Once you've experienced Florida's theme parks, big cities and beaches, try one or all of these off-the-beaten-path, historical, cultural, outdoorsy, and just plain weird roadside attractions.
NORTHWEST
Santa Rosa Beach
Coastal dune lakes
Topsail Hill Preserve State Park and all along the South Walton area beaches
Yes, these natural formations are exceedingly gorgeous—but you should also note that they’re exceedingly rare. In fact, these coastal dune lakes are so rare they are considered globally imperiled. You’ll find these lakes in only four other places in the world: New Zealand, Australia, Africa and the U.S. Pacific Northwestern. South Walton County has 15 coastal dune lakes, the largest concentration in the world. Bring or rent a kayak and a camera.
Apalachicola
The Gibson Inn and Avenue Sea
A beautiful, fully restored Victorian inn with all the charm of its era. Built in 1907, this historic inn features the award- winning Avenue Sea restaurant. Learn more about the inn and restaurant, as well as the surrounding areas, in the video about the Forgotten Coast of Florida, directly above here.
Carrabelle
World’s Smallest Police Station
Plagued by decades of prank phone calls—the dial was finally removed from the phone—the World’s Smallest Police Station in Carrabelle has been housed in a phone booth since the 1960s. This off-beat landmark has been featured on “Ripley’s Believe it or Not!” and “The Today Show,” but is no longer in use today.
Dwarf Cypress Forest at Tate’s Hell State Forest
A 19th century legend has it that local farmer Cebe Tate went in search of a panther that was killing his livestock. After wandering the forest for seven days and nights, Tate stumbled into a clearing near Carrabelle and proclaimed, “My name is Cebe Tate, and I just came from Hell!” Today, the cypress trees at Tate’s Hell may be under 18 feet tall, but they are fully grown—and over 150 years old—at their diminutive stature.
Fort Walton Beach
Indian Temple Mound Museum at The Heritage Park & Cultural Center
The Indian Temple Mound Museum in Fort Walton Beach reflects 12,000 years of spiritual, technological and artistic achievements of Florida's native peoples. The Indian mound itself measures 17 feet tall and 223 feet across its base. Excavations have unearthed artifacts about the area's native inhabitants.
Marianna
Florida Caverns State Park
Florida Caverns State Park in Marianna is one of the few state parks in the U.S. with dry (air-filled) caves and is the only Florida state park to offer cave tours to the public. The cave has dazzling formations of limestone stalactites, stalagmites, soda straws, flowstones and draperies. Native Americans used the caverns for shelter for thousands of years.
Niceville
Air Force Armament Museum
Elgin Air Force Base
Who says you can’t have fun for free? The Air Force Armament Museum houses Air Force aviation warfare armament from the early days of World War I right through to today’s high-tech planes and bombs – and it won’t cost you a dime. Bonus cool quotient: a vintage military aircraft including the fastest plane ever built, the SR-71 Blackbird.
Pensacola
National Naval Aviation Museum
A quintessential Pensacola experience, the National Naval Aviation Museum is the third- largest aviation museum in the world. Marvel at the 150 vintage aircraft, including the first plane to cross the Atlantic and the first to land on the South Pole. All Navy, Marine and Coast Guard aviators start their training in Pensacola, giving it the nickname “Cradle of Naval Aviation.” On most Tuesdays and Wednesday from March through November, look to the sky above Pensacola to see the Blue Angels training and performing awe-inspiring aerial maneuvers—a mere 18 inches apart.
The USS Oriskany
Offshore Pensacola
Twenty-four miles southeast of Pensacola Pass, the USS Oriskany is the latest "must dive" and the world's largest artificial reef (experienced divers only). The retired 911-foot aircraft carrier sits upright at 212 feet below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico. Divers from around the world have returned from the depths singing the praises of the "Mighty O," and CNN dubbed the wreck "The Great Carrier Reef." Contact various charters for diving.
