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Sunshine Paradise: A History of Florida Tourism

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Anthony J. Stanonis, Sunshine Paradise: A History of Florida Tourism, Journal of American History , Volume 98, Issue 4, March 2012, Pages 1220–1221, https://doi.org/10.1093/jahist/jar534

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Scholars over the past decade have interrogated tourism and promoters’ manipulation of historical memory. The maturity of this subfield has provided fertile ground for Tracy J. Revels’s much-welcomed, concise survey of Florida tourism from the days of Ponce de León to the present.

Revels provides a highly readable and witty study that focuses on the types of vacationers and promoters who defined eras in the evolution of Florida tourism. For Revels, “Florida is tourism” (p. 1). Beginning in the 1820s, sufferers of respiratory ailments journeyed to Key West, St. Augustine, and Pensacola to enjoy the warmth and fresh air. By the mid-1800s, sportsmen came to hunt and fish. The development of railroads across the American South after the Civil War created a boom in tourism during the 1870s and 1880s. The arrival of the tycoon developers Henry Plant and Henry Flagler made Florida a fashionable winter haven for the wealthy by the turn of the century. Between 1900 and 1945 “Florida gained an international reputation as America’s leisure paradise, and began moving away from its designation as a ‘Southern’ state in terms of culture” (p. 64). Higher wages and more vacation time, along with the advent of the automobile and air travel, made the state increasingly accessible to more people. After World War II, Florida became a “state of imagination” (p. 101). Promoters, most famously Walt Disney, transformed the landscape to appeal to American fantasies of a glorious past, prosperous present, and promising future. By the late twentieth century, however, accommodating the millions of tourists had severely taxed the natural beauty of Florida, as runoff turned once-popular natural springs cloudy, highways scarred the landscape, and condominiums suffocated coastal dunes, all while pollution was also spoiling the air, land, and sea.

Revels convincingly shows how segregation was a “strange curse” in Florida, as catering to tourists undermined the harsh racial regime present elsewhere in the Jim Crow South (p. 73). However, African Americans, denied services, built their own vibrant tourist resorts, as at American Beach. Jews likewise turned into activists in the face of discrimination.

Revels does not show how Florida tourism impacted the United States at large. Mediterranean architecture celebrated by Flagler and Plant, for instance, influenced designs throughout the country. Revels instead strictly uses events in Florida to show trends in American leisure. The study consequently ignores the intense rivalry between Florida and California boosters and also largely overlooks the severe political tension in the twentieth century between tourism interests in southern Florida and agricultural interests in northern Florida. That tension even threatened to divide the peninsula into two states. Given Revels’s aim of providing a brief overview, however, such absences are understandable.

These criticisms should not detract from Revels’s short analysis of Florida tourism. She sets a high standard for future studies, providing an engaging narrative. Tourists’ letters, popular travel guides, and the most recent scholarship inform this statewide study. Academics, students, and general readers interested in tourism and southern history will find this a rigorous, entertaining, and insightful overview.

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By: History.com Editors

Updated: December 13, 2022 | Original: December 16, 2009

Florida joined the Union as the 27th state in 1845 and is nicknamed the Sunshine State for its balmy climate and natural beauty. Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon, who led the first European expedition to Florida in 1513, named the state in honor of Spain’s Easter celebration known as “Pascua Florida,” or Feast of Flowers. European settlers, mainly from Spain, arrived in the 17th and 18th centuries. The Spanish, French and English battled over Florida until it became a U.S. territory in 1819. 

Florida has long been a state of migrants. While European colonists quickly decimated the Indigenous population, Florida became home to a Seminole community of Indigenous and enslaved people who migrated from nearby states in the 18th century. Beginning in the late 19th century, residents of Northern states flocked to Florida to escape harsh winters. Many Cubans also immigrated to Miami throughout the late 19th and 20th centuries, establishing a vibrant Latin American culture.

WATCH: How the States Got Their Shape on HISTORY Vault

Native Americans in Florida

Hunter-gatherers first arrived in the area now known as Florida more than 12,000 years ago. The dominant Native American communities that emerged included the Calusa, Tequesta and Jeaga tribes in southern Florida and the Apalachee and Timucua people in the north. They lived along the coasts as well as near rivers in the interior of Florida. When the Europeans arrived in the 16th century, they started selling Indigenous people and brought disease and warfare that decimated the native population. Nearly all local Indigenous people were gone by the mid-1700s. 

In the mid to late 1700s, Native Americans from Georgia, Alabama and other states, including tribes of the Creek Nation such as the Miccosukee, migrated to Florida to escape European expansion. They were joined by escaped enslaved people, as Spain had announced that anyone who made it to Florida was free. By the end of the century, this diverse community collectively became known as the Seminoles. The name most likely originates from the Spanish word “cimarron,” or “wild runaway.”

Florida's Early Colonial History

Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León was the first known European to set foot on the area now called Florida when he landed near present-day St. Augustine in 1513. His second expedition in 1521 failed to colonize Florida due to attacks by Indigenous people, although it piqued Spanish interest in the area. Other Spaniards to visit Florida included Hernando de Soto , in 1539, and Tristán de Luna y Arellano, in 1559.

The French also explored Florida, with Jean Ribault landing in 1562 and René Goulaine de Laudonnière establishing Fort Caroline in 1564. However, it was Spanish explorer Pedro Menéndez de Avilés who established the first permanent European settlement in the United States at a place he called St. Augustine in 1565. Menéndez de Avilés expelled the French and captured Fort Caroline , renaming it San Mateo. Although the French fought back over the years, the Spanish military and Catholic missionaries dominated the area and expanded their territory.

During these early years, English colonizers showed limited interest in Florida. But in the 17th and 18th centuries, English colonists began migrating south and set their sights on Spanish holdings in Florida, attacking missions and St. Augustine. At the end of the Seven Years’ War , in 1763, Spain handed Florida to the British in exchange for Cuba, which England had taken from Spain. The British split the land into East Florida and West Florida, both of which remained loyal to England throughout the Revolutionary War . The 1783 Treaty of Paris ended the American Revolution and handed Florida from England to Spain, which acted as an ally to the Americans in exchange for the Bahamas.

The Seminole Wars

As Americans expanded their territory in the 19th century, they coveted Spain’s fertile land in Florida and saw the promise of freedom for escaped slaves there as a threat. The Seminole Wars began when American militias first attacked and seized Spanish and Seminole lands in 1812. In 1817, the U.S. government officially invaded Florida. In 1819, Spain ceded Florida to the United States with the signing of the Florida Purchase Treaty . As part of the agreement, the U.S. paid Spain $5 million for damages incurred.

After the U.S. government failed to displace Indigenous people, including Seminoles in Florida, to modern-day Oklahoma and Arkansas, President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act in 1830. The law forced the Indigenous peoples east of the Mississippi to modern-day Oklahoma on what became known as the Trail of Tears . Many Seminoles in Florida refused to leave. In 1835, the Seminoles attacked American troops, launching seven more years of bloody battles between the two sides. More than 3,000 Seminoles were forcibly moved before the U.S. government withdrew in 1842 without signing a peace treaty.

A third phase of the Seminole War broke out in 1855 when the Seminoles attacked U.S. troops for sending patrols into their territory. The Seminole Wars concluded three years later when a treaty was signed giving land to Seminoles in Oklahoma. Most of the remaining Seminoles in Florida moved to Oklahoma, but about 300 people remained. Today, these “Unconquered People” comprise two federally-recognized tribes: the Seminole Tribe of Florida and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, both of which belong to the Creek Confederacy.

The Civil War

In the 1800s, Florida’s economy was based around crops, cattle and enslaved people—putting it at odds with northern states that opposed slavery. In 1861, Florida became the third state to secede from the Union. The next month, it joined with six other southern states to form the Confederate States of America , which soon incited the Civil War .

While most men in the state fought for the Confederacy, and the state supplied the Confederate troops with food and other important provisions, only two major Civil War battles were fought in Florida. On April 26, 1865, Florida officially surrendered to the Union.

Immigration

While Cubans had already migrated to nearby Florida for many years, immigration accelerated at the end of the 1800s, when many people who no longer wanted to be under Spanish rule left for the U.S. Cuban workers also moved to Florida to work in the sugar, coffee and tobacco industries.

In 1898, the Spanish-American War started and ended within months, when Spain ceded Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippine Islands and Guam to the United States. After the war, Cuba became its own country with increasingly repressive policies, leading more people to leave Cuba for Florida. 

From the late 1950s through the 1990s, waves of people emigrated from Cuba to the United States, with most settling in Miami. Along with immigrants from Colombia and Nicaragua, they established a strong Latin American community in the area. Florida has been a destination for Americans moving from neighboring and northern states since the late 1800s for its citrus industry and warm weather.

Thanks to its mild weather, Florida started to develop as a resort vacation destination in the late 1800s. In the 20th century, tourism became one of the state's most important industries, attracting millions of visitors annually. Theme parks started cropping up all over Florida, including Walt Disney World Resort. Opened near Orlando in 1971, Disney World is the world's largest and most visited recreational resort. Spread over some 30,500 acres (about the same size as San Francisco, California), Disney World attracts approximately 46 million annual visitors.

Space Center

Initially a missile testing site in the 1940s, Florida's Cape Canaveral became a hub for the U.S. space program in 1950. On February 20, 1962, John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth when he blasted off from Cape Canaveral. Seven years later, Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon after Apollo 11 launched from the nearby Kennedy Space Center on July 16, 1969. To this day, the Kennedy Space Center remains an active launchpad.

Date of Statehood: March 3, 1845

Capital: Tallahassee

Population: 21,538,187 (2020)

Size: 65,758 square miles

Nickname(s): Sunshine State

Motto: In God We Trust

Tree: Sabal Palm

Flower: Orange Blossom

Bird: Mockingbird

Interesting Facts

• Constructed over a 21-year period from 1845 to 1866, Fort Zachary Taylor in Key West was controlled by Federal forces during the Civil War and used to deter supply ships from provisioning Confederate ports in the Gulf of Mexico. The fort was also used during the Spanish-American War.
• In 1944, airman and pharmacist Benjamin Green from Miami developed the first widely-used sunscreen to protect himself and other soldiers during World War II. He later founded the Coppertone Corporation.

Florida's Earliest Peoples, nps.gov

"Teacher’s Guide to Florida’s Native People," floridamuseum.ufl.edu

The Timucua: North Florida’s Early People, nps.gov

16th Century Settlements, dos.myflorida.com

Seminole History,  dos.myflorida.com

History, miccosukee.com

The Long War, semtribe.com

Seminoles, nps.gov

European Exploration and Colonization,  dos.myflorida.com

Florida Frontiers “Florida in the American Revolution,” myfloridahistory.org

Florida: As a British Colony, fcit.usf.edu

Acquisition of Florida: Treaty of Adams-Onis (1819) and Transcontinental Treaty (1821), history.state.gov

Florida's Native American Tribes, History & Culture,  visitflorida.com

Seminole Indian Wars, seminolecountyfl.gov

Florida Migration History 1850-2018, depts.washington.edu

Spanish-American War for Cuba's Independence, fcit.usf.edu

Crossing the Straits, loc.gov

Cuban Exiles in America, pbs.org

Transforming a City, loc.gov

Florida's Economy Booms, fcit.usf.edu

Tourism in Florida,  fcit.usf.edu

Cape Canaveral: Launchpad to the Stars, fcit.usf.edu

Apollo 11 Mission Overview, nasa.gov

Facts About Florida Oranges & Citrus, visitflorida.com

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History Cooperative

History of Florida: Early History, Exploration, Colonization, Becoming a State, and More!

The history of Florida spans a wide range of periods and influences, from ancient native civilizations and European colonization to its development into a modern center of culture, tourism, and innovation.

Table of Contents

Early History of Florida and Prehistoric Native People

Before European explorers set foot on what is now Florida, it was home to a diverse array of Native American tribes . The earliest inhabitants, dating back to at least 14,000 years ago, were pre- Clovis people who lived in a hunter-gatherer society. Over millennia, these populations evolved into complex societies, such as the Timucua, Apalachee, Calusa, and Tequesta tribes. These communities were sophisticated, with established trade networks, ceremonial complexes, and a deep spiritual connection to the land.

European Exploration and Colonization

The story of European involvement in Florida begins with Juan Ponce de León, who in 1513, while searching for the mythical Fountain of Youth, landed on Florida’s shores. He named the land “La Florida” due to its lush, florid vegetation and because his landing coincided with the Easter season, known as “Pascua Florida” in Spanish. This marked the beginning of European interest in the region, leading to subsequent expeditions and claims by Spain.

READ MORE: New Spain: Spanish Colonization and the Birth of an Empire

16th Century Settlements

The 16th century saw the first European settlements in Florida, notably the French Huguenot settlement at Fort Caroline in 1564, and the Spanish establishment of St. Augustine in 1565, the latter of which is the oldest continuously inhabited European-established settlement in the continental United States. These early settlements were fraught with hardships, conflicts with native populations, and rivalries between European powers.

READ MORE: Who Discovered America: The First People Who Reached the Americas and US History Timeline: The Dates of America’s Journey

First Spanish Period

Florida’s First Spanish Period (1565-1763) was characterized by missions and military forts as Spain sought to convert the indigenous populations to Christianity and protect its territory from other European powers. The Spanish established a network of missions across the peninsula, reaching into Georgia, but their control was often challenged by native resistance and European rivals.

READ MORE: How Did Christianity Spread: Origins, Expansion, and Impact 

British Period

The British Period (1763-1783) began when Florida was ceded to Great Britain in exchange for Havana, Cuba, after the Seven Years’ War. During this time, Britain divided Florida into East and West Florida, encouraging settlement and developing the region’s economy. However, British control was short-lived, as Florida was returned to Spain following the American Revolutionary War.

Second Spanish Period

The Second Spanish Period (1783-1821) saw a decline in Spanish influence, as they struggled to attract settlers and maintain control. This period was marked by border disputes and increasing pressure from the United States, leading to Spain selling Florida to the U.S. in the Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819, with transfer formalized in 1821.

Territorial Florida

Following Spain’s cession of Florida to the United States in the Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819, with the transfer being formalized in 1821, the area embarked on a transformative journey. This era heralded the establishment of a territorial government in 1822, with Tallahassee chosen as the capital, underscoring the region’s developmental strides and governance structuring. Amidst this period of growth and settlement, Florida grappled with the challenges of integrating the remaining Native American populations, leading to the seminal Seminole Wars, which were indicative of the broader conflicts and negotiations that characterized the American frontier.

This territorial phase was a crucible of change, laying the groundwork for Florida’s eventual admission to the Union. On March 3, 1845, Florida emerged from its territorial cocoon to join the United States as the 27th state, a milestone that marked the culmination of its complex journey from a contested colonial outpost to a fully integrated state. Before this transition, the region was officially designated as the Florida Territory, reflecting its intermediate status between colonial possession and statehood. This designation, while temporary, was crucial in Florida’s historical arc, serving as a stage for development, conflict resolution, and the establishment of a distinct identity within American history.

Early Statehood and Antebellum Florida

Following its admission as the 27th state, Florida’s economy grew around cotton and sugar plantations, reliant on slave labor. This period, however, was also marked by tensions over issues of state rights and slavery.

