Gopher Racing Capital Hudson, Florida

Pasco County, Florida

Hudson

It called itself the gopher racing capital of the world, and nobody disputed it.

Hudson once proclaimed itself the gopher racing capital of the world.

Blinker Light at Old Dixie Highway & Clark Street; Hudson Beach
Blinker Light at Old Dixie Highway & Clark Street; Hudson Beach DanTD · CC BY-SA 3.0

What this place is

Why Hudson is here

Isaac Hudson moved his family into the uninhabited brush of coastal Pasco County in 1878 and let a post office run out of his house.

Lumber first: the Fivay Company cut timber here and shipped it by rail to Tampa. When Fivay failed in 1912 the town stalled, and the water took over - shrimping and fishing employed about half the working men from the 1930s through the 1950s.

Read the full story of Hudson →

  1. 1878Isaac Hudson arrives
  2. 1912Fivay Company fails
  3. 1930Fishing employs half the men
  4. 1950Canals dug for houses
Lumber to collapse to fishing to canals - four economies in seventy years.

Worth the trip

What to look for

  1. 01

    Robert J. Strickland Memorial Park, built in the 1960s and still the community's beach.

  2. 02

    The Port of Hudson neighbourhood, made in 1950 when W.L. Hendry and his sons dug inlets from the coast around Hudson Springs and used the fill to raise dry ground for houses.

Hotels, inns, rentals and campgrounds

Where to Stay

All 15 →

Restaurants, seafood, cafes and bars

Where to Eat

All 92 →

Parks, beaches, museums, tours and charters

Things to Do

All 48 →

Hudson on the record

Pictures of the place

Archive and Creative Commons photographs of Hudson. Nothing here is generated; every image is credited to the person who took it.

Aerial view of Hudson, Florida
Aerial view of Hudson, Florida Wknight94 talk · CC BY-SA 3.0
Aerial view of Hudson, Florida 2
Aerial view of Hudson, Florida 2 Wknight94 talk · CC BY-SA 3.0
Coney Island (Detail) Chart of the entrance of Hudson's River, from Sandy Hook to New York - with the banks, depths of water, sailing-marks, &ca
Coney Island (Detail) Chart of the entrance of Hudson's River, from Sandy Hook to New York - with the banks, depths of water, sailing-marks, &ca Scan by NYPL · Public domain
Hudson House in Crawfordville
Hudson House in Crawfordville The Bushranger · CC BY-SA 4.0

Public record

Hudson by the numbers

  • 10,873Residents (2023)
  • 17% Homes held for seasonal use
  • 155 Places in this guide

All published figures, with sources →