University of West Florida Archaeology Institute
The University of West Florida Archaeology Institute presents artifacts from colonial, Early American, Victorian and Prehistoric Native American eras. Among the artifacts on display are a 300-year-old cannon from Presidio Santa Maria de Galve and the 450-year-old anchor from the Emmanuel Point shipwreck.
Wausau
The possum monument
This may well be Florida’s most quirky roadside attraction: the possum monument. This unusual monument pays tribute to the lowly possum (or opossum, as Northerners seem to prefer). The inscription on the monument says it all: “Erected in grateful recognition of the role the North American possum, a magnificent survivor of the marsupial family pre-dating the ages of the mastodon and the dinosaur has played in furnishing both food and fur for the early settlers and their successors. Their presence here has provided a source of nutritious and flavorful food in normal times and has been important aid to human survival in times of distress and critical need.” Come in August to attend the festival in honor of this marsupial.
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NORTH CENTRAL
Tallahassee
Mission San Luis
Visit the only reconstructed Spanish mission site in Florida. Meet the people of San Luis going about the tasks that sustained life in this 17th century Western capital of Spanish Florida. On site, you’ll also want to visit the Spanish fort and the Franciscan Mission Church. Then, check out the Apalachee Indian Council House, which could hold up to 3,000 people and is the largest-known historic-era Indian building in the Southeast U.S. Learn more about history in Tallahassee and get a view of the Mission in this informative video about the area.
Crawfordville
Wakulla Springs State Park
Site of one of the largest and deepest freshwater springs in the world, Wakulla Springs State Park offers daily guided riverboat tours in a glass-bottom boat (when the water is clear). Jumping from a two-tier tower into the cool spring water is a popular activity. A nature trail offers a leisurely walk along the wooded areas of the park. The Lodge was built in 1937 by financier Edward Ball and is open year round.
Cross Creek
Home of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings and The Yearling Restaurant
In the 1930s, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings lived and worked in the tiny community of Cross Creek. Her Cracker-style home and farm, where she lived for 25 years and wrote “The Yearling,” has been restored and preserved as a state park. After you’ve explored the Rawlings homestead, drive up the road to The Yearling Restaurant. With a screen door that mostly works and tin roof that pings when it rains, the restaurant features some good ole cracker cookin’: fried gator, fried okra, grits, greens and biscuits. Legendary blues artist Willie Green regularly provides the music.
Fanning Springs
Fanning Springs State Park and Huckleberry’s Bar-B-Que
Located on the Suwannee River, this inviting source of cool, clear water has attracted people for thousands of years. Fanning Springs produces an average of 65 million gallons of water daily, making it one of Florida’s 33 first magnitude springs. Across the street is Huckleberry’s Bar-B-Que. Friendly folks and great ‘que makes this a perennial favorite.
Fort White
Ichetucknee Springs State Park
If you want to go where the locals go, you'll head over to Ichetucknee Springs. Tubing the Ichetucknee is a rite of passage for many Floridians. Float down the crystalline Ichetucknee River in an innertube through shaded hammocks and Florida wildlife. You can dive, snorkel or swim at one of the springs, but tubing the river is the best way to go.
Gainesville
Butterfly Rainforest at Florida Museum of Natural History
Hundreds of exotic, vibrant butterflies flutter all around you in this screened vivarium housing subtropical and tropical plants and trees. There are live butterfly releases on Saturdays and Sundays. The Butterfly Rainforest is a unique detour if you’re in town for an event or a campus tour.
Monticello
The South’s most haunted town
Monticello is a beautiful small town in North Central Florida with loads of Southern charm by day... and ghostly spirits by night. Designated “The South’s Most Haunted Town” in October 2003 by ABC News, Monticello is still surrounded by the haunted hype. In fact, the Denham House was named one of the top places to get in bed with a ghost by “USA Today.” Ghost tours are provided on special dates throughout the year: www.monticellojeffersonfl.com/most-haunted
Monticello Opera House
Constructed in 1890, The Monticello Opera House narrowly escaped the wrecking ball in the 1970s and now serves as a center of community art and culture. Along with a colorful (and haunted) history, the opera house has modern-day activities including operas, a community chorus and a theatre group.