READ MORE: Slavery in America: United States’ Black Mark

Civil War and Reconstruction

Florida seceded from the Union in 1861, joining the Confederacy during the American Civil War . Post-war Reconstruction was a challenging time , with efforts to rebuild the state’s economy and integrate freed slaves into society.

Gilded Age and Progressive Era in Florida

The late 19th and early 20th centuries were a time of growth and transformation in Florida, with the development of the railroad by industrialists like Henry Flagler and Henry Plant, promoting tourism and the agricultural industry. This era also saw the implementation of progressive reforms, including women’s suffrage and labor laws.

The Great Depression in Florida

The Great Depression hit Florida hard, with its economy already weakened by the 1926 Miami Hurricane and the real estate collapse. The New Deal programs played a crucial role in Florida’s recovery, funding public works projects and providing employment.

Florida During World War I

While World War I had a relatively limited impact on Florida compared to other regions, it did lead to an increase in military training facilities in the state, laying the groundwork for Florida’s significant military role in the future.

READ MORE: What Caused World War 1? Political, Imperialistic, and Nationalistic Factors

Florida in World War II and Post-War Boom

Florida’s strategic location and climate made it an ideal location for training bases during World War II. The post-war era saw a population boom, driven by returning veterans, the development of the space industry, and the advent of air conditioning, making Florida’s climate more bearable.

READ MORE: WW2 Timeline and Dates

Florida in the Modern Era and Interesting Facts about Florida

In recent decades, Florida has become a leading state in technology, aerospace, and tourism, home to the Kennedy Space Center and major theme parks. Its natural beauty, from the Everglades to its pristine beaches, continues to draw visitors from around the world.

Florida is known as the “Sunshine State,” a nickname officially adopted in 1970 to reflect its sunny climate and to promote tourism. Florida is renowned for its tourism industry, with attractions such as Walt Disney World, the Everglades National Park, its beaches, and as a preferred destination for retirees. It’s also known for its citrus industry, space exploration, and as a cultural melting pot, reflecting a diverse blend of influences.

Sunshine State’s Rich History

The history of Florida is rich and diverse. From the early encounters between Indigenous peoples and European explorers to the waves of settlers and immigrants shaping its landscape, Florida has witnessed dynamic transformations over the centuries.

The state’s strategic importance during the colonial era, its role in the Civil War, and the challenges posed by the harsh climate have all left indelible marks on its history. The quest for land, economic opportunities, and religious freedom attracted various cultures, contributing to the vibrant and diverse society that defines Florida today.

As Florida evolved from a remote outpost to a sought-after destination, the struggles for civil rights and environmental conservation emerged. The state’s proximity to the Caribbean, its thriving tourism industry, and its impact on space exploration have further solidified its significance on the national and global stages.

Therefore, Florida’s history is marked by a rich and varied past, evolving from its ancient roots and colonial struggles to become a contemporary beacon of cultural diversity, tourism, and technological advancement.

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Florida — History and Culture

There’s much more to Florida than its stereotype of retirees, ‘snow birds’, celebrities, and people in need of a winter tan. The state was settled by Spaniards looking for gold in the 16th century, but had already had a long Native American heritage stretching back millennia before this point. Today, well over 10 percent of Florida’s population is Hispanic, giving the state a great mix of cultural identity.

More than 100 Native American tribes, such as the Seminoles and Apalachee, lived around Florida when the first Spaniards arrived on its shores in 1513. Famous explorer Juan Ponce de Leon was first on the scene, chasing tales of legendary El Dorado gold and eternal youth. Several competing conquistadors set up forts and towns, some of which remain largely intact today, such as St Augustine.

The British were next to seek control over Florida’s lush lands in the 1700s. They kicked the Spanish out in 1763 and divided the territory into two parts. Florida sided with the British during the American Revolution, but the Spanish returned in 1781 and took back West and East Florida. US President Andrew Jackson invaded Spanish Florida but this only sparked the First Seminole War in 1817, which would pit settler against Indian for the next 50 years.

In 1819, Spain ceded all land to America to settle their debt. During the Civil War, Florida was quick to secede to the Confederacy, but saw little fighting. After being readmitted to the Union, Florida switched its focus to tourism. Entrepreneurs built railroad lines in a bid to lure holiday-makers and in 1888, President Grover even visited. The railroads opened the floodgates to visitors from across the US.

Florida’s first theme parks arrived in the 1930s with Cyprus Gardens, but it wasn’t until 1971, when Walt Disney chose central Florida for his dream, that this state was truly revitalized. Around the same time, the 1960’s Space Race centered itself at Cape Canaveral, adding a different economic boost and prestige. Since then, Florida has been primarily about fantastical theme parks, space launches, beach holidays, and fun in the sun.

Beneath the strip malls, old folks’ homes, and tourist-heavy beach towns, there is a rich spectrum of culture at work in Florida. The allure of Disney, Universal, and the other theme parks in Orlando can’t be dismissed because they contribute a true mark of fantasy to Florida’s culture. The beach towns off the tourist radar are another major facet in Florida’s character. They epitomize the hyper-relaxed atmosphere that pervades over most of the state, with the exception of Miami.

But in Miami, another essential cultural element is at work. The strong Latino and Cuban populations are on full display. Even outside of Little Havana , it’s hard not to notice the ethnic diversity in South Florida. The Hispanic element provides much of the excitement in Florida, in sharp contrast to the state’s geriatric constituency. Simply spend a week in Miami and practice your Spanish because it’s just as prevalent as English. From dizzying nights out in South Beach and Little Havana, to the art and fashion on parade in the Design District, Miami is the pulse of Florida.

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Home Numéros 21 Recherche - Dossier : Imaginaires... Florida: From Tourism to Troubles

Florida: From Tourism to Troubles

Among the fifty states of the American republic, only a very few can project a mystique, a special mythic spirit. From the middle of the nineteenth century, when natural springs and lush foliage attracted some explorers and well-to-do visitors, to the present, when Walt Disney World welcomes many millions of tourists, Florida has offered alluring pleasures. Since the land boom in Miami in the 1920s down to our own day, the state has become home for millions of Northerners and Midwesterners in particular. Very few states have grown faster –too fast, it seems. For the natural basis of harboring so many millions of residents and tourists is buckling under the strain of excessive demands upon resources, and nature is now striking back. The growth upon which Florida has depended for prosperity has become an ecological threat, and the dream of paradise that once drove so many Americans to live in the state is turning sour. Once a source of enormous pride, tourism has become a serious problem for residents and above all for the balance between civilization and nature.

Parmi les cinquante États de la République américaine, peu sont associés à une mystique, à un esprit mythique particulier. Depuis le milieu du xix e  siècle, lorsque les sources d’eau naturelles et la nature luxuriante attiraient quelques explorateurs et visiteurs aisés, jusqu’à aujourd’hui, où Walt Disney World accueille plusieurs millions de touristes chaque année, la Floride a toujours proposé des plaisirs séduisants. Depuis le boom foncier de Miami dans les années 1920 jusqu’à nos jours, cet État est devenu le foyer de millions d’habitants, venus du Nord et du Midwest en particulier. Très peu d’États américains ont connu une croissance aussi rapide – trop rapide, semble-t-il. En effet, les conditions naturelles qui permettent d’accueillir ces millions de résidents et de touristes cèdent sous la pression d’une demande excessive de ressources, et la nature contre-attaque. La croissance, dont dépendait la prospérité de la Floride, est devenue une menace écologique et le rêve de paradis, qui poussait autrefois tant d’Américains à venir vivre dans cet État, s’écroule. Auparavant source d’une immense fierté, le tourisme est devenu un sérieux problème pour les résidents, notamment pour l’équilibre entre civilisation et nature.

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1 The history of Florida is punctuated with a mystique–which none of the states of the union may need, but which a few have nevertheless invoked and transmitted. In this respect Florida differs from, say, New Hampshire, or Missouri, or South Dakota. To be sure, such states have their virtues, but none has the mythic status that Florida projects. It claims to be a kind of hologram of paradise, a place where the most ancient memories of our species are somehow reinvented in the form of modern fantasies (Arsenault, 2019, p. 10). In that sense, no state has been more authentically American. “In the beginning all the world was America,” John Locke philosophized in his Second Treatise of Government (1689); and less than a century later, exultant colonists bent on revolution claimed the power to revitalize human experience itself. The new nation was primed to write a “whole [new] chapter in the history of man,” Thomas Jefferson exulted (Locke, 1980, p. 29; Jefferson, 1975, p. 484). “We have it in our power,” Thomas Paine added in 1776, “to begin the world all over again” (2009, p. 53). Were that power properly deployed, a sequel to Eden might be found in the new United States. No part of it (except California) promoted itself more ardently or successfully as a successor to Eden than Florida. It can be considered “a state of mind” as much as it is a “state of being” (Derr, 1989, p. 13; O’Sullivan and Land, 1991, pp. 11-13).

2 The mystique of Florida has therefore drawn tourists. They have come for the purpose of pleasure; and other travelers have subscribed to an agenda–such as business–that is more varied. The distinction is easily blurred, but tourists should be considered travelers who buy commodified experiences. Tourism often entails predictable and standardized itineraries, and in that sense has been historically less adventurous than travel. The split between travel and tourism emerged in the early nineteenth century, and whether the difference remains tenable is debatable (Revels, 2011, p. 6; Macintosh, 2019, pp. 4-5, 6, 7, 11, 12). What is inarguable, however, is the appeal of Florida. The official tourism marketing corporation called Visit Florida, “a public/private partnership” that Governor Lawton Chiles created in 1996, estimates that 118 million domestic visitors came to the state in 2018, along with 3.5 million Canadians and 10.8 million other foreign visitors. Such statistics, if reliable, are staggering. The mystique with which culture framed nature drew the crowds. But then the crowds made nature less sublime and less viable. Such is the argument of this essay, which synthesizes literary evidence, economic data and press reports to show the role of Florida in the history of tourism as well as the impact of tourism upon a state that once promised proximity to nature. This essay therefore reinforces the tendency of environmental historians to blur at least some of the lines between humanity and its habitat. If civilization and landscape are not “mutually exclusive” (Schama, 1995, p. 14), the history of Florida–especially over the course of the last hundred years or so–shows how entwined they are.

3 Evidence of the idyllic impact that Florida historically registered upon visitors is easy to cite. For instance, the journalist Edward King toured the defeated South in 1873 for Scribner’s Monthly . Spending his first night in Jacksonville, he found the milieu “slumberous, voluptuous... Here beauty peeps from every door-yard. Mere existence is a pleasure... Through orange-groves and grand oaks thickly bordering the broad avenues gleams the wide current of the St. Johns River,” he exulted. Yet King also envisioned prospects of economic development there. He thus already signaled a counter-myth, in which the intrusion of capitalism or an industrial machine disrupts the garden (1972, pp. 380-81; O’Sullivan and Land, 1991, pp. 144-48; Rowe, 1978, pp. xi, xiii-xiv). Although joie de vivre was not something that the Puritans and their descendants extolled, even Harriet Beecher Stowe managed to distance herself from that heritage when she strolled along the St. Johns River. She wrote in 1872 that “life itself is a pleasure when the sun shines warm, and I sit and dream and am happy and never want to go back north.” The rhapsodic reaction of no other visitor shows more effectively the power of Florida, because happiness was hardly the goal that her religious faith fostered (Rowe, 1992, p. 5). The cultural shift therefore needs to be made explicit. The awareness that hedonism might replace moral duty as the purpose of life, that traditional codes of conduct might yield to the definition of a state as a playground, anticipated the state’s winking advertisement of the 1960s: “The rules are different here.” Unobstructed desire, which Christianity was historically designed to stigmatize, gave way to a late-twentieth-century enticement like “Florida. When you want it bad, we got it good” (Mormino, 2005, pp. 120-21).

4 With its natural sites and natural springs, postbellum Florida was soon open for business. Bucolic marvels like Sunken Gardens, Cypress Gardens and Weeki Wachee became tourist attractions; and Silver Springs became the state’s most celebrated and promoted natural wonder. There tourists could hop onto a glass-bottom boat, an unusual vessel that enabled passengers to see sixty-feet down into the pure depths of Silver Springs. Among the nineteenth-century Americans who seized this opportunity were Mrs. Stowe, Ulysses S. Grant and Thomas A. Edison. In the era of Jim Crow, black tourists could board glass-bottom boats downriver, at Paradise Park. It was Florida’s only roadside attraction pitched specifically to African-Americans (Mormino, 2005, pp. 86-90; Revels, 2011, pp. 20, 36-37; Vickers and Wilson-Graham, 2015, p. 11). By law and by custom, commitment to white supremacy made Florida recognizably Southern, of course; and only closed societies like Mississippi, for example, permitted the racist record of Florida to escape full scrutiny. Of the eleven states of the former Confederacy, Florida had the lowest percentage of African-Americans, and was also the only one, as the journalist John Gunther awkwardly noted, to have “an Indian problem” (1947, p. 655). In 1940 no Southern state had fewer residents—not even Arkansas. Little more than six decades later, however, Florida jumped ahead of New York as the third most populous state, which suggests an increasing friction with the usual meaning of “the Southern way of life.” It was historically agrarian, and its hamlets were inextricable from its farms and plantations. But no Southern state is currently more urban than Florida, where tourism easily outranks the economic importance of agriculture.

Visitation rites

5 Boosting numerical growth has been the industry that now dominates the state’s economy. Indeed, more tourists visit Florida than any state, other than the nation’s largest, California. How did the allure of Florida get so powerfully emitted?

6 Historian Tracy J. Revels, the author of a scholarly study of Florida tourism, has listed four conditions for success: “a population with adequate funds and time for travel, reliable transportation, comfortable and safe destinations, and a body of images and descriptions designed to excite the imagination and lure patrons” (2011, p. 104). The wealthy fit her first category. From the beginning, in the late nineteenth century, they were the only kind of tourists who came to Florida. They hunted, fished and sailed; they played golf; they socialized among themselves during those wish-you-were-here winters. And why not? The state could boast of a tranquil beauty that featured glistening beaches. None of the lower 48 states enjoys a longer seaboard, so that seawater is never more than sixty miles away from any spot on this peninsula (Whitfield, 1993, p. 416). Railroads were constructed to bring the rich to the state, with the tracks going to and going through St. Augustine, Tampa and Miami. Hotels were built to let the leisure class luxuriate in the comfort to which they were accustomed in Newport and on the Riviera. If the characteristic manmade structure of Florida could be identified, the architectural choice would not be a cathedral or a church, not an office building or a mansion, not a tower or a skyscraper, but a hotel (Cox, 2011, pp. 137-38; Rothchild, 1985, p. 57). Catering to Northeastern elites, St. Augustine’s lavish Ponce de Leon Hotel started a trend that included the Vinoy Park Hotel in St. Petersburg.

