurant famous.