St. Marks
St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge
One of the first and largest National Wildlife Refuges, St. Marks is home to Florida’s second-oldest lighthouse and the gateway to the Northwest section of the Great Florida Birding Trail. In the fall and early winter, clouds of Monarch butterflies stop in the area during their migration to Mexico. An annual festival in October marks this natural event and offers fun and educational activities for visitors.
NORTHEAST
St. Augustine
Fort Mosé Historic State Park
15 Saratoga Boulevard
(904) 823-2232, www.floridastateparks.org/park/Fort-Mose
In 1738, the Spanish governor of Florida chartered Fort Mosé as a settlement for freed African Americans who fled slavery in the British Carolinas. Here is the site of the first recorded birth of a black child in Florida. It is the earliest known legally sanctioned free black community in the present United States. A boardwalk and visitors center guide visitors through this historic American site.
St. Augustine Lighthouse
81 Lighthouse Ave.
(904) 829-0745, www.staugustinelighthouse.com
The St. Augustine Lighthouse, with its distinctive black-and- white spiral and red top, is one of the most recognizable lighthouses in the country. At 165 feet tall, there are 219 steps to the observation deck. Can you count all 1.2 million bricks that make up this historic structure?
Jacksonville
Kingsley Plantation National Historic Site
At the northern tip of Fort George Island, east of Jacksonville off A1A
(904) 2513537, www.nps.gov/timu/historyculture
For 6,000 years, humans have made Fort George Island in present-day Jacksonville their home. Still visible today are giant mounds of oyster shells left by the Timucua Indians and their ancestors. The Kingsley Plantation sits on the northern end of the island, overlooking the Fort George River. Built in 1798 by the slaves of John McQueen, the house is the oldest planter’s residence still standing in Florida. The semi-circle of 25 tabby cabins (originally 32) just south of the house provides one of the most intact examples of slave life in the state.
Palatka
Angel’s Diner
209 Reid Street
(386) 325-3927
If you like old-time diners with old-time prices, Angel’s is it. Opened in 1932, this is the oldest diner in Florida. Picture the 1950s decor with Coca Cola memorabilia, old 45s on the walls, stools with red vinyl seats and black-and-white tiled flooring, all housed in a converted railroad train car. Catch the curb service and have your food delivered to your car. Don’t leave without trying their signature drink, the pusalow—chocolate milk mixed with vanilla syrup and poured over ice.
CENTRAL WEST
Tampa
TECO Line Streetcar System
Downtown, Channelside and Ybor City
(813) 254-HART (4278), www.tecolinestreetcar.org
Electric streetcars are back in Tampa, serving downtown, Channelside (a popular shopping, dining and entertainment area) and Ybor City. These street lines date back to the late 1800s, when workers took the streetcar downtown and to the cigar factories of west Tampa. The system is thankfully upgraded with air conditioning to keep riders cool.
Big Cat Rescue
12802 Easy Street
(813) 920-4130, www.bigcatrescue.org
Big Cat Rescue is a 45-acre wildlife sanctuary and home to 140 wild cats representing 16 species. All in one place, you can see lions, tigers, Geoffrey cats, servals, caracals, snow leopards, bobcats, lynx and more. These big cats were rescued from near death in some cases. Here’s your chance to see them up close. Bring a camera.
Tarpon Springs
Sponge-o-rama
510 Dodecanese Blvd.
(727) 943-2164, www.spongeorama.com
Boasting the world’s largest selection of natural sea sponges, this is the place to learn about the history of Tarpon Springs, the sponge docks and the sponge industry. Cruises down the Anclote River to the Gulf of Mexico are offered or you can use Tarpon Springs as a base for deep-sea fishing.