7 But a playground restricted to the privileged could not be permanently assigned to Florida. The ethos of democracy encourages the many to hope to emulate the few, and the Roaring Twenties marked the takeoff for the tourism of the masses. “For a significant proportion of the American populace,” historian Cindy S. Aron concluded, vacations became “an important component of an acceptable standard of living” (Aron, 1999, p. 244). Roads complemented trains; and Henry Ford enabled the common folk—Americans of limited means and plebeian tastes—to go on the move for pleasure. In Florida another populist, three-time Presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan, hawked real estate investment. The masses to whom Ford and Bryan appealed lacked the leisure to “winter” for an entire season in Florida. Their vacations were necessarily brief. Yet the Model T and the land craze (which the Marx Brothers mocked in The Cocoanuts in 1929) sparked the invasion of ordinary or “Tin Can” visitors. By 1925 about 2.5 million of them were arriving annually, and many tourists would decide to stay. Miami ballooned from 5,471 in 1910, to 29,571 in 1920, and to 110,637 in 1930. In the decade of the 1920s, no metropolitan area in the nation grew faster than Miami; Tampa-St. Petersburg came in sixth (Revels, 2011, pp. 2, 68; Cox, 2011, pp. 139, 146-48; Rugh, 2008, p. 3; Tindall, 1965, pp. 76-83, 109-11). Other visitors would soon stampede to Florida in greater hordes.

8 And why not? Contrast its winter season to the Northern and Midwestern cities—not only because of their sometimes bitter cold but also because residents wake up in the dark and return from the day’s work after sundown. St. Petersburg therefore contrived an easy job—a public relations director—and became the first community in the state to make such an attempt to live up to the billing of a “Sunshine City” (Arsenault, 1988, pp. 145, 186, 203, 261-62). St. Petersburg had no manufacturing base, but long attracted honeymooners as well as the very aged. That peculiar demographic pairing led to the jibe that St. Petersburg attracted “the newly wed and the nearly dead” (Revels, 2011, p. 73; Mormino, 2005, p. 79; Rothchild, 1985, p. 52). How poorly some startup marriages eventually fared can be gauged from Ring Lardner’s bleak short story, “The Golden Honeymoon” (1922), set in St. Petersburg. Black tourists took their chances too. By the 1930s, The Negro Motorist Green Book became an indispensable guide in alerting African-Americans to accessible hotels, restaurants and gas stations. Barely three decades later, the interstate highway system would enable black motorists to feel safer. Had they still been forced to wind their way through Florida’s backroads, such strangers would have been dangerously conspicuous. By then the state was becoming less parochial, however. Facing Latin America, Miami welcomed more foreign visitors to its airport than any other besides New York’s Kennedy (formerly Idlewild) (Seiler, 2006, pp. 1110-11; Derr, 1989, p. 338; Gunther, 1947, p. 729). Postwar affluence, advances in travel such as the jet plane and above all the widespread use of air-conditioning became crucial to the allure of Florida.

9 The decades immediately after the Second World War marked what one historian called “the golden era of family vacations.” Typically, these vacations were paid, thanks to the power that the New Deal had bestowed on the labor movement. The maps and atlases of the American Automobile Association and of Rand McNally taught geography to children and made road trips easier. So did the burgeoning numbers of motels that soon became the favored form of roadside lodging. Such vacations provided families with a sense of cohesiveness and of enjoyment that could be shared. Many veterans who had been stationed in Florida during the war loved the state so much that they relocated there with their families (Rugh, 2008, pp. 1, 10-12, 17, 35, 43, 45).

10 To visit Florida became so accessible and so fashionable that the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the New York Times , Russell Baker, made fun of such tourists. In a story datelined Ormond Beach, Baker invoked the satiric tradition of Mark Twain’s The Innocents Abroad (1869) by reporting that “the first thing people do when they plan a Florida vacation is buy a lot of pink and yellow clothing. Everybody then puts on these funny clothes, gets into the car and drives past nine hundred miles of billboards advertising monkeys and beer... It is very hot,” Baker reminded his readers. “The children snarl at each other... Eventually they arrive at... a gigantic shopping center... It is just like home, except that the houses are painted lavender and orange to match the customer’s clothing.” He noticed that “the vacationer feels terrible about being pale. Pale skin marks him as a tourist, and the worst thing about being a tourist is having other tourists recognize you as a tourist. And so, for three or four days, he broils himself mercilessly in the sun... hoping he will become inconspicuous enough to have a wonderful time,” which Baker suspected “isn’t easy.” By the mid-twentieth century, he already suspected trouble in paradise. “There is a lot to be said for fun and comfort,” he wrote in a bittersweet conclusion from Daytona Beach. “But total fun and total comfort wind up being total bores, and in the process, pleasure is lost” (1965, pp. 68-70, 71).

11 Some tourists could afford luxury hotels on Miami Beach like the Fontainebleau and the Eden Roc. Many other visitors ended up staying in seedy motels, of which a fictional example is described in the Miami writer Carl Hiassen’s Tourist Season (1986): “The Flamingo Isles was not a classic Miami Beach motel. There was nothing charming about the color (silt) or the architecture (Early Texaco). At this motel there were not striped canvas awnings, no wizened retirees chirping in the lobby, no lawn chairs lined up on the front porch, no front porch whatsoever. Basically, the Flamingo Isles was a dive for pimps... and hookers. Rooms costs ten dollars an hour, fifteen with porno cassettes” (pp. 30-31). Such settings suggested a devotion to tackiness, if not to downright ugliness, and inspired recourse to derogatory Yiddish terms like shlock and dreck to label the knickknacks commonly for sale in Florida. They have ranged from the shellacked blowfish and plaster flamingoes to the pirate heads carved from coconuts and the pelicans made from seashells (Gopnik, 2013, p. 105; Revels, 2011, p. 118; Rothchild, 1985, pp. 2-5). The democratization of travel and the achievement of prosperity cannot be entirely separated from the widespread evidence of tastelessness.

12 By the second half of the twentieth century, nature was increasingly yielding to culture–and its dominion could easily turn sinister. Here the memoir of journalist Edna Buchanan may be symptomatic. Coming from New Jersey in 1961, Buchanan was stunned when she first saw Miami Beach, “all pink, radiant, and bathed in sunlight.” She was thrilled to discover that “everything is exaggerated” in such scenery, “the clouds, the colors too bright to be real [and] the heat.” She got used to “drifting clouds [that] glow golden at sunset and rosy at dawn” (1987, pp. 31, 43). But Buchanan also realized that local violence was exaggerated too, and she became a crime reporter for the Miami Herald . Her stories showed how terrifyingly far Miami-Dade County would stray from Revels’ definition of “safe destinations” for tourists. The crime wave that hit Miami in 1993-94 brought Buchanan’s shocking reporting to national attention. For example, ten foreign tourists were murdered; and the number of visitors from abroad, especially from Britain and Germany, fell by a fifth. To lessen vulnerability to theft, kidnapping and homicide, rental car companies removed the distinctive license plates that marked the automobiles as rented (Revels, 2011, p. 140). Foreigners were presumably safer when traveling incognito. Not all the local rustics on the west coast of the state adhered to the welcoming messages from the Chamber of Commerce. A columnist for the St. Petersburg Times once spotted a more menacing sign than conventional advisories against trespassing: “My dogs can make it to the fence in three seconds. Can you?” (Klinkenberg, 2008, p. 8; Mormino, 2005, p. 121).

13 Although not every longtime resident was hospitable, the trajectory of the vacationers choosing Florida as their destination is astonishing. Their number increased from 4.5 million in 1950 to over 9 million by the end of the decade. The number doubled again in 1967. In 1971, when the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World opened, Florida attracted 23 million tourists (Revels, 2011, pp. 102-3; Arsenault, 1984, pp. 597-628; Mormino, 2005, pp. 95, 96). Their spending habits raised the income of the local inhabitants, but the blessings must be classified as mixed. Take what happened on the day after Thanksgiving, in 1971, when about 56,000 tourists tried to get into the Magic Kingdom. Backing up traffic for ten miles, they made the apocalyptic traffic jam that famously opens Jean-Luc Godard’s Weekend (1967) seem prophetic. Though Disney World is justifiably celebrated for its efficiency in crowd control, the park had to shut down its ticket window early that November afternoon. Yet such harrowing episodes posed no deterrent to Florida’s tourists. Their numbers swelled to more than 70 million in 2000 (Revels, 2011, p. 126; Mormino, 2005, p. 115), and six years later 83.9 million visitors swarmed into Florida–so many that an exasperated Carl Hiassen fantasized confining them solely to “Disney property until their vacation money runs out” (Hiassen, 2001, p. 20; Revels, 2011, pp. 142, 149).

14 Of course, the mass appeal of Florida needs a context. In January 1944, when Franklin D. Roosevelt listed “leisure” along with adequate shelter and the elimination of hunger among his proposed Second Bill of Rights, he could not have foreseen how devoted posterity would be in exercising the option of tourism. Vacationing in the developed world has become the third largest family expense, right after food and housing (Elsworth, 1991, p. F4). No country has been pulling its weight more fully than France–the planet’s most popular destination, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization. Nor has any museum ever attracted more visitors than the Louvre, which set a record of 10.2 million art lovers in 2018. In that year, throughout the world, visitors who stayed at least one night in a foreign country reached 1.4 billion. In the United States, however, recent fears of a “Trump slump” roiled the international travel industry, which supports 15.7 million jobs and generates $2.5 trillion in economic output. Nearly 80 million foreigners visited the US in 2018. That was a record high. But the American share of the international travel market skidded 13.7 percent from 2015, to the lowest level since 2006. Had the 2015 level remained steady, the US would have welcomed 14 million more international visitors, a magnitude that would have generated enough demand to employ 120,000 more Americans (Nayeri, 2019, p. C1; Mzezewa, 2019, p. TR2). The scale of these missed economic opportunities is poignant.

15 Tsunamis of tourists nevertheless continued to pour into Florida. Over 5 million foreign visitors per year still flock to the theme parks around Orlando, and they have shifted tourism away from south Florida. So dependent is central Florida upon tourism that one in twenty workers in the Metro Orlando area earns a paycheck from Disney World; and the Universal Studios theme park hires as many Florida employees as does Walmart (the largest private employer in the world). Absent significant manufacturing in the state, a whopping four in five jobs there are credited—directly or indirectly—to the service industry. It provides food, lodging and entertainment for tourists and other travelers in a state where most governmental revenue comes from sales and hotel taxes. Florida does not impose an income tax, a policy that encourages many tourists to become residents. Only Nevada tops Florida in the proportion of the population born outside the state. But the boost that Florida gets in the census count does not bring a commensurate increase in state revenue to match social needs. Dependence on tourism also affects the labor market adversely. As liberal economists never tire of declaring, the US has suffered less from a lack of jobs than from a paucity of good jobs; and employment in Florida’s service industry tends to be low-skill and low-status (Revels, 2011, pp. 3, 126, 132-33, 151; Mormino, 2005, pp. 114, 181). The pay is so low that very many employees cannot afford to live near where they work. The infrastructure that keeps Disney World humming so smoothly, for instance, is subterranean. That is where many of its employees toil, deprived of the sunlight that draws Disney World’s “guests” to Florida. Shorn of glamour, such jobs are intended to make the influx of vacationers as frictionless an operation as possible, and to keep these eager out-of-state visitors coming.

16 Yet a glum paradox is embedded in the recent history of Florida. “I spent thirty years of my life trying to get people to move down there,” a former mayor of Orlando, Carl T. Langford, has recalled. “And then they all did” (Painton, 1991, p. 58). He was neither the first nor the last person to learn that in dreams begin responsibilities, and that neither action nor inaction can avoid repercussions. Promises also entail problems. They have included environmental degradation, traffic congestion, gridlock on expressways like the Palmetto and the Sawgrass, as well as the sort of sprawl that can seem almost indigenous to Florida. The structure of services and amenities, as well as the infrastructure, is bound to buckle under the weight of so many people. The underground aquifers are already so depleted that even during the rainy season lawn-watering restrictions have been imposed. This melancholy decline in the quality of life is bound to affect the impressions and experiences of tourists too. The fate of Florida thus exemplifies what economists call “induced demand.” It is defined as an increase in availability (such as more highway lanes and larger parking lots), which instigates an increase in consumption, which worsens traffic congestion. When Langford, the longtime booster, decided to retire, he moved to North Carolina (Grunwald, 2004b, pp. 28-29; Mormino, 2005, pp. 28-29), making the conclusion inescapable: ballyhoo has its downside. Some of its consequences can be tabulated here.

17 The balance between nature and artifice has become disrupted, risking the prospect of dystopia. The Army Corps of Engineers, with its can-do motto of “ Essayons ” (let us try), has indeed been trying very hard to worsen that imbalance, journalist Michael Grunwald charged. The Corps has energetically put on coasts “environmentally damaging seawalls [and] artificial dunes,” and installed “levees and canals and pumps” into the eastern Everglades in particular, so that it “was converted into wall-to-wall sprawl” (Grunwald, 2004b, p. 27; Burleigh, 2020, pp. TR1, 4-5). And now “the financial and environmental bill for a century of runaway growth and exploitation is coming due,” Grunwald added. “The elaborate water-management scheme that made southern Florida habitable has been stretched beyond capacity, yo-yoing between brutal droughts and floods, converting the Everglades into a tinderbox and a sewer, ravaging the beaches, bays, lakes and reefs that made the region so alluring in the first place.” Mercury has contaminated fish, and algal blooms have clouded the bays of south Florida. The depleted marine life, the leaching landfill sites, the “awful traffic,” as well as “red tides that have made it tough for sunbathers to breathe at the beach,” have been among the effects of Florida’s relentless overdevelopment (Grunwald, 2004a, p. 26, and 2008, pp. 28, 29, 30; Davis and Arsenault, 2005, p. 6). Grunwald should know; he lives in Miami-Dade County. Below Tallahassee, the glass-bottom boats at Wakulla Springs barely run, because tannic acid from the state capital polluted waters that were once so pristine that tourists could see straight down for 120 feet. What remains is what Revels calls “a murky brown stew” (2011, p. 150). The new term for this phenomenon, in which too many visitors bear down on an unsustainable infrastructure, is “over-tourism” (Nayeri, 2019, p. C1).

18 The most notorious instance is undoubtedly Venice, a city that in recent years has been subjected to considerable flooding. It is not an entirely natural catastrophe, but is instead due to what the Venetian literary scholar Shaul Bassi has called an “indiscriminate tampering with an ecosystem nurtured by Venice for centuries, the impact of the cruise ships, excavations of the lagoon and the rapacious investment in tourism.” Admittedly profitable for residents, over-tourism has threatened to supersede all other aspects of civic life there. Far too many earthlings have explored the singularity of Venice and have been wearing the T-shirts to prove it (2019, p. A23). But if Venice goes under and becomes uninhabitable, the durability of the fake Piazza San Marco near Orlando will offer little consolation. The ecological peril to a fragile and unique city like Venice, Italy has been widely publicized. The danger posed to Venice, Florida and vicinity is less known but is surely worthy of concern as well.

19 Any student of “over-tourism” need look no further than Walt Disney World. Covering 43 square miles, which is twice the size of Manhattan, this theme park has become the planet’s biggest tourist attraction. The Florida legislature expedited this achievement in bestowing on Disney’s so-called Reedy Creek Improvement District what amounts to its own government. Endowed with extraordinary political and legal authority, Walt Disney World has written its own building codes, formed its own fire department and even granted itself the power to tax. “They could build a nuclear plant out there,” an Orlando City Commissioner grumbled, “and there’d be nothing we could do about it.” Such sovereignty has even provoked comparisons with the Vatican (Mormino, 2005, p. 104; Painton, 1991, p. 54), however slight the danger of either of these tiny states going nuclear. The shadow that the Magic Kingdom and EPCOT (the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow) casts is nevertheless formidable. Marine craft afloat in Walt Disney World are so numerous that soon after the opening of the theme park, its flotilla constituted the ninth largest navy on the planet. Great Britain, once the greatest naval power in history, must currently reconcile itself to the reduced status of luring fewer tourists than Disney World does (Elsworth, 1991, p. F4).

