Florida Roadside Attractions History

The decades after World War II were a golden age for roadside attractions in the Sunshine State. The advent of the family automobile put Florida's exotic flora and fauna within easy reach for millions of curious Americans. Entrepreneurs were happy to meet that demand, setting up for-profit nature parks around four of Florida's most splendid natural springs--at Silver Springs, Homosassa, Rainbow Springs, and Weeki Wachee. To distinguish themselves in a crowded field, these roadside operators upped the ante on weird, sweetening nature's majesty with theme park fantasy in the form of hippos, macaques, and mermaids, oh my! Though these gimmicky roadside parks ultimately fell out of favor as commercial ventures, this truly wooly and weird chapter in Florida's history lives on, fully-integrated by popular demand into the state park system. Lovingly documented across more than 135 full-color photographs, Nature's Own Attraction: A History of Florida's Roadside Springs presents a living history of Florida's bygone roadside era--a special kind of man-made Florida wildness vying for attention alongside the native, natural Florida wilderness that we all know and love.

Today, we're familiar with the major theme parks which charge families hundreds of dollars a day to wait in line for moments of thrills on technologically amazing rides. Florida, however, has been drawing tourists for centuries with simpler attractions which cost much less to view the animals or exhibits, or commune with nature. In Historic Photos of Florida Early Tourist Attractions, Steve Rajtar brings us back to the simpler ways early visitors enjoyed their time in the Sunshine State. Tour the state with photos of the tourist attractions which were here before Walt Disney World, in the days when a row of antique cars sufficed and tourists did not require constant action. See the wax figures which amazed visitors long before the invention of audioanimatronic mannequins. See what curiosities brought in the tourists and their dollars decades before today's theme parks dominated the billboards and themselves became worldwide vacation destinations.

Provides an entertaining history of one of Florida's oldest roadside attractions, Weeki Wachee Spring and its performing mermaids, that ranges from its development in 1947 to the present day, bringing together extensive archival research and interviews with dozens of mermaids and other park employees with 250 black-and-white and color photographs.

Today, we are familiar with the large theme parks, which charge families hundreds of dollars a day to wait in line for moments of thrills on technologically amazing rides. Florida, however, has been drawing tourists for over a century with simpler attractions, and for far fewer dollars to view the animals or exhibits, or commune with nature. In Remembering Florida Tourist Attractions, Steve Rajtar takes us back to the simpler ways visitors of yesteryear enjoyed their time in the Sunshine State. With a selection of fine historic images from his best-selling book, Historic Photos of Florida Tourist Attractions, Steve Rajtar provides a valuable and revealing historical retrospective on the development of tourism throughout the great state of Florida. Journey with the writer to see the sunny state in photos of the tourist attractions here before Walt Disney World, in the days when a row of antique cars enthralled visitors. See the wax figures which amazed onlookers long before the invention of audioanimatronic mannequins. See the curiosities that brought in the tourists and their dollars decades before today's theme parks dominated the billboards and themselves became worldwide vacation destinations.

A Land Remembered has become Florida's favorite novel. Now this Student Edition in two volumes makes this rich, rugged story of the American pioneer spirit more accessible to young readers. Patrick Smith tells of three generations of the MacIveys, a Florida family battling the hardships of the frontier. The story opens in 1858, when Tobias and Emma MacIvey arrive in the Florida wilderness with their son, Zech, to start a new life, and ends in 1968 with Solomon MacIvey, who realizes that his wealth has not been worth the cost to the land. Between is a sweeping story rich in Florida history with a cast of memorable characters who battle wild animals, rustlers, Confederate deserters, mosquitoes, starvation, hurricanes, and freezes to carve a kingdom out of the Florida swamp. In this volume, meet young Zech MacIvey, who learns to ride like the wind through the Florida scrub on Ishmael, his marshtackie horse, his dogs, Nip and Tuck, at this side. His parents, Tobias and Emma, scratch a living from the land, gathering wild cows from the swamp and herding them across the state to market. Zech learns the ways of the land from the Seminoles, with whom his life becomes entwined as he grows into manhood. Next in series > > See all of the books in this series

For nearly two hundred years, Floridians have eagerly exploited tourism as the key to economic prosperity. As a result, the state has constantly reshaped and remodeled itself as different types of tourist heavens, and many aspects of its history have become inseparable from the fantastic images created by the tourism industry. From spa retreats to nature preserves, from riverboat rides to roller coasters, and from railroads to theme parks, the state’s dependence on tourism has greatly shaped its identity. Sunshine Paradise is the first book to focus exclusively on how--and why--tourism came to define Florida. Offering a concise look at the subject from the 1820s to the present, Tracy Revels demonstrates tourism’s relevance to all other major aspects of Florida history, including the Civil War, the land boom, and civil rights. In this enjoyable and well-written history, Revels shows how Florida’s tourism industry has remained adaptive and expansive, ready to sell the next version of paradise to northerners hungry for sunshine. She also explains why the state’s business and political leaders must consider the history of tourism development as they plan for the state’s future. A volume in the Florida History and Culture Series, edited by Raymond Arsenault and Gary R. Mormino

Pictures of the tourist attractions in Florida long before the theme parks arrived.