CENTRAL
Lake Wales
Circa 1876 Cow Camp at Lake Kissimmee State Park
14248 Camp Mack Road
(863) 696-1112, www.floridastateparks.org/park/Lake-Kissimmee
Visit a Florida cow camp from the year 1876, where you’ll find a cow hunter who is more than willing to talk about his life and times in a living history demonstration. View Florida scrub cattle, originally brought here by the Spanish in the 1500s. Re-enactments held on Saturdays and Sundays from Oct. 1 through May 1 or by appointment the rest of the year.
Bok Tower Gardens
1151 Tower Blvd.
(863) 676-1408, www.boksanctuary.org
The 205-foot Gothic and Art Deco Carillon Tower isn’t the only spectacle at this sanctuary. Concerts from the 60-bell carillon housed by the tower fill the air daily as you meander the garden designed by famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstead, Jr. There is an on-site café and the historic Pinewood Estate is available to tour.
Spook Hill
North Wales Drive
visitcentralflorida.org/featured/spook-hill/
Go ahead, defy the laws of gravity. At Spook Hill, you can experience the optical illusion of the family car rolling uphill while in neutral.
Belleview
America’s first land bridge
Crosses Interstate 75 south of Ocala, between Exit 67 (CR 484) and Exit 68 (SR 200). (Drivers are advised to not stop along the Interstate except for an emergency.)
(352) 236-7143, www.floridagreenwaysandtrails.com
America’s first land bridge connects the east and west sides of the Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway, a 110 -mile conservation and recreation corridor that stretches across the state. This 52-foot-wide, 200-foot-long structure allows hikers, cyclists, equestrians and wildlife to safely cross Interstate 75. Access to the Cross Florida Greenway Land Bridge for hiking or biking (no motorized vehicles) is via the Land Bridge Trailhead.
Kissimmee
Monument of States
300 E. Monument Ave.
Dedicated in 1943, downtown Kissimmee’s Monument of States is a 40-foot-tall pyramid constructed of various stones, fossils and other rocky materials gathered from all 50 states and more than 20 countries. During the early days of WWII, Dr. Charles Bressler-Pettis wrote letters to every governor and to president Franklin D. Roosevelt to request contributions of local rocks. The donations arrived in a variety of formats, including native granite, quartz, boulders, fossils, blocks from old buildings and even a human skull.
Lake Alfred
Ron’s Tackle Box and Angler’s Antique Gallery
380 S. Lake Shore Way
(863) 956-4990
Fishing fanatics: Not only will you find everything you need for a day of fishing, but you’ll be wowed by the collection of thousands of old fishing lures and paraphernalia.
Lake Placid
Murals in the Caladium Capital of the World
Lake Placid Chamber of Commerce, 18 N. Oak Street
(863) 465-4331, www.lpfla.com
More than 40 murals, many with sound, are located throughout downtown Lake Placid. Search for them all and find hidden images painted within them. Lake Placid is also the Caladium Capital of the World. When in leaf during summer/fall, the fields have been compared to the tulip fields in Holland for their beauty.
Lakeland
Largest single-site collection of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture
111 Lake Hollingsworth Drive
(863) 680-4597, www.flsouthern.edu
Florida Southern College is home to the largest single- site collection of architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s buildings in the world. Visit the “Child of the Sun” Visitors Center, featuring drawings, photographs and furniture. Self-guided walking tours also available. The college is located on Lake Hollingsworth (also on the Great Florida Birding Trail).
Mulberry
Phosphate Museum
400 N. Church Ave.
(863) 425-2823, www.mulberryphosphatemuseum.org/
Located in the “Phosphate Capital of the World,” this museum includes fossil exhibits and showcases the history of phosphate mining in Florida.