20 Orlando can be now reached by direct flights from cities as distant as Rio and Frankfurt. Prior to the pandemic, the 2,558-square-mile metropolitan area of Orlando boasted the largest concentration of hotel rooms (76,300) in the nation, as well as the highest occupancy rate (79%). Orlando became second in the nation in the number of conventions that the city hosts, and also in the number of attendees at those conventions (Painton, 1991, p. 52; Mormino, 2005, pp. 116, 117; Whitfield, 1993, p. 431). Because Disney World inspired the installation of other theme parks, such as Sea World and Universal Studios, Metropolitan Orlando became, by the final decade of the twentieth century, the fastest growing region in the US; and Disney World was welcoming approximately thirty million “guests” per year. Unsurprisingly, the hospitality industry had not fully braced itself for such an impact. Take late December 1986, for example. All motel rooms were then reported to be reserved and occupied on I-95 between Richmond and Savannah; and on December 29, an attendance record was set when 148,500 visitors clamored to get inside Disney World. This recreational colossus bypassed and then extinguished the tourist sites that offered to Mrs. Stowe the splendors of natural springs (Revels, 2011, pp. 127, 132-33; Mormino, 2005, pp. 106, 108).

21 Such spectacular success demands an explanation. For most customers, Walt Disney World seems to deliver. Its dream world is predictable and formulaic. Its atmosphere is antiseptic and courteous. It provides wholesome, banal entertainment. Nor should the superb safety record of Walt Disney World be ignored, especially when contrasted with a water park in Vernon, New Jersey, called Action Park. There so many patrons left with chipped teeth, bruised knees and concussions that attorneys nicknamed it Class Action Park. So many patrons ended up with broken bones that physicians in local hospitals nicknamed it Traction Park. Within one two-year period (1984-85), there were 26 head injuries—indeed, so many that Action Park bought the town of Vernon new ambulances. Between 1978, when the park opened, and 1996, when it closed, six deaths were reported–by drowning and by electrocution. A test dummy was sent on a ride that was about to open and came out of the tunnel missing its head. After this decapitation, the son of the owner demonstrated his confidence in the safety of the ride by inaugurating it and managed to come through the tunnel intact. As a precaution he protected himself by wearing hockey equipment. Disney helped put such amusement parks out of business (Barron, 2019, p. A18).

22 Not all of the guests have been satisfied, however. EPCOT Center, which opened in 1982, “has accomplished something I didn’t think possible in today’s world,” the satirist P. J. O’Rourke observed. “They have created a land of make-believe that’s worse than regular life. Unvarnished reality would be preferable,” he wrote in a deliriously dyspeptic book entitled Holidays in Hell . He was evidently taken for a ride. Journalist Mark Derr, based in Miami Beach, has complained that “the attractions” around Orlando “offer little of Florida, and no one seems to care.” To compare Orlando to its famous nearby theme park is to corroborate the claim of the sociologist Jean Baudrillard that “the city and the park are looking more like each other every day” (O’Rourke, 1988, pp. 184-85; Whitfield, 1993, p. 431; Mormino, 2005, p. 104). This common objection to tourism echoed what the historian Daniel J. Boorstin and the critic (and novelist) Umberto Eco formulated too. Such tourist sites risk calling reality itself into question. What Eco called “hyper-reality,” he argued, distorts actuality, and has represented a standard criticism of such theme parks ever since Boorstin’s broader condemnation of the mediated “pseudo-events” that can make modern experience so disorienting. In The Image (1962), he offered nature as a counterpoint to culture, or at least to the sort of culture that permeates so much of the texture of ordinary life through the ubiquity of media (Boorstin, 1962, pp. 4-5, 11; Whitfield, 1995, pp. 211-21). He was only partly right, however, because the relation to nature is also interactive.

23 In 1962, ecological consciousness barely existed; and sensitivity to the devastation of the natural environment was not common. Scientists were not yet warning of the penetration of the ozone layer. The bill now needs to be paid. The American preference for artifice over actuality (as Boorstin argued), as well as the reckless despoliation of the landscape, has now caused nature to retaliate.

24 The destruction of so many mangrove forests has made the west coast of Florida especially subject to flooding. According to one 2015 study, the Tampa-St. Petersburg metropolitan area ranks first in urban America in vulnerability to storm surges. Fort Myers is fifth, and Sarasota ranks seventh (Davis, 2017, p. 521). In Florida hurricanes have long incurred a fear as vivid as it is warranted; they have been lethal. But climate change has expanded the season from June to November. In 2004, one of the four major hurricanes that hit the state shut down the theme parks around Orlando for three days. Such hurricanes are likely to become more frequent, more powerful and more destructive. The southeastern part of the nation annually gets more rain than any other section, and the hurricanes bring more than danger. One resident of central Florida has defined the hurricane season in terms of “the humidity that frizzes your hair. It’s the lizard that crawls inside your coffee mug.” The air is “sticky.” To walk outside may not mean to encounter exquisite beauty but palmetto bugs instead, as well as “hills of fire ants and heaps of molehills.” Central Florida, she added, is where “the sky cracks open and floods the roads” (Davis, 2017, p. 338; Revels, 2011, p. 145-46; Arnett, 2019, pp. C1, C4). Nature has struck back by heightening the dangers of flooding and sinkholes, which is why Craig Pittman, an environmental reporter for the Tampa Bay Times , warned tourists: “Watch where you step.” But “because of the hurricanes,” he added, “always keep an eye on the skies.” They are not entirely friendly. Though some like it hot, the piercing of the ozone layer has made ominous a term like “Sunbelt.” The yearning to become much less pale that once intrigued Russell Baker now looks foolish, an invitation to risk skin cancer rather than signal robust health (Mervosh, 2019, p. A17). Compared to the icy winter of the Northeast, fierce hurricanes and oppressive heat do not automatically favor Florida.

25 The promoters of Florida had presented nature as mostly benign and hospitable. They showed the state to be primarily pastoral and irenic, a revived Garden of Eden. According to Genesis 3:1, only a single serpent could make trouble. But Florida seems less of a paradise than in the untamed nineteenth century. A bull shark got close enough to the shore of the Panhandle to bite off the arm of a swimmer who was training for a triathlon, while another attack near Destin proved lethal for a teenage girl. In central Florida wild hogs can grow to four hundred pounds. At least 72 species of mosquitoes have been found in the state; and in the summer, park rangers in the Everglades must often be outfitted with special clothing, including head nets. Tourists have reason to be apprehensive. They need to be advised that some creatures unmentioned in the Bible have found a home in Florida, thanks mainly to smugglers of exotic animals. Feckless monitoring at the Port of Miami led the Department of Justice to estimate that only the trade in drugs exceed the profits that can be derived from the importation of invasive species. They include Cuban tree frogs that are big enough to have gobbled native-born frogs, as well as the water hyacinth, the Asian walking catfish and the African tree snail (Bilger, 2009, p. 85).

26 Among the least charming of such creatures is the Burmese python, which began to appear in the Everglades in 1995. These reptiles were probably released by a pet shop, or by a breeder or by an owner confronted with the challenge to having to provide a diet of mice, rats and rabbits. Burmese pythons can grow to a length over twenty feet, can weigh two hundred pounds and can live for more than twenty-five years. According to the account in the National Geographic , a group of tourists walking not far from the main entrance to the Everglades in 2003 watched a Burmese python fight a full-grown alligator to the death. That pythons are not venomous is hardly reassuring, because “their upper jaws are fitted with a quadruple row of sharp, inward-curving teeth, their lower jaws with a double row.” Their teeth can hold onto prey until the Burmese pythons “can coil their body around it.” They can swallow leopards and six-foot alligators. Almost as much as tourists, Burmese pythons seem pleased to visit Florida, and have been found as far west as Tallahassee and as far north as Jacksonville. These reptiles are also believed to be growing more numerous. Along a canal, or in a secluded park, children who are smaller than either leopards or gators should be especially careful (Bilger, 2009, pp. 82, 83, 85, 86, 97). No invasive species is more frightening or resilient or ferocious than the Burmese python.

27 A close second, however, is an African lizard called the Nile monitor. It can grow up to seven feet in length. Its powerful legs enable an adult monitor to outrun a human being. This vicious creature has tapered jaws that are like daggers, and it is not picky about what it eats–which is basically whatever can fit inside its mouth. And whatever does not meet that test can be torn apart, from limb to limb. In the wild the Nile monitor can “hunt on land or in the water, climbing trees [and] digging up burrows,” according to science writer Burkhard Bilger. “Monitors often hunt in packs.” A biologist from the University of Tampa added that “they’re very aware, very intelligent.” Their disposition is quite disagreeable; and though they generally leave human beings alone, they attack if cornered. By now Florida may be harboring thousands of them. Because some have been spotted west of Fort Myers, at euphonious Cape Coral, the encounter between humanity and nature may be particularly fraught there. Cape Coral is the largest city between Miami and Tampa. “At the millennium,” historian Jack E. Davis noted, “Cape Coral was the fastest growing US city with a population of 100,000 or more.” The four hundred miles of canals in this planned community were intended to give homeowners some property next to water. Instead, the swamp—and, along with it, the Nile monitor—has come to them (Bilger, 2009, p. 89; Davis, 2017, p. 409), a reckoning that they could hardly have anticipated or sought.

28 The Burmese python and the Nile monitor are among the more than two hundred non-native species of wildlife estimated to be living outside of captivity in south Florida. In 1992 Hurricane Andrew set loose animals that had been confined to the Miami Zoo. They included baboons, orangutans and capybaras, which are rats that grow to the size of hogs. Many fled into the Everglades National Park. Though its 1.5 million acres exhibit less diversity than the Amazon, the mixture of both tropical and temperate species makes this huge section of south Florida unique. Hence southern crocodiles splash around next to northern alligators; and some plants are so weird that they are carnivorous (Goodnough, 2004, pp. 1, 21; Bilger, 2009, p. 82).

29 Most famous is the official state reptile, the native alligator. Somewhere between a million and a half and perhaps two million gators inhabit the state. But drought has reduced their natural habitat, forcing them to move toward places where Floridians have built swimming pools, canals and ponds. The incessant commitment to commercial and residential growth and the extension of agriculture into wetlands have limited the terrain that the gators once considered their own, resulting in a dramatic increase in fatal attacks against household pets and sometimes against humans. Alligators have become so aggressive that over sixteen thousand calls a year are placed at the state’s hot line, reporting nuisances and threats, often in backyards (Lemonick, 2006, pp. 48-49; Grunwald, 2004b, pp. 28-29; Bilger, 2009, p. 88). Consider the iguanas as well. The National Weather Service in Miami advised visitors as well as residents in south Florida to watch the skies again, because at night iguanas climb to treetops to rest. But these lizards, which are not native to the state, cannot maintain their grip when the temperature dips low; and they drop to the ground. Many can recover and slink away when it gets warmer. But tourists have been warned that they might not appreciate having a five-foot lizard land on them (Ortiz and Zraick, 2020, p. A26). Even when compared to the rats in the subways of New York City, the alligators on the lawn and the iguanas in the skies make Florida less enchanting.

30 No wonder then that contemporary Florida fiction is so attuned to ecology. The exploitation of the land has produced a body of work in which “ambition, appetite and absence of memory,” according to one critic’s summation, “lay waste to a once exquisitely delicate environment of wetlands and beaches.” For instance, the protagonists in Hiaasen’s novels “dislike nature. Whether they are predatory developers, corrupt politicians, greedy sugar barons, sleazy corporate lobbyists,” they barely notice the environment, unless they imagine how “to drain it, pave it, dredge it, and otherwise exploit it... They bulldoze mangrove swamps and hardwood hammocks into gated communities and strip malls” (Gopnik, 2013, p. 104; Grunwald, 2004a, p. 33). The urgency of the problem of imbalance did not happen to concern the Nobel laureates in literature who lived in the state—Ernest Hemingway on Key West, Isaac Bashevis Singer on Miami Beach. But if present ecological trends continue unabated, a refuge for retirees like Singer’s Oceanside community will be entirely underwater in three decades. When Groucho Marx was auctioning off Miami real estate in The Cocoanuts , he promised the suckers that “you can have any kind of home you want. You can even get stucco. Oh, can you get stuck-o!” The cynical joke from this 1920s Florida boom stemmed from the phony plots of land that were sold “by the gallon.” But nature will have the last laugh, and it will be grim.

31 Perhaps none of these alarming troubles lack equivalents elsewhere. But such portents seem to loom larger because of the shadow they cast on the mystique, because Florida has exercised such imaginative power over so many human beings. Too many visitors have come to the state; too many have stayed. Yet as historians Jack E. Davis and Raymond Arsenault observed in 2005, with some consternation, “Florida tourism has received very little scholarly attention in general, and the environmental implications of thirty to fifty million annual visitors have all but been ignored.” That is why Florida should be identified as a test-site of whether an erstwhile ideal of paradise can be squared with growth. Florida is where assumptions about economic and demographic growth have defied the fragility of the environment, where the relentless assault of the American way of life may have reached its limits. Has the remorselessness of “progress” therefore become the nemesis of wellbeing? Certainly, the installation of the machine in the garden has constituted one way of thinking about American history in general, but that injection applies especially to a state where prosperity depends so heavily on tourism. When John Muir, a founder of the Sierra Club and the instigator of the conservation movement in the US, arrived in Florida in 1867, he acknowledged the “thorny plants” and the “venomous beasts” that he saw around him. But Muir also revered nature for its powers of rejuvenating humanity, and he objected to the utter subjugation of the environment to social and economic desires (Davis and Arsenault, 2005, p. 19; Davis, 2017, pp. 243-44). The current troubles that Florida faces hint at the timeliness of Muir’s warning. How commerce can be reconciled with conservation, how over-tourism can somehow be accommodated to the natural order is the challenge that the history of Florida presents. It is a disconsolate reminder of the Fall that is integral to the myth of Eden.

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Will B. Macintosh , Selling the Sights: The Invention of the Tourist in American Culture , New York, New York University Press, 2019.

Sarah Mervosh , “To New Yorkers Heading South, Floridians Have Message: ‘It’s Not Disney World,’” New York Times , 2 November 2019.

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Electronic reference

Stephen J. Whitfield , “ Florida: From Tourism to Troubles ” ,  Mondes du Tourisme [Online], 21 | 2022, Online since 01 June 2022 , connection on 01 May 2024 . URL : http://journals.openedition.org/tourisme/4457; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/tourisme.4457

About the author

Stephen j. whitfield.

Professor of American Studies (Emeritus) Brandeis University (United States) Swhitfie[at]brandeis.edu

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History of Florida/Modern Florida, 1900-1945

• 1 Introduction
• 2 Jim Crow and the Great Migration
• 3 Draining the Everglades
• 4.1 The Highway
• 4.2 Media Portrayal of Florida
• 4.3 Collapse and Aftermath
• 5 Birth of Tourism
• 6 Florida and the Second World War
• 7 Race Relations in the 1920s

Introduction [ edit | edit source ]

Florida during the first half of the 20th Century experienced rapid change. The Great Migration, mass immigration, and the Land Boom of the 1920s made millions of people aware of Florida and its attractions for the first time. A booming post war economy after World War One and mass tourism greatly diversified and expanded the population of Florida. New communities and attractions now suddenly dotted Florida's coasts and interior, reflecting Florida's increased popularity. The first fifty years of the 20th century would greatly impact the culture of Florida.