Ona
Solomon’s Castle
4533 Solomon Road
(863) 494-6077, www.solomonscastle.com
Howard Solomon’s castle, gardens, art gallery and Boat in the Moat Restaurant are in the middle of nowhere—okay, about an hour east of Bradenton. Among Solomon’s quirky collections? A gun that shoots toilet plungers and a car with a V-8 engine that utilizes—you guessed it—the vegetable drink cans. Try for a personal tour by Howard or Peggy, his wife. Stay at their seven-room bed & breakfast. Closed in July, August and September.
St. Cloud
Reptile World Serpentarium
5705 East Irlo Bronson Hwy.
(407) 892-6905, www.reptileworldserpentarium.net/
Reptile World is more than snake displays. It is a working farm providing venom for use worldwide in medicine and herpetological research. You can watch while staff milk venomous snakes to harvest their valuable venom.
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CENTRAL EAST
DeLeon Spring
The Old Spanish Sugar Mill Grill & Griddle House at DeLeon Springs State Park
601 Ponce DeLeon Blvd.
(386) 736-7529, www.floridastateparks.org/park/De-Leon-Springs
The Old Spanish Sugar Mill is a unique restaurant located within DeLeon Springs State Park. The remains of the only water-powered sugar mill in Florida, built in 1831, offers grill-your-own pancakes made from grain stone-ground on site with French buhr millstones. Each table is equipped with a griddle where you can pour and flip your own pancakes. Located alongside beautiful DeLeon Springs – great for swimming.
Cassadaga
Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp
Andrew Davis Building, 1112 Stevens Street
(386) 228-2880, www.cassadaga.org
The town of Cassadaga started from the founding of the Southern Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp Meeting Association by a trance medium, George P. Colby, from Pike, New York. His spirit guide instructed him to establish a spiritualist community in the south. The word "Cassadaga" is a Seneca Indian term meaning "rocks beneath the water." The camp was chartered on December 18, 1894, chosen for its unique energy level. Stop by during a typically lively weekend for a psychic reading from one of the town's mediums.
Hobe Sound
Blowing Rocks Preserve
574 South Beach Road
(561) 744-6668, www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/s tates/florida/preserves/art5522
Located on Jupiter Island, Blowing Rocks is so named because of the way, during extreme high tides and after winter storms, the seas crash against the Anastasia limestone and force plumes of saltwater through holes in the rocks up to 50 feet in the sky. This preserve has several different habitats including beach dunes, coastal strands and mangrove wetlands.
Ponce Inlet
Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse
4931 South Peninsula Drive
(386) 761-1821, www.ponceinlet.org
The tallest lighthouse in Florida and one of the tallest in the nation, the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse is a cardio-worthy 203 steps to the top. This light station still has all of its original buildings intact, including three keepers’ dwellings, woodshed, oil storage house and pump. An on-site museum houses one of the finest collections of restored Fresnel lenses in the world.
Stuart
The Elliott Museum and House of Refuge
301 SE Macarthur Blvd.
(772) 225-1875, hsmc-fl.com/house-of-refuge/
This house of refuge, built in 1876, is the only one remaining of 10 commissioned by the U.S. Treasury Department as havens for shipwrecked sailors and travelers along the barren east coast of Florida. It also served as a lookout for enemy submarines in WWI. Saved by the Historical Society of Martin County in 1955, it is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places and provides a look at life as the area entered the 20th century.
SOUTHWEST
Myakka
Canopy Walk at Myakka River State Park
13208 State Road 72
(941) 361-6511, www.floridastateparks.org/park/Myakka-River
You might not be able to walk on water, but you can walk atop a canopy of trees - okay, sort of - at Myakka River State Park. The Myakka Canopy Walk allows visitors to view the treetops of the prairie hammock by ascending a 74-foot tower and crossing an 84-foot suspension bridge. The Myakka River, designated as a Florida Wild and Scenic River, flows through 58 square miles of wetlands, prairies, hammocks and pinelands.