Jim Crow and the Great Migration [ edit | edit source ]

Jim Crow was the name for a system of laws passed in the Southern States during, and after the Reconstruction period of the Southern United States. The laws were passed as a legal means to re-establish and uphold white superiority after the abolition of slavery. These laws were not a thing of the past for Southerners of both races during the first half of the twentieth century, and Florida, being a former slave state, was no exception. In the past, there had been laws passed to segregate public life, but during the 1910’s and 1920’s the laws continued, with laws prohibiting a difference between the student’s and the teacher’s race in the classroom. Evidently the tension and opposition that existed between the races was highlighted in a racial conflict in Rosewood, Florida in 1923. Allegations of the rape of a white woman, Fannie Taylor, lead to a white mob killing several blacks and two white people in a shootout. These acts of violence were common throughout the South and throughout Florida, especially as the Ku Klux Klan gained power in the region. Another man accused of rape in 1921 was hung from a telephone pole in Wauchula. It was clear to the black residents of Florida that the Jim Crow laws were not going away and it was best to find a way to deal with it. Racism was not what blacks wanted in their lives.

In an effort to escape the economic hardships or Jim Crow laws many African Americans moved to the cities where the opportunity to gain an economic advantage was higher than within the rigged tenant farm system many black people worked and lived in. This agriculture industry was a big driving force of economic growth for black communities in developing states like Florida, but many left as the system fell apart during the Great Depression. This happened in three waves occurring; during and after World War 1, and in the 1930’s during the Depression. In the South as many as two million black families abandoned farm life for the cities during the 1930’s alone, while approximately 400 000 of them left the South to venture to the industrialized North to pursue a greater economic opportunity. This movement to the cities was named the Great Migration and it grew to define Florida’s urban culture. As the Depression set in, black families in Florida moved to cities like Jacksonville and Miami, creating a population and labour boom within those cities. Entrepreneurs looking to get into real estate used the subsidies on the National Housing Act to create low-income housing for black communities. Throughout the urban areas in Florida the creation of large Coloured Towns became existent, and as moderate portions of the cities were sectioned off as coloured areas. To put it into perspective, the white population of South Florida on average lived with 15 people per acre, but in Miami’s Negro District blacks lived in a concentration of 600 per acre. Despite the large explosion of housing in Miami’s Coloured Town, less than 10% of the black residents actually owned their own homes. This was the main reason why after the housing boom of the mid-1920’s many blacks found their way back to the returning tenant agriculture industry, only to return during the Depression.

African-Americans in Florida faced many of the same challenges that their kin were facing throughout the South and the United States as a whole. It showed that in Florida violence and fear was especially prevalent inside of the black communities. The first half of the twentieth century saw a major urbanization of Florida’s black population, but only new problems and prejudices would be faced in the cities.

Draining the Everglades [ edit | edit source ]

The drainage of the Everglades was a consequence of the United States push for progressive action within the late nineteenth, early twentieth century. The transformation of the Everglades was designed under the pressure from an increasing population along with the commercialization of the Florida dream. With this growth in population and the increased technological advancements of the 20th Century, the political necessity for the landscape reclamation in Florida’s Everglades became an imperative issue. The first estimation for drainage of the Everglades cost, was produced by Buckingham Smith’s “reconnaissance” of the region in 1847. Smith believed that the region could be reclaimed at the cost of $300,000 to $500,000. The United States Army Corps of Engineers later estimates for enhancing the water-control structures as a permanent solution for flood protection and water control, from Lake Okeechobee to South Florida, came at the price of $208,135,000.

The drainage of the Everglades began in 1906, without much preparation and was accelerated by the determination of Florida’s governor, Napoleon Broward. According to Broward, growth in infrastructure and the following economic boom would pay for the costs of draining the wetlands. The canals installed by developer Richard J. Bolles saw the sale of newly reclaimed land, first starting at $15 an acre, eventually becoming more complex in price due to a lottery based scheme. This proved to be a success, by 1911 more than 10,000 farms had been sold and by 1912 land developers had sold over 20,000 lots. This land distribution would become a significant factor for the developmental growth of Florida’s agricultural economy and the Land Boom.

The drainage of the Everglades would cause a significant environmental repercussion and would lower the surface of the land, inevitably causing Florida’s vulnerability for water damages through hurricanes and floods. The most devastating floods came from the 1926 “Miami” and the 1928 “Okeechobee” hurricanes. This caused the political-ecological shift to prioritize water control within the state of Florida, along with the South, throughout the 1930s on-wards. Projects such as the construction of the Tennessee and Tombigbee Waterway would show Congress’s concern in ecological matters within the South.

By 1920 the commercial sugarcane cultivation on drained Everglade soils had become a falling point for land sales. With the formidable task of land drainage, waterway control and the expansionist globalization of U.S. foreign imports, the Florida tropical frontier for sugarcane had been displaced by areas such: as Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Philippines and Cuba. This shift would affect the political goals for Florida during the 1928 election. The Drainage of the Everglades would later be considered an environmental disaster to future critics. The Everglades remained to be an issue within American politics and was one of the main topics of concern for the presidential candidate Al Gore in 2000.

Florida Land Boom [ edit | edit source ]

During the 1920s, Americans experienced a new wave of technological and economic prosperity. The national economy was increasing at a rapid pace, spurring a growth in infrastructure because Americans could now afford to spend money on consumer goods. In this period, Florida was highly popularized because it was only a few days drive from the North, mosquito-borne diseases had been eradicated, and middle-class Americans began to vacation there. Florida’s tropical weather gave it great potential for tourism. To capitalize on this, advertisers labeled Florida as a paradise; a last frontier, and a source of eternal youth and industry. This, and in addition the symbiotic relationship between tourism and real estate advertisements easily sparked the land boom in Florida. This was also aided by Florida experiencing rapid immigration due to the expanded infrastructure which made travel very easy for middle class Americans. Florida’s population increased by approximately 300,000 from 1920-1925, this population surge resulted in huge inflation of the property market in Florida and Miami. This subsequent property inflation meant many land developers were attempting to purchase as much land as possible to construct hotels and homes to accommodate for the influx of people.

Following the conclusion of World War I, Florida remained largely the same as it had during colonial times. Its population of about a half a million split evenly between white Americans and African-Americans. For years the economy of Florida was driven primarily by agricultural industries such as sugar and cotton. That all changed in the 1920s when Florida real estate was coveted by a newly emerging American middle class. As the dust settled in Europe and a modern United States emerged, working hours began to shrink. The emergence of nine to five workdays and weekends introduced working class Americans to leisure, recreation and free time. Vacations and travel, that at one point were only reserved for the rich, became the pursuit of many different Americans. The Roaring Twenties enriched many Americans and ensured the continued growth of the middle class.

The emerging American middle class was largely responsible for the elevation of Florida from Spanish colonial sauna to America’s playground. Tourism began to take off following the First World War and this led to a burgeoning tourism industry, providing an economic boost and contributing to the diversification of Florida’s economy away from its primarily agrarian economy of old. Today, the tourism industry in Florida has grown to become one of the world’s largest economies which relies on this same industry, which is made evident by the existence of such institutions as Disney World. People began moving to Florida in large numbers in the early 1920s due to the relative ease of travel brought about by increased infrastructure. During World War I many American soldiers trained in Florida, after the war's conclusion many of them found themselves wanting to go back, thus veterans were among the first wave of migrants. Furthermore, innovations like air conditioning made Florida attractive to large numbers of Americans, causing thousands to pour into the state in search of the paradise promised by the weather and booming economy.

The numbers present a clear picture of the enormity of this land boom. In 1910 the population of Miami was about 5,000, however by 1930 that number had swelled to over 110,000 people. The boom created new cities and towns with many small communities growing to be cities of thousands during this period. However, in the early to mid 1920s, the boom turned into a full-blown bubble. In Miami Millions, Kenneth Ballinger wrote in 1936 that “the coasts where pirates under Morgan and Lafitte once plied their evil trade sprouted such riches that in one place ocean-side developers actually abandoned a pirate chest they could feel with their dredges, to get on with the more remunerative work of building a subdivision to sell.” Speculation was so rampant, developers didn’t bother collecting pirate treasure because it would take too long to extract! At its height, the boom fueled speculation to such dizzying heights that in some cases properties were exchanging hands up to ten times a day. However, not all of this growth was lost on speculators; there were countless of tangible investments to be found in Florida’s infrastructure, for instance The Dixie Highway connecting Chicago to Miami was completed in 1927 and had a lasting impact on the state. The Dixie Highway was one of the many projects undertaken during the 1920s designed to modernize Florida. As stated in the Florida Handbook: “…[the] spending of inestimable sums by public and private agencies for improvements” allowed for continued growth in the state.

Unfortunately that growth was postponed. Just as the boom was beginning to slow, a devastating hurricane hit in 1926 and before the state could fully recover it was slammed with another hurricane in 1928. As if Mother Nature couldn’t summon enough misery, the market crash of 1929 and the depression that followed prevented Florida from fully recovering until the run up in industrial production immediately preceding World War II. Although the bursting of the real estate bubble coupled with the Great Depression robbed Florida of meaningful growth for almost 15 years, the benefits of the Florida Land Boom and the bubble it produced were lasting and the impact it had on shaping Florida’s future was significant. The boom resulted in an increasingly urbanized Florida, with infrastructure like highways, bridges and public works which were by-products of an increasing population and enhanced political clout. Perhaps even more important was Florida’s image within the rest of the United States. No longer was Florida a southern, colonial backwater state, instead, from the 1920s onward, Florida would forever be seen as a sun-kissed ocean playground, the tropical Jewel in the American crown.

The Highway [ edit | edit source ]

One of the largest causes of this great migration to Florida was the accessibility of highways which middle-class families used to travel to Florida. In such a sense, highways such as the Dixie and Lincoln were primary contributors to the Florida Land Boom in that they allowed potential land buyers to travel quickly across the country and reach Florida while the land was still inexpensive. The first highway in Florida was built in 1911 connecting Jacksonville to Miami which ultimately established the first road that could take you from the northern part of Florida too its south. Prior to the action taken by the Federal government in 1916, highway building was mainly pushed for and funded by highway associations composed of different interest groups. In order to meet the requirements of the newly established Federal Roads Act in 1917, state highways funded by the government were starting to be created. The U.S. 90 opened in 1923 and connected Jacksonville to Lake City becoming the first concrete highway in the state. Soon after, in 1928 the Tamiami Trail connecting Miami to Fort Myers was completed, establishing a road that allowed tourists to see the everglades but also linked the west coast to the eat coast. One of the main aspects of this highway which appealed to investors was the idea of a “loop road” for tourists which would allow them to drive along both Florida coasts, which obviously provided motivation for countless tourists to move to Florida, thereby partly causing the land boom. Ultimately, this highway which had such a large impact on the land boom showed Florida’s reliance on private capital to provide public infrastructure.

In order to attract tourists from other states it was also important to develop highways that linked Florida with other states across the nation. In 1926, the U.S. 1 - Highway was completed which connected Florida to New York but also intersected with the Dixie Highway that connected Florida all the way to Chicago. This gave citizens living in the North-Eastern parts of the U.S. a valid form of access to Florida for vacation opportunity. By 1930 it was estimated that approximately 2.5 million tourists were arriving to Florida primarily by automobile and once inside Florida had access to over 3,800 miles of designated roads that could take them all over the state. In 1937 a tourist booklet by the name of Highways of Florida was put out by the Florida State Road department. The 1940’s saw a surge in tourism with the new highways that had been built making it easier to travel.

Real estate activity started gaining traction in Florida with the state’s ambitious land reclamation program of the Everglades along the southeastern coast of Florida, especially around Miami. This caused several national companies to acquire large parcels of property and extoll the virtues of the soil for agriculture, community building, or sites of future industry . The advertisement of them and others, such as Carl Fisher who installed a billboard in Times Square stating that it’s “June in Miami” during the winter created frenzy. Because of that, masses flocked to Florida to profit off of the potential riches there.

Media Portrayal of Florida [ edit | edit source ]

Aside from accessibility, another main cause of the influx of newcomers to Florida was the use of media to paint a picture of Florida as a “vision of paradise.” Media at the time, especially newspapers, wrote about the tropical setting that was Florida, with large advertisements in popular newspapers which discussed up and coming developments of Florida real estate. Many of these advertisements were accompanied by illustrations which romanticized the state and was very appealing to the average citizen who was looking for a warmer climate. This portrayal of Florida coincided heavily with the adventurous attitude of the Roaring Twenties in which the suddenly wealthy middle class was looking for excitement and a new environment. Carl Fisher and George Merrick were the prime developers for starting the land boom in Florida because their heavy promotion allowed lots to be quickly bought for potential development, whether for leisure or industry. Easy credit from low yields in high grade investments also made it easier to invest and get bonds earmarked for infrastructure; e.g. hotels, golf courses, buildings, factories . Because of that, it allowed Carl Fisher, George Merrick, and others to create planned communities with amenities to entice many to Florida. George Merrick’s planned community of Coral Gables is a prime example of this. With a $3 million advertisement budget and 3,000 salesmen across the country, as well as William Jennings Bryan to extoll Coral Gables, it easily gained buyers across the country.

People called Binder Boys also invested in buying the land to become rich quick by selling these lots as quick as they bought it. Binder Boys precipitated the peak of the land boom by buying the options of land parcels that had a payment due in thirty days or less, which was more than the cost itself. After buying the land parcels, they would get an ownership document and flip the document for a higher price. This process would repeat again and again, rapidly driving up land prices.

Despite the frenzy in Florida, it did not spur the economic development it was thought to. Most of the planned physical structures for industries and tourism from the bonds were mostly on paper, leaving majority of the lots empty. Coral Gables and others were empty, because the buyers bought the land unseen. These issues were compounded with the failure of Florida’s logistics, stalling development.

Collapse and Aftermath [ edit | edit source ]

During the mid-1920s, Florida’s property market was incredibly profitable and investors of all sizes raced to purchase and develop land as quickly as possible to accommodate for the rapid influx of families looking to move to the Sunshine State. While peaking in 1925, this rapid development began to stutter and eventually came to a screeching halt in the summer of 1926, with buildings to be found throughout Florida in various stages of incompletion. This rapid decrease in development of Florida real estate was caused by a lack of potential buyers since the price of land had risen to ludicrous amounts. It was also hampered by the Bureau of Internal Revenue decreeing the entirety of purchase price had to be reported as income creating problems because the huge profits were only on paper; sellers only gained a portion of it. In addition, Florida’s rail lines and Miami port became unable to handle construction supplies to Miami. Because of that, the rail lines declared an embargo on all shipments, except food and fuel, from August of 1925, lasting until the spring of 1926. The Port of Miami had several ships sit outside of the harbour because of a lack of docks or workers stalled port activities. These issues thereby increased the price of these building materials, making them more difficult to acquire.

All of this created bad publicity from outside of Florida. The news caused the Land Boom to bottom out in 1926. Florida was also hit by a hurricane and a smallpox epidemic in 1926. Destruction from the hurricane and state officials covering up smallpox destroyed Florida’s image of prosperity and future innovation. The severity of Florida’s economic destruction from the Land Boom is exemplified by the fact that Coral Gables was burdened by credit claims of $35 million in 1929. Ultimately, Florida was hit by the Great Depression sooner than other states since the real estate bubble, which had so heavily relied on credit from banks, subsequently burst and as a result banks began to fail, being unable to pay back their creditors.

Birth of Tourism [ edit | edit source ]

In modern day Florida, tourism is a large aspect of the state’s day to day affairs. The rise of tourism began before the second world war and exploded into a major industry in 1945. At the turn of the twentieth century, the state of Florida awakened to the idea of developing tourism as a prominent industry into their economy. With its year round tropical climate, and advances in transportation with the recent invention of the automobile, Florida became an ideal destination during the winter months for American people across the nation. It gained a reputation for being a playground for the rich and slowly began to sway away from its designation as a traditional “Southern” state. The term “snowbird” was developed as many northerners flocked to Florida during the winter months to get away from the cold. Resorts and hotels to attract the wealthy upper class began to open up across Florida in cities such as Pensacola and St. Petersburg. In these cities, locals began to see the wisdom of encouraging tourism as a way to increase further settlement and investment. Lavish resorts with Spanish, and Victorian themes began to appear creating established resort communities in these cities. Tourism has been present in Florida since the early 1920’s, however due to the depression few people could afford to travel resulting in the industry being rather small. By the 1920s America was experiencing a revolutionary wave of prosperity amongst lower and middle class workers as wages began to increase, and working hours began to decline. Being able to go on a vacation finally became an option for these workers, and Florida became an ideal location for them. These tourists became known as “tin-can tourists” a name given to them by natives due to the fact that these travellers would bring canned food with them. Unable to afford the lavish resorts that the upper class vacationed at, motels and campgrounds with running water were created to support these groups of tourists. This rising number of automotive tourists inspired many citizens living in Florida to venture into entrepreneurial businesses. Restaurants and gas stations were soon established beside motels and campgrounds. As these developments across the state began to grow so did the number of jobs. Between 1920 and 1930 it was estimated that the overall employment in Florida increased by more than 55 percent, and the total number of jobs in the tourism industry doubled.

With a rise in tourism, the minority group known as the Florida Seminole tribe became subjects to cultural exploitation. The Seminole tribe were a curiosity to most of the tourists who visited Florida as they had previously lived in secluded areas of the Florida Everglades. With the completion of the Tamiami Trail that attracted many tourists to the everglades, the Everglades National Park was established forcing the Seminole tribe to have to relocate and abide by new laws which prohibited hunting inside the everglades. The Seminoles realized that the only way to survive would be to join the tourism industry themselves. The Musa Isle Village and trading post was developed by the Seminoles which attracted many tourists due to its exotic nature. At this post tourists were presented to native Seminole rituals such as; dancing, clothing, and alligator wrestling.

Florida and the Second World War [ edit | edit source ]

Based off of its geographical location Florida became an ideal location for the United States to establish military bases here once they joined the war in 1941. One of the most important institutions that came about was Camp Gordon Johnston. When the base was first established the living conditions that the soldiers became exposed to were awful. Buildings were made of light wood and had no floors, which left to many soldiers to suffer from the cold. The inhabitants of the base had limited facilities, and were unable to visit populated cities such as Tallahassee due to a lack of transportation. Many soldiers where unpleasantly surprised when they arrived at the base, expecting palm trees and balmy weather. This was not the case, and one soldier even referred to the base as “Hell by the sea” when writing letters to home . However, as the institution progressed, it became one of the most important places for training in an aspect that would help the United States win the war. Amphibious training, which incorporated attack from sea on land, would ultimately find the Americans victorious when storming the beaches of Europe.

Although some American soldiers faced unfavorable conditions during the war, nothing could compare to the discrimination and social issues faced by African Americans. From the beginning of the 20th century, there was a ‘separate but equal’ mentality when it came to African Americans, and this became even more present during the war. Racial disorders accounted for ix civilian riots, twenty military riots and forty lynchings . White officers mistreated many black soldiers, and although it was thought to be separate but equal, there was no equality inside of the military bases. When Camp Gordon Johnston implemented more facilities including theaters and a library, they were only available to the white soldiers. When the possibility for to visit neighboring cities came about, black soldiers were only allowed to be transported after the white soldiers had their choice. On such visits to places like Tallahassee and Frenchtown, riots would occur between black soldiers and civilians, and on one occasion, a black soldier was shot and killed by a white civilian officer. This was one of the many events that eventually led to 250 black soldiers from Dale Mabry Field and Camp Gordon Johnston storming Frenchtown in a large riot. The aftermath of this event left black soldiers even fewer opportunities, as they were not allowed to leave the bases. The World War II era set the stage for a black revolution but it would take another 15 years before a true civil rights movement would happen in America. Until than the African Americans would continue to have to live in an unrealistic world of separate but equal.

World war two was an important time for the state of Florida. Many military training facilities were built. Turning out troops and making products for the war became Florida’s second largest industry next to tourism at the time. The attack on Pearl Harbour in 1941 saw great changes in the tourism industry of Florida. The start of the second world war and the bombing of Pearl harbour increased the flow of tourists. Miami became a hotspot for tourists, earning the name “Magic City” in 1943. By the end of the second world war there was a growing Hispanic and Latino population. This would see tourism in a more broadened demographic which helped solidify Florida as a leader in the tourism industry.

Race Relations in the 1920s [ edit | edit source ]

The race relations that existed in Florida between African Americans and Whites was not strong in the 1920s. One of the prominent African American newspapers in the country described one of Florida’s biggest cities, Miami, as the “forbidden city.” This was evident as African Americans were forced to settle west of the railroad, in inland Florida away from the shoreline were white settlers and tourists would predominantly be. Furthermore, those African Americans living west of the railway were forced to endure unsanitary living conditions. As a result, they succumbed to disease more easily and the infant mortality rate doubled compared to that of the rest of Florida.

A case that portrays race relations in Florida during this time period is the Rosewood Massacre of 1923. Rosewood was a community that was located in Midwest Florida and was inhabited by both African American and White people. This event proves to be an example of race relations during this time as the property damage and riots that ensued during the Rosewood Massacre were sparked by racial conflict. The destruction of the community was described as a race riot and resulted in houses owned by African Americans to be burned to the ground and never repaired. The Rosewood Massacre resulted in the deaths of eight people, two of which were white and six African Americans. This event was also significant because it was the first time where Black people were compensated for injuries sparked by racism, although this would come much later in 1994.

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About VISIT FLORIDA

VISIT FLORIDA, the state's official tourism marketing corporation, serves as Florida's official source for travel planning to visitors across the globe. VISIT FLORIDA is not a government agency, but rather a not-for-profit corporation created as a public/private partnership by the Florida Legislature in 1996.   Florida's tourism industry was responsible for welcoming 135.0 million visitors in 2023, leading 2019 visitation by 3.0% and only 1.7% below the all-time record. Domestic air visitation reached a record high of 45.9 million, constituting the largest share of air visitors since 2016. In 2022, Florida visitors contributed $121.5 billion to Florida's economy and supported 2 million Florida jobs. According to the Office of Economic and Demographic Research, for every $1 the state invests in VISIT FLORIDA, $3.27 in state tax revenue is generated.   Each year, the Florida Legislature appropriates public funding to be allocated for tourism marketing. VISIT FLORIDA is required to match those public funds dollar-for-dollar, which is done by actively recruiting the state's tourism industry to invest as Partners through cooperative advertising campaigns, promotional programs and many other marketing ventures. VISIT FLORIDA’s public/private partnership works with tourism industry businesses across the state, including major strategic partnerships with Busch Gardens Tampa, Experience Kissimmee, LEGOLAND Florida Resort, SeaWorld Parks & Resorts Orlando, and Universal Orlando Resort.    VISIT FLORIDA facilitates tourism industry participation in domestic and international travel trade and consumer shows, as well as media missions to the top global visitor markets. VISIT FLORIDA also works closely with travel agents, tour operators, meeting and event planners, and is responsible for operating Florida's four Official Welcome Centers.   VISIT FLORIDA's corporate office is located at 101 North Monroe Street, Suite 900, Tallahassee, Florida 32301. The office can be reached at (850) 488-5607.

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17 Historical Sites in Florida You Must Visit

February 12, 2022 //  by  Florida Trippers

Are you looking for a list of the best historical sites in Florida to visit? If so, we have you covered with all the Florida historic sites.

There are a plethora of historical landmarks in Florida to visit . Starting at the southernmost point in the state, you will find historic fort just off shore in the Dry Tortugas, to historic sites in Florida near Miami like Vizcaya Villa, to National and State parks featuring ruins in Florida as well as historic plantation where you can learn the history of Florida.

Outdoor lovers and adventures can wander through gardens in Tampa and St. Pete, and learn about educational battles and inventions that shaped the state. You can learn about the history of the state from the time of Native Americans through Modern day. There is no shortage to explore here in Florida !

Fort De Soto

Fort De Soto Park is one of the historical sites in Saint Petersburg Florida. It features 7 miles of waterfront including several beaches , 7 miles of paved trails, two large swimming centers, and historic forts.

Named after the Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto, this is one of the famous Florida monuments. Home to the Tocobaga Indigenous peoples from 1000 AD to 1500 AD. Spanish explorers came in 1528 but sadly all that remains are historic finds.

The forts at Fort De Soto were constructed in 1898 and the forts were completed in 1900.By the mid 1800’s, the five keys that make up Fort De Soto were used as fortification. Fort De Soto area of Florida was used as a military blockade for the Civil War.

There are over 230 campsites and picnic shelters, making it a great place to visit for a day trip or overnight stay from Tampa or Sand Key .

The entrance fee is $5 to enter for cars and is open daily from 7am to sundown. Making it one of the best places to catch a sunset over the Gulf.

Fort Zachary Taylor

One of most instagrammable historical sites in Florida, Fort Zachary Taylor is a beautiful beach just 2 miles from downtown Key West. You can explore 87-acre  Florida state park .

Fort Zachary pre dates the Civil War with its deep red brick walls, largest collection of Civil War cannons and gun ports along the covered archways . Along with the fort there several walking trails to explore, sunbathe at the beach and explore the fort.

The entrance fee to the park costs $6 and parking is free. And should be a must do on every visitors list in Key West .

Windley Key State Park

Windley Key Fossil Reef Geological State Park is one of the best historical sites in Florida to visit for those interested in geology.

Opened in 1908 it is one of the coolest State parks , it is made completely of fossilized coral ! The park was built on the quarry that was used to create famous Floridian Henry Flagler’s railroad. A transformational moment at the turn of the 19th century for Florida.

Located in Islamorada visitors can wander through ruins in Florida featuring old quarry equipment, walk along where the mine was, or take one of five self-guided tours that you can experience at your own pace!

The park is closed on Tuesday and Wednesday, but is open Thursday through Monday. Admission is $2.50 and ranger led tours are available at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Friday through Sunday.

Bok Towers is one of the hidden gems that you must add to your bucket list of what to do in Florida! Opened in 1929, visitors can come from 8 am to 6 pm daily. Admission is $15 for adults and you can even bring your dog for $5! During the holiday season the garden decorated with lights!

Bok Towers is a 250 acer lush garden and bird sanctuary located in Lake Wales, Florida. Visitors can explore the myriad of Florida flora and fauna as you wander through the expansive garden on paved paths at one of the outdoor historical places in central Florida.

Castillo San Marco

It features a 205-foot tall Singing Tower with carillon bells that ring, and tower sits next to the reflection pool which creates a stunning view and also houses koi fish. If you’re feeling adventurous hike the Pine Ridge Trail to view the Pinewood Estate mansion.

Castillo San Marco is the oldest of the historic forts in Florida and is located in Saint Augustine . We consider this not only the  best National Park but the best Saint Augustine historcial site to visit.

This masonry fort is constructed of coquina stone and mortar and has been under control of several European countries. Built by the Spanish during the 23 years between 1672-1695 to control their empire from other European powers.

In 1763 with the Treaty of Paris, Castillo San Marcos was transferred to British control. It was returned to Spain in 1784 until Florida became a United States Territory in 1821.

Take a ranger led or guided tour and visit the soldiers rooms, the large interior courtyard, cannon firing, gun deck with amazing views of the city and more! You can catch a historic weapons demonstration every hour, weather permitting, check the castle’s website You can even visit here on a ghost tour !

Admission is $15 for those 16 and older , and free for those under 15. You can’t miss a visit to the most historic of cities in Florida.

Ringling Museum

Ringling Museum is one of the famous sites in Florida, located in Sarasota that you must visit !

What draws visors here is the beauty of the exterior of the Renaissance inspired pink complex. In the courtyard, a garden area flourishes with flowers and fountains, as well as bronze and stone casts of iconic sculptures like Michaelangelo’s David. If you plan to visit, don’t forget to check out our Tips For Visiting The Ringling Museum!

The Ringling Museum of Art houses the collection of circus co-founder John Ringling favorite artists from the Roman, Greek, Medieval, and Renaissance periods.

The  Ringling  has an entrance fee of $25 for adults. Reduced entrance rates are offered on Thursdays between 5 PM – 8 PM.

Henry Morrison Flagler Museum

Located in West Palm Beach , Henry Morrison Flagler museum is one the must see historic sites in Florida. This 75 room Gilded Age mansion was the private residence of Henry Flagler and features neoclassical architecture with an open-air courtyard, modeled after palaces in Europe.

Built in 1902, you can admire the marble floors and walls with hand painted murals on the ceiling and heavy gilding everywhere. Or sip high-tea in the courtyard. The museum features special exhibits from the 1865 to 1929 time period.

The Flagler Museum reigns as a must-see on any  Florida road trip itinerary ! Take a tour Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM. Admission starts at $18 and includes self-guided or Docent-led tours Tuesday through Friday at 11 am and 2 pm.

Henry B Plant Museum

Henry B Plant Museum is one of the Florida historic sites located in Tampa . Originally opened in 1891 by railroad magnate Henry B. Plant as the Tampa Bay Hotel , it is now part of the University of Tampa Campus.

The museum’s exhibits are centered around tourism from the Gilded Age in Tampa where you will learn about the lifestyle of the rich and famous guests. The railroad was at the center of the Tampa’s economy connecting it with various parts of the state.

Start your visit with the 14-minute video  The Tampa Bay Hotel: Florida’s First Magic Kingdom . Then as you wander you will be struck by the sheer opulence of the building, furnishings and sculptures all handpicked by Mr. and Mrs. Plant while in Europe.

On the 4th Friday of the month admission is free for Tampa’s cultural “ Fourth Friday “. If visiting on 3rd Thursday from 11 am to 11:30 they there is live music. And during Christmas time , guests may attend the annual Victorian Christmas Stroll, hosted by the hotel.

Visitors can  visit this Tampa historical site Tuesday through Sunday from 10 am to 5pm and admission is $10 for Adults.

Vizcaya Museum

Overlooking the Biscayne Bay, Vizcaya is one of the gorgeous Florida monuments and landmarks  attraction to visit in Miami . It was the winter estate of the Late industrialist James Deering.

Because of its timeless Mediterranean-style architecture, a visit to the Vizcaya is like taking a tour through the Gilded Age. While there are 32 decorated rooms and 10 acres of gardens have been pristinely preserved, only the first floor is open to visitors.