The Crowley Museum & Nature Center
16405 Myakka Road
(941) 322-1000, www.crowley.org
The Crowley Museum and Nature Center sits on 190 acres of native land adjacent to the Myakka River. Visitors can enjoy nature trails, a boardwalk and an observation tower. The pioneer history area includes a museum with artifacts from the late 1870s to the early 1900s, a working blacksmith shop, a working sugar cane mill, and a restored 1892 Cracker house.
Herrmann’s Original Royal Lipizzans
32755 Singletary Road
(941) 322-1501, https://www.facebook.com/HerrmannsRoyalLipizzanStallions
With the assistance of Colonel Hermann and his father, General George Patton saved this rare breed of horses from the Russian advances of WWII, a story recounted in the 1963 Walt Disney movie “Miracle of the White Stallions.” Now, you can see the original white Lipizzans of Austria perform the rare and beautiful “Airs Above Ground.” These horses are known for their distinctive leaping and “flying.”
Bradenton
Linger Lodge
7205 Linger Lodge Road
(941) 755-2757
Declared “one of the top five weirdest restaurants in the country” by Al Roker, this funky restaurant is located in a mobile home park. The fish camp atmosphere includes decorating with stuffed—as in, by a taxidermist—animals everywhere. Brave a bite from dishes such as Snake ‘n Bake or Swirl of Squirrel from the “Road Grill Menu,” or more traditional dishes from the regular menu.
Clewiston
Everglades Lounge at The Clewiston Inn
108 Royal Palm Ave.
(863) 983-8151 or (800) 749-4466, www.redlion.com/americas-best-value-inn/fl/clewiston/americas-best-value-inn-historic-clewiston-inn
Belly up to The Everglades Lounge inside historic Clewiston Inn. The bar has a unique wrap-around mural of the Florida Everglades, which you’ll promptly ignore when you make a few new best friends. The inn itself offers a ghost tour; you just might glimpse the property’s friendly female ghost.
Sugarland Tours
109 Central Ave.
(863) 983-7979, www.clewistonchamber.org
Tour a sugar cane farm and to chop and chew some fresh sugar cane. The excursion includes the Clewiston sugar mill, the sugar refinery and citrus juice plant, and a tour of the renovated Clewiston Museum.
Copeland
Ghost orchids at Fakahatchee Strand State Park
137 Coastline Drive
(239) 695-4593, www.floridastateparks.org/park/Fakahatchee-Strand
Fakahatchee Strand is the location of the ghost orchid poaching depicted in the best-selling book and subsequent movie “The Orchid Thief.” The deepest strand swamp in the Everglades creates a unique micro-climate that supports the rare Ghost orchid. Ranger-guided swamp walks are offered between November and April at this park also known as “The Amazon of North America.” For swamp walks, be prepared to wade in cool water up to your waist for half a day, learning about and enjoying the flora and fauna of the Fakahatchee Strand. Immerse yourself in Old Florida – literally.
The Everglades
Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum
Big Cypress Seminole Reservation
(863) 902-1113, www.ahtahthiki.com
The Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki (meaning “a place to learn”) is home to the nation’s largest display of the life and culture of the unconquered Florida Seminoles. Through exhibits, artifacts and displays, visitors learn about this important aspect of Florida’s history and culture. The “Living Exhibit” demonstrates how the Seminoles lived in south Florida during the late 1800s.
Everglades City
Historic Smallwood Store
State Road 29 in Everglades National Park
(239) 695-2989, www.smallwoodstore.com
Consider it the wild West of Florida. This trading post was opened in 1906 by one of the first settlers of the Everglades. Now serving as a museum, it contains some of the original remaining stock, furs, hides and equipment to provide a look at how settlers lived in this remote outpost.
Rod & Gun Club
200 Riverside Drive
(239) 695-2101, rodandguneverglades.com/
The Storter family home became the Rod & Gun Club in 1925, an historic gathering place for hunting and fishing enthusiasts – many of them famous, including Ernest Hemingway and Dwight D. Eisenhower. It is now a restaurant that overlooks the Baron River.