Once you step out into the gardens, you’ll be transported to Europe, and see why it made our list of historical places to visit in Florida !

The gardens will transport you back to Italy and France in the 17th and 18th century . Low hedges in geometric patterns divide the garden into a series of rooms. With sculptures made of porous coral stone throughout the gardens.

The Vizcaya Museum & Gardens is open on Thursdays through Monday from 9 AM – 4:30 PM. Admission is $22 for adults.

Saint Pete Sunken Gardens

The Sunken Gardens is one of the outdoor historic sites in St Petersburg Florida . We have put together tips for visiting here as it is one of our favorite places to visit on a hot summer day to during the winter. It is the perfect day trip from Tampa .

The gardens are over 100 years old, with over 50,000 native and exotic plants and animals from all around the world. Best of all it is one of Florida historic sites that is ADA-accessible. With wide paved paths wind through waterfalls, tropical environments, bird habitats, koi pound and the 22 Chilean flamingos!

There is plenty of shade in the gardens and places to stop and relax and enjoy the view on the 1.5 hour way.

You can visit the St. Pete Sunken Gardens from 10am to 4:30pm Monday through Saturday and 12 noon to 4:30pm on Sunday and admission is only $12, or if you are local a yearly family membership is just $100!

Edison and Ford Winter Estates

If you are looking for historic sites in Fort Myers to visit while in Florida, head to the Edison and Ford Winter Estates . A visit here will transport museum goers back to the turn of the century and how American life looked for two influential men.

Explore the 20 acer botanical gardens with 1,700 plants from six continents including a rare plant Moonlight garden.

The laboratory showcases Edison Botanic Research , and the 15,000 sq foot museum or you can take a tour of Edison and Ford’s historic homes. Inside the homes you will catch a glimpse inside the lives of the two men with model cars and electric experiments, as well as innovation gallery.

Tickets are $25 for adults, and you can talk a daily self-guided tour from 9 am to 4:30 pm. Or take a historian group tour for $30.

Fort Mose Historic State Park

Fort Mose is one of the most significant waterfront historic state parks. If you want to learn about the history behind free-slave settlement that preserves the history and educates visitors this is a must visit. Located in St. Augustine, it is open daily 9 am to 5 pm and is free to visit.

The museum ($2 entrance fee) here is a must visit for those looking for an educational and interactive learning about the first free African settlement in the entire United States. It was settled in 1738 by the Spanish for runaway slaves. While the structures are long past gone, you can sand on the land and feel the history behind the area.

On the first Saturday of the month the Fort Mose Militia trains for battle with weapon demonstrations with muskets from the era. Since 1994, it has been on the Florida’s Black Heritage Trail historic landmark list.

Timucuan Ecological and Historical Preserve

Located in Jacksonville , the Timucuan Ecological and Historical Preserve is one of the historical places in Florida.

The 46,000-acre preserve is steeped in history over a 6,000 year period. This preserve is located on the Atlantic Coast is another of the free historical sites in Florida to visit! You can learn the history of the Timucuan Indian tribe, European Settlement, and Civil war.

Fort Caroline National Memorial is a memorial named after the French King, Charles IX. What makes this Preserve so important is its historical importance: it was the first contact between Timucuan and European settlers!

The Kingsley Plantation is located on nearby Fort George Island. Named after Zephaniah Kingsley who resided from 1814 to 1830s. Home to 60 enslaved labors, and his wife, who was a former slave you will learn all about life for the enslaved laborers here.

Eden Garden State Park

 Eden Gardens State Park is one of the Florida historical sites, that doubles as one of the historic plantations in Florida with Wesley Mansion. A trip here will transport you back in time to the Bridgerton era! Located near Panama City , the gardens and historic mansion needs to be on your list.

The center piece of Eden Gardens State Park is Wesley Mansion which was built in 1897. You can tour the mansion and the beautiful surrounding gardens with a large canopy of oak trees . As you wander through the home you will see American and European decor dating back to the 1700’s. It is the perfect place to pack a picnic lunch and relax under the trees.

Entrance fee is $4 for car, and it is open 8 am until sunset all year. The house is closed on Tuesday and Wednesdays, but other days you can take a 45 minute tour for $4.

Dade Battlefield

A visit to the Dade Battlefield will allow visitors to experience the history behind Dade’s battle in 1835 during the American Indian War.

If visiting during January, the park recreates the iconic battle. Spend the da in either rate Seminole camp or solider camps, vendors, canon firing and historical arts and crafts.

This is where by 1832 tensions had reached a boring point when Seminoles refused to move off the land. In 1835 the Seminole warriors ambushed soldiers led by General Dade though the area and started the second Seminole war.

Coral Castle

Coral Castle isn’t actually made out of Coral and isn’t actually a castle , it’s still one of the ruins in Florida to explore just south of Miami .

The construction has been compared to the likes on Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids of Egypt, because the exact method the builder Edward Leedskalnin used to make this magnificent castle is still unknown! It took him almost thirty years to build, starting in 1923 and finishing just after 1950.

More than 1,000 tonnes of limestone was constructed into various different shapes such as a crescent moon, a sundial, tables and chairs and many more! Surrounded by a rock garden carved out of coral feature beautiful bougainvillea trees and rocking chairs made from carved coral stone.

Dry Tortugas

Dry Tortugas is one of the best National Parks in Florida . Often considered one of the best day trip Key West historical sites, it can be accessed by sea plane or boat charter. There are seven islands in the 100 square mile National Park, named by explorer Ponce de Leon in 1513.

It became one of the off-coast historical sites in Florida in 1993 when it was registered as a historical landmarks in Florida. The only tropical reef in the United States and the third-largest in the world is located at Dry Tortugas . Snorkeling or S cuba Diving  here is a must!

Also home to the famous 19th Century Fort named Fort Jefferson after the 3rd US President, Thomas Jefferson. The entrance fee is $15 and a the pass is good for 7 days. It is a great primitive camping area at just $15 a night especially for those looking to  stargaze.

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[…] is likely one of the springs close to Orlando set within the Ocala National Forest, which can be an archaeological site. Remains of a significant freshwater Timucuan Indian settlement are evident in shell mounds […]

The Fascinating History of Key West, Florida

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As you know, I absolutely love visiting Key West! I’m happiest when soaking in the city’s tropical vibes, listening to Jimmy Buffett songs, and feeling the stress melt beneath the country’s southernmost sunset.  Key West  has a special place in many people’s hearts as a city for misfits, a place for big dreamers who want solitude and freedom. But how did it come to be? Let’s dive into the history of Key West, Florida. 

The History Of Key West

The city has a wild history filled with stories of adventure, mystery, and comedy. Key West’s history has made it one of the world’s most famous island tourist destinations, and its colorful people continue the long tradition of fun in the sun.

As they say, Key West isn’t so much a place as a mindset.  

Historical & Fun Facts About Key West

In this post, I want to highlight some of the more fascinating facts about the history of Key West. I’m touching on lesser-known facts you may not already know. Trust me, there are a lot of them hidden in this eccentric paradise!

And knowing all of these great tropical tidbits of information will ensure you appreciate this charming community on your next trip! 

Key West Was Originally Called “Bone Island”

An obscure fact about  Key West  is that centuries ago, it was called “Bone Island.” The ancient fishermen visiting the island found large amounts of human remains there. It turns out that ancient indigenous peoples used the island as a communal burial site.

The Island Was Sold Twice

It’s true! In 1790, Spaniard Don Juan de Estrada received the island through a land grant from the Spanish government. He then sold it to Juan Pablo Salas in 1815.  

Salas was so excited to make a profit on the island that he sold it twice! First, to John Simonton, for $2,000 in 1821. And second, in 1822, to an attorney named John Strong. It took many years for ownership to get straightened out, and Simonton was declared the rightful owner in 1828.

Only One Of Key West’s Founding Fathers Lived There

Of the four founding fathers heralded as the original settlers and developers of the city, only one spent a significant amount of time living there. Pardon C. Green lived permanently on the island in the early and mid-19th century. While in Key West, he started a company, was a city council member, and briefly served as mayor.

Key West Is One Of The Warmest Places in The Country

Key West, Florida, is the southernmost point in the United States. You can see a famous bright red buoy marking this point at the corner of South and Whitehead Streets.  

It’s one of the sunniest and warmest places in the US, with 260 annual sunny days and temps ranging from 65°F to 89°F. Key West also has the warmest ocean water of any place in the United States in the winter and averages 75°F to 77°F.

Key West Is Near A Giant Barrier Reef

Key West sits on the only living coral barrier reef in the US. Several related reefs extend 350 miles from the Dry Tortugas west of Key West to the St. Lucie Inlet near Miami. Coral reefs are home to many marine life and a unique underwater ecology. Almost 1,400 species of aquatic plants and animals live in the Florida Reef.

Key West Is Closer to Havana than Miami

Key West  is closer to Havan, the capital of Cuba, than Miami, Florida. Key West is so far south in Florida that it’s very close to Cuba, which lies only 95 miles off-shore. Due to their proximity, Key West and Cuba often share common elements of their culture, people, and economy.  

Ernest Hemingway Loved Key West

The Nobel Prize-winning author Ernest Hemingway lived on the island during the middle of the 20th century. You can still tour his home and see his amazing six-toed cats. They all descend from “Snow White,” a six-toed cat Hemingway received as a gift. The cats have a genetic mutation that gives some cats six or more toes! This trait is reliably passed down to each generation of newborn kitties.  

At the Hemingway House, you can also see the penny he placed in the wet cement of his pool. It was the first pool built in a 100-mile radius and was so expensive he put the penny there and exclaimed, “You can take my last penny!’ when he saw the construction bill.  

I love reading about the history of Key West as it relates to Hemingway!

A Lot Of Famous People Have Lived In Key West

For a small town with a population of only 26,000,  Key West  boasts an astounding number of famous inhabitants over the years.  They all contributed to the history of Key West in one way or another!

A short list includes author Judy Blume, poet Wallace Stevens, author Shel Silverstein, playwright Tennessee Williams, President Harry S. Truman, author Earnest Hemingway, singer Jimmy Buffet, NASCAR Driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., poet Robert Frost, author Truman Capote, fashion designer Calvin Klein, and treasure hunter Mel Fisher.

Key Lime Pie Was Invented In Key West

Was Key Lime Pie first made in Key West? Legend has it that in the late 1800s, Key West sponge fishermen called “Hookers” would make homemade food by pouring sweetened condensed milk with lime juice over Cuban bread. Wives of these men began baking it into a pie crust to create a sweet dessert.  

Sarah Jane Lowe Curry, the daughter-in-law (other legends say she was his cook) of Florida’s first millionaire, started serving the dish to people who came to her house. Sarah, or “Aunt Sally” as she was known, became the mother of the Key Lime Pie. Soon after, the pie was being served in restaurants everywhere.  

Whether or not you believe these stories, the truth is that Key Lime Pie is a famous Key West dessert, and you can find these delicious pies served at many of the city’s restaurants.

Chickens Walk The Streets of Key West

Yes, Key West has a lot of chickens wandering around the city! Chickens are the original inhabitants of the keys. Early locals lived alongside them and raised them for eggs or meat.  

The ancestors of these birds have become the official Key West Gypsy chickens, and they proudly and unabashedly prowl the streets of  Key West . Seeing these fowl reminded me of Ybor City and their resident chickens!  

In 2004, the city hired a professional bird catcher. But, the citizens did not receive it well, and the position was eventually eliminated. Now, you can enjoy the Gypsy chickens, and they get to live a peaceful life as a tourist attraction in one of the nation’s top vacation destinations!

Key West Is The Birthplace of Pan Am Airlines

Pan American Airlines started in Key West, Florida, in 1927. The location is now home to First Flight, a restaurant and bar. But the aviation history of Key West doesn’t stop there!

Known as The Amazing Race, in 1913, a competition started between two early aviators to see who could make the first flight from Key West to Havana, Cuba.

Then, in 1920, Aeromarine Airlines flew America’s first official international airmail service, once again between Key West and Havana.

President Truman Made A “Little White House” in Key West

In 1946, President Harry S. Truman began using a home in Key West as a winter retreat and operated it as a remote “White House .” He stayed in the home intermittently for 175 days over 11 visits. This house had earlier famous visitors, including President William Taft and Thomas Edison.  

Today, the home is the Harry S. Truman Little White House. It’s Florida’s only presidential museum. At the museum, you can tour the home, see Presidential memorabilia and photos, and learn the history of Truman’s presidency and its importance to Key West. The house is set within a beautiful botanical garden filled with tropical flora.  

I visited the museum, and I highly recommend it! Not only did we learn about President Truman while on the tour, but we also learned a great deal about the history of Key West.

Key West Loves To Celebrate

For a small island,  Key West  has a tremendous capacity to party! It’s known for several famous annual festivals that attract people from all over the world.  

The Conch Republic Independence Celebration (April 20-29, 2024) starts with a conch-blowing contest. It continues with boat races, a parade on Duval St, victory pirates, and a Pirates Ball and Costume competition.  

The Key West Songwriters Festival (May 1-5, 2024) showcases veteran and new songwriters who take the stage to mesmerize audiences with music and storytelling. Household names like Kacey Musgraves and Florida Georgia Line got their start here.  

Hemingway Days (July 17-20, 2024) honors the giant legacy of author Ernest Hemingway by doing something he did best: celebrating. The festival includes presentations by Hemingway scholars, appearances by Hemighway family members, and an awesome look-a-like contest where hundreds of white-bearded, swarthy men channel their inner “Papa.”

Fantasy Fest (October 18-27, 2024), which started as a costumed parade down Duval Street, has grown into 10 days of parades, parties, street fairs, and fantastical balls. Most of these activities are not for kids. Adults might have fun at the “naughty” bike rides, pajama parties, and burlesque shows across the city. So, if you are visiting Key West with kids, avoid that week! 

Key West Has Many Famous Buildings

Key West is filled with buildings with an intriguing history. Aside from the more popular places like the Hemingway House and the Truman Little White House, several other famous buildings exist.  

The Audubon Hosue and Tropical Gardens showcases works from the ornithologist John James Audobon. Audubon drew 18 new birds after having visited Key West. You can explore the house and its 1-acre surrounding gardens.  

The Basilica of St. Mary Star of the Sea is Florida’s second oldest Catholic parish, founded in 1846. Pope Benedict XVI raised the church to a minor basilica in 2012. You can enter the basilica and take a self-guided tour.

The Mel Fisher Maritime Museum contains an extensive collection of treasures and artifacts from 17th-century shipwrecks. The museum highlights the discoveries of treasure seeker Mel Fisher and his contributions to maritime archeology. Here, you can see Spanish gold coins, learn about the real pirates of the Caribbean, and explore the science of shipwrecks. Tickets are required. This is one of my top recommendations for families who want to learn more about the pirate history of Key West.

Key West Is Known As The Conch Republic  

Did you know  Key West  once seceded from the US and became its own country?  

In 1982, out of frustration over a border checkpoint that stopped most traffic into and out of the keys, Key West sarcastically notified the Federal government they were seceding from the Union. They gave their new country the name “Conch Republic.” 

This name has become a unifying moniker for the people of the Keys and a rallying cry for citizens who value freedom and independence. You’ll see the name all over. Even the Key West high school got the fever, naming their mascot the “Fighting Conch.”  

I laughed when I saw the Conch Republic’s official flag, which bears the motto “We Succeeded Where Others Failed.”