Ochopee
Big Cypress Gallery
52388 Tamiami Trail
(239) 695-2428, www.clydebutcher.com
Halfway between Naples and Miami on the Tamiami Trail is the home, gallery and studio of famed black-and-white nature photographer Clyde Butcher. The studio features his signature large-format, stunning photographs of the Everglades and other natural environments.
The Nation’s Smallest Post Office
US Highway 41
www.florida- everglades.com/postoffice.htm
The smallest Post Office in the United States, measuring 7x8 feet with the roof peak at 10 feet, is located in Ochopee. The building, once a tool shed, was converted into the post office after a fire in 1953 destroyed the original Ochopee Post Office. The town itself is reported to have a population of 11.
Palmdale
Gator hatching and night tours at Gatorama
6180 US Highway 27
(863) 675-0623, www.gatorama.com
Save a few bucks on the big theme parks and discover this vintage Florida roadside attraction, where visitors get up-close and personal with gators. Be prepared for the unexpected; from hands-on gator egg hatching to a night tour where alligator eyes shine through the darkness. Gatorama also is the perfect place to purchase all things ‘gator: wallets, belts, hides and more.
Pineland
Pineland-Randell Research Center
13810 Waterfront Drive
(239) 283-2062, www.flmnh.ufl.edu/rrc
Visitors to the Randell Research Center can tour the Calusa Heritage Trail, a 3,700-foot interpretive walkway that winds through the mounds, canals and other features of the Pineland archaeological site. Museum-quality interpretive signs along the improved trail provide detailed information regarding the Calusa Indians. The trail also features observation platforms atop the site’s tallest shell mound.
Punta Gorda
Babcock Wilderness Tours at Babcock Ranch
8000 State Road 31
(800) 500-5583, www.babcockwilderness.com
Panthers and cattle and turkeys – if you want to experience such wildlife, Babcock Wilderness Tours is for you. You can see dozens of wild alligators, white-tailed deer and even a wild turkey or two. Your excursion will carry you through unspoiled pinewoods, fresh water marsh and sections of the Cypress Telegraph Swamp on swamp buggies. A professional tour guide shares inside knowledge on the ranch, wildlife and area history.
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SOUTHEAST
Homestead
Coral Castle
28655 S. Dixie Highway, (305) 248-6345, www.coralcastle.com.
More than 1,100 tons of coral were hand carved and sculpted by Edward Leedskainin as a tribute to his lost love.
Robert is Here Fruit Stand
19200 SW 344th Street, (305) 246-1592, www.robertishere.com.
A local institution featuring exotic fruits with names like Monstera Deliciosa, Carambola, Mamey, Lychee, and Atemoya.
Monkey Jungle
14805 SW 216 Street, (305) 235-1611, www.monkeyjungle.com.
Home to nearly 400 primates, representing 30 different species, this is the place “where humans are caged and the monkeys run wild.”
Key West Cemetery
701 Pauline St, www.keywesttravelguide.com/key-west-cemetery-map-self-guided-tour/
Former Key West residents determined to have the last quirky word can be found in this historic cemetery. With epitaphs like “I Told You I was Sick,” “Devoted Fan of Julio Iglesias” and others, the cemetery is as Key West as you can get—in a cemetery, of course. Moved to higher ground after the 1847 hurricane disinterred bodies from the first burial ground near the Southernmost Point, the whitewashed above-ground tombs and statues are fascinating and funny.
Coral Gables
Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden
10901 Old Cutler Road
(305) 667-1651, www.fairchildgarden.org
A tropical fruit pavilion, butterfly garden and “rainforest” are just a few of the lush landmarks at Farichild Tropical Botanical Garden. Rare tropical plants including palms, cycads, flowering trees and vines bloom around the 83 acres of the gardens. Fairchild Tropical Gardens offers a variety of programs in environmental education, conservation and horticulture, and is an international leader in tropical plant research. Recent additions include a Chihuly glass collection.
Delray Beach
Morikami Museum & Japanese Gardens and The American Orchid Society Visitors Center & Botanical Garden
4000 Morikami Park Road and 16700 AOS Lane
(561) 495-0233, www.morikami.org and (561) 404-2000, www.aos.org
The largest Japanese garden outside of Japan, the Morikami Garden and Museum honors the Yamoto Colony, a Japanese farming community of 100 years ago. The gardens feature six different time periods and Japanese styles. The Bonsai Collection includes more than 50 trees from six inches to more than four feet. Here you can also experience an authentic Japanese tea ceremony once monthly. Nearby, The American Orchid Society features a three-acre botanical orchid garden filled with thousands of native and exotic orchids.
Spady Cultural Heritage Museum
170 NW Fifth Ave.
(561) 279-8883, www.spadymuseum.com
The Spady Cultural Heritage Museum is dedicated to discovering, collecting and sharing the African American history and heritage of Florida. Located in the former home of the late Solomon D. Spady, the most prominent African American educator and community leader in Delray Beach from 1922 to 1957, it is the only African American cultural heritage museum of its kind in Palm Beach County.
The Blue Anchor Pub
804 E. Atlantic Ave.
(561) 272-7272, www.theblueanchorpub.com/
Walk through the eight-foot tall English oak doors of the Blue Anchor Pub and you'll take a step back to 19th century London. When the pub was torn down after 150 years in use, it was shipped piece by piece and rebuilt in Delray Beach. A couple of Jack the Ripper's victims are said to have spent their last night alive drinking with a gentleman at The Blue Anchor in 1888, and the pub is reported to be haunted by various spirits.
Fort Lauderdale
Bonnet House Museum & Gardens
900 N. Birch Road
(954) 563-5393, www.bonnethouse.org
The Bonnet House estate is the legacy of Frederic Clay Bonnet, who built the house in 1920 to promote stylish living in Southern Florida. This 35-acre site includes the main house where you will see murals on the ceilings, faux marble on the walls and floors, and the courtyard with carousel animals. Catch a glimpse of playful monkeys, majestic swans, wading birds, foxes and the occasional manatee.
Hallandale
Gulfstream Park
901 S. Federal Highway
(954) 454-7000 or (800) 771-TURF, www.gulfstreampark.com
This south Florida landmark opened in 1939 and is most famous for its signature thoroughbred race for three-year-olds, the $1 million Florida Derby. This event is hailed as the nation’s foremost prep for the Kentucky Derby. In its 57-year history, 38 three-year-olds from the Florida Derby have gone on to win 51 Triple Crown events, including 20 Kentucky Derby winners – most recently the beloved Barbaro. Gulfstream Park Racing & Casino also provides casino action and fine dining.
Hollywood Beach
Hollywood Beach Broadwalk
visithollywoodfl.com/
Named one of America’s top ten nostalgic promenades by USA Today, the Hollywood Beach Broadwalk is more than 2 miles long, featuring miles of car free enjoyment and bricklined pedestrian promenade that combines dramatic coastal views of award-winning Blue Wave beaches. Walkers, runners, bicyclists and rollerbladers set their own pace on this path, which is bordered by seven miles of Hollywood’s famous coastline, vocational apartments and resorts, charming shops, cafés and places to eat facing the ocean.
Hollywood
Visual Arts Pavilion at the ArtsPark
1 Young Circle
954-921-3500, visithollywoodfl.com/
South Florida’s most unique arts and entertainment attraction is now offering glass blowing and metal working classes and demonstrations for people of all ages. If you ever had the desire to create new skills or advance your efforts in these areas, classes are available at all levels from beginner to advanced. The Metalwork Studio offers Metalsmith classes taught by a metalsmith artist and jewelry designer. The Fine Art Studio offers a variety of workshops and classes for both children and adults, ranging from sculpture to environmental art. Classes are designed with all skill levels in mind.