Key West Is Home To The Oldest Bar in Florida, or Is It?

Caption Tony’s is an iconic bar located just a block off Duval Street and was actually the original home of Sloppy Joe’s Bar. The sign out front says it’s the oldest bar in Florida. However, other sources say that the The Palace Saloon on Amelia Island is the oldest bar in Florida. I will have to pop in and ask them about it when I visit next month!

Did you know that Jimmy Buffett played Captain Tony’s in the early 1970s?

Key West Is A Fisherman’s Paradise

Anglers in the Keys have caught some of the largest fish on record in Florida. These include a 240-pound Yellowfin Tuna, a 243-pound Tarpon, a 612-pound Swordfish, and a 686-pound Great White Shark.  

Key West has a legendary reputation for fishing. Initially made famous by the stories of Hemingway, the coral reefs and deep blue waters of the Florida Straits are well-known for their massive catches.  

Fishing here is diverse, and many different fish are regularly biting. Tarpons are heavyweight champions and can top 200 pounds. Bonefish are called “Grey Ghosts”; they are smaller but harder to find. Snapper and Grouper can be caught year-round and are sought after for their great taste. They like patch reefs, wrecks, and bridges and can even be caught from shore. If you want to go farther from shore, Blackfin Tuna are wonderful to eat and very plentiful in the spring. Sailfish, Swordfish, and Marlin are the kings of the sea and will give you the fight of your life.  

These majestic giants drew Hemingway here and continue to thrill sport fishers with their strength and size. The warm waters off the coast bring in smaller Blacktip and Bonnethead sharks. Or you can pit yourself against apex predators like the giant Bull, Tiger, and Hammerhead sharks. 

Key West Was Once The Cigar Capital Of The US

Many people don’t know Key West was the original epicenter of the Cuban cigar industry in America.  

The first cigar factory started here in 1831, and by 1890, there were at least 80 factories in Key West. The factories were tightly connected to Cuba and would import Cuban tobacco leaves to be hand-rolled by Cuban emigres in Key West factories. The legendary Arturo Fuente began rolling here in 1912.  

After hurricanes hit Key West, destroying some factories, and local unrest around labor unionization, most factories moved to Ybor City in Tampa. Several small factories still operate in Key West, like the Key West Cigar Factory, Rodriguez Cigars, and the Island Cigar Factory. 

Jimmy Buffett Got His Start In Key West

The iconic singer and songwriter Jimmy Buffett moved to Key West in 1972. After having no success in the Nashville record business, he decided to take a trip with a friend to the Keys for some needed relaxation.  

He ended up living in Key West for seven years, working various odd jobs and singing in the local dives and honk-tonks. The island ambiance of the Keys inspired his casual style and tropical-themed lyrics. His hugely popular songs like Margaritaville became synonymous with Key West, and enjoying the salt and sea lifestyle became a popular pastime for fans worldwide.  

I read some amazing stories about Jimmy’s time in the 1970s in  Key West . He became part of a “Rat Pack” of close friends, many of whom were aspiring authors and poets, all following the spiritual footsteps of Hemingway. Stories of epic week-long deep sea fishing trips, hard-partying, and great friendship make this era of his life reminiscent of the “Lost Generation” of Paris ex-pats in the 1920s. 

A book I love that focuses on Jimmy and his rat pack in the 1970s is titled  Mile Marker Zero: The Moveable Feast of Key West .  And if you haven’t read  A Pirate Looks At Fifty , you must!

The Rum Runner Drink Was Invented Near Key West

Legend has it that the famous Rum Runner cocktail was invented in 1972 at the Holiday Tiki bar in Islamorada, near Key West.  

In one story, bartender John Ebert was challenged by the Holiday Tiki Bar owner to use up a lot of unused liquor that hadn’t been drunk (called “dead stock”). John mixed the ingredients in a new way to make the first Rum Runner.  

In another version of the story, John was looking for a job, and the owner of the Tiki Bar asked him as part of the interview to make a delicious drink with lesser-known ingredients.  

Either way, we now have the tasty Rum Runner – a sweet libation that has slaked the thirst of many a beach bum and tropical reveler around the globe.

Enjoy The History Of Key West On Your Next Trip

Key West history is filled with fascinating stories of larger-than-life personalities, rising and falling fortunes, boom and bust industries, and enduring people committed to life by the sea. Their stories are diverse, but they are all driven by fierce independence and a yearning for freedom away from society.  The fun thing about the history of  Key West  is that there are always new tales to listen to on every visit!

Key West is one of my favorite places to visit because of its charming eccentricity and its desire to be true to itself. It’s a fantastic place to relax, try new things, and enjoy the “Salt Life.” When planning your trip to the Conch Republic, be sure to set aside time to see some of the historical places. Catch the setting sun and sip a Rum Runner while you marvel at all this city offers.

And if you are looking for things to do in Key West, I have got you covered with several great Key West travel blog posts! 

• 18+ Things For Families to Do in Key West
• Riding the Iconic Conch Train Tour in Key West
• All About the 6-toed Hemingway House Cats
• My Momcation at the Marker Key West
• Visiting the Truman Little White House
• Snorkeling & Sunset Tours with Sebago Watersports
• The Key West Hop-On Hop-Off Old Town Trolley Tour

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Florida Seminole Tourism

History of Tamiami Trail

If you have ever driven in South Florida, chances are you have driven on Tamiami Trail. Also known as U.S. Highway Route 41, this long stretch of road , as its name suggests, connects Tampa to Miami. Today, Tamiami Trail has been outpaced by faster routes like Alligator Alley (a portion of I-75). But in its heyday, the Trail  was considered a feat of civil engineering. Connecting Tampa and Miami across the Everglades was a dream just out of reach at the beginning of the 20 th century. So, how did it come about?  Grab some snacks for the road! Join us as we dive deep into how this trail transformed the state of Florida, and Florida tourism, forever.

Possible Survey Group on TT, 1919, Catalog 2001.3.2, ATTK Museum

In the beginning of the 20 th century, the idea of a trans-peninsula highway seemed like just a dream. How can you tame the Everglades? If you recall in last week’s post , the Everglades of today is vastly different than it was a hundred or more years ago. There were no roads bisecting the Everglades, and the sheet flow was a free moving body of water. Lake Okeechobee was almost twice the size it is today . In the wet season, water flowed down the peninsula from Lake Okeechobee in a slow moving river. Since Florida is almost entirely flat, the driest portions were hammocks dotted among swamp and sawgrass. Traversing Florida was difficult, dangerous, and not for the faint of heart. Conversations between movers and shakers in Miami, Tampa, and Fort Myers began  to envision a connecting highway that would cut through the swamp.

So, in 1915, with the pressure of powerful men from many of Florida’s biggest cities, the Board of Commissioners of Dade County agreed to fund part of the highway. The rise of personal automobiles drove a lot of interest in connecting these cities. People wanted to come to Florida, but the money and time it cost to move around the state was a drawback. Dade County sent out their own county engineer for the project. The Tamiami Trail would eventually span over 260 miles, but it started out much smaller. About 3.5 miles of were surveyed within days, and the construction of the Tamiami Trail had officially begun. To the right, you can see a photo of a possible survey group surveying for construction on Tamiami Trail in 1919. Three men in traditional bigshirts carry photo and survey equipment through tall grass. Two white men trail behind the trio.

The Reality

Tamiami Trail, via Wikimedia Commons

But, cutting through the Everglades wasn’t as easy as they envisioned . The stretch across the Everglades was much harder to traverse than they expected. The limestone was deep, and the conditions sweltering. The project ran out of money multiple times. It wasn’t until 1923, when Barron Collier provided funding, that the project began to gather steam. In exchange for the trail going through a new county named after him, Collier agreed to fund that section of the project. Thus, Collier County in Southwest Florida was established. Internal arguments between those who favored a coastal route or an inland route caused rifts. LaBelle , which would have been on the inland route, may have been a South Florida powerhouse if things had developed differently. Eventually though, the Tamiami Trail was “complete.” The grand opening of the Tamiami Trail was on April 26 th , 1928.

The Tamiami Trail was an extremely laborious, expensive project to complete. Over 2,000 workers back-breakingly carved, blasted, and scraped their way along the designated route. After some false starts, the last 5 years saw most of the Trail’s completion. In total, the Tamiami Trail cost around $8 million at the time. That would be over $128 million adjusted to 2022 dollars. Cutting out the Trail also used over 2.6 million sticks of dynamite. Even spread out over 13 years, that is a significant amount of explosives! The efforts to build the Trail literally paved the way for the South Florida of today, for better or worse.

How the Trail Changed Florida

Prior to the construction of Tamiami Trail, most people navigated South Florida by boat. This was time intensive, and didn’t allow for much cross-state travel. After the hardest part across the Everglades was completed, new doors opened for Florida tourism. Not only did the Trail provide an open road for tourists, it also became  its own sight to see. Tamiami Trail runs through some of the most beautiful land in South Florida. From the Trail you can spot alligators, a multitude of birds, turtles, and other wildlife. Like discussed in last week’s post , tourist camps began to pop up on Tamiami Trail around its time of construction. Seminole and Miccosukee camps were plentiful, and tourists could pay for exhibition shows, crafts, food, and more. Tamiami Trail still draws crowds today, and it is the home to some of Florida’s most beautiful sights.

Changes to the ecosystem significantly impacted the lives and livelihoods of native people. They were forced to adjust, and with this came the rise of those tourist camps. Read more about the rise of tourist camps here with last week’s post. These two real photocards show images from two different camps. Musa Isle Indian Village in Miami was one of the more famous Seminole tourist camps. The other photocard shows Jane Tiger Motlow, a well-known patchwork artist, using  a hand-crank sewing machine at Chestnut Billy’s Camp on the Tamiami Trail. She and her husband, John Motlow, would live on Tamiami Trail before moving to the West Palm Beach area.

Real Postcard, 1932, Catalog 2000.31.2, ATTK Museum

Real Postcard, Catalog 2001.34.2, ATTK Museum

But, with that significant upgrade of infrastructure came heavy costs, and not just financial ones. Tamiami Trail effectively cut through the heart of the Everglades. This, coupled with the drainage project and damming of Lake Okeechobee, struck a heavy blow to the natural ecosystem. The sheet flow was interrupted by the roadway, and the slow moving river shrank. Learn a little bit more about how Everglades biodiversity has changed here in a previous post. During its construction, the builders did not  explore how the surrounding ecosystem would handle water drainage projects and road construction. Tamiami Trail is one of the primary barriers to water flow in the Everglades. But, there have been efforts made to mitigate the damage done by the construction, including the construction of a small number of culverts and waterways in the 1990s.

However, the conservation vision did not really take  shape until the early 2000s. Money was allotted to elevate a small section in Everglades National Park, remove road fill, and provide maintenance to causeways already in place. This bridging project was only the first in a series of many. In the last twenty years, a number of other projects have been initialized to raise the roadway to allow water and wildlife to pass underneath. Adjustments were made to make sure water was being distributed evenly. Portion by portion, sections of the roadway have been slated for bridging. In 2020, the final phase of the project was funded with aims to have it completed by 2024. Conservation projects like this hope to help this unique ecosystem thrive.

Seminole Tribe of Florida Role in Everglades Restoration

In addition to this, the Heritage and Environment Resources Office (HERO) of the Seminole Tribe of Florida is working hard to further conservation efforts while also advocating for the tribal perspective. For example, HERO is dedicated to monitoring and representing the Seminole voice in other agency projects. The Western Everglades Restoration Project (WERP) is a U.S. Army Corps of Engineer’s Planning project. It is part of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Project (CERP) meant to “help restore, reconnect and maintain these areas with the natural areas to the south.” But, some of the proposed actions could affect tribal reservation land. The HERO is working to help shape projects like this to acknowledge and include Seminole perspectives into its framework and implementation. To look at other HERO case studies, please visit their website here.

What is there to see?

Take a peek below for a few of the exciting tourist stops available on today’s Tamiami Trail. Don’t forget your water and sunscreen, because you can’t see these sights without exploring a little!

Miccosukee Indian Village

The other federally recognized tribe in Florida, the Miccosukee Tribe’s Indian Village is located off of Tamiami Trail. Politically distinct from the Seminole Tribe of Florida, the Miccosukee Tribe shares many cultural ties. The Miccosukee Indian Village has a Museum, gift shop, Alligator shows, and a casual eatery on location.  Actual Miccosukee camps, along with Traditional Independent Seminole camps, can be seen along the Trail.

Smallwood Store at Chokoloskee

Established in 1906, Smallwood Store was one of the many trading posts in South Florida. To see more information on the relationships built between trading posts and Seminole people, read a previous blog post here .

Everglades National Park

Established to protect this fragile ecosystem, Everglades National Park is a must see right off of Tamiami Trail. Comprised of over 1.5 million acres, visitors can see birds, manatees, alligators, and more in this precious Florida resource. To learn more about Everglades biodiversity, read a previous blog post here .

Big Cypress National Preserve

Big Cypress National Preserve covers 729,000 acres of Big Cypress Swamp. National Preserves differ from National Parks in that, in addition to protecting resources, they also allow activities such as hunting, as long as natural values are preserved.  The Seminole and Miccosukee tribes both have traditional and customary use rights on Big Cypress National Preserve.

The First Seminole Tourist Camps

Seminole Customary Use Rights

Comments: 4.

Jayne Campbell

I was raised in Florida. I had never heard of the Miccosukee Indians in Florida;only the Seminoles.

I am glad to hear that animal underpasses are being constructed for the animals to use to move around freely while searching for food.

Super amazing history….wow what a story. I’m doing a paper for school on the project that started in 1915. Looking forward to taking a road trip soon to check it out!! Can’t believe I’ve been in Florida my entire life and have never driven down that road!!

CHRISTINE HICKS

My grandfather worked on this CCC project. He drove mules.

In the late forties my family lived at the Blue Shanty 19 miles west of Miami. The nearest neighbor was Coopertown. My family lived in an army surplus tent. Approximately 20×20. There were several families that lived there. The owner of the Blue Shanty Joxie Redding allowed everyone to live there. Everyone living there were cousins or 2nd cousins. We shared in everything except the proceeds of frog hunting. My father went out nightly and gigged frogs for a living. Some of the family ran trot lines. Everything was sold in Miami. Gator hunting was done by a reckless few. During that time the gator hides brought top dollar. We caught wild hogs and penned them up for an additional food source. You could probably call this the first commune.

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Shining a light on untold stories from Florida’s past

By Michael R. Malone [email protected] 04-26-2024

History is pockmarked in paradox. 

In 1825 when the Cape Florida Light house , located on the southern point of what is today Key Biscayne, first beamed its floodlights to illuminate the surrounding Florida Reef coastal waters, the new lighthouse was celebrated as a symbol of civilization and settlement. 

Yet this historic beacon simultaneously cast a devastating shadow. For its powerful light ended the hopes and dreams of untold numbers of formerly enslaved peoples who for centuries had counted on the enveloping nighttime darkness to board boats and canoes that could ferry them to greater freedom in the Bahamas and other islands. 

The Coastal Heritage at Risk Task Force (CHART) initiative, a team of University of Miami faculty members and doctoral students, in partnership with a coalition of public, private, academic, and government entities, has focused on unearthing new accounts relating to the Saltwater Underground Railroad (SUR). Further research has expanded to include other Florida heritage sites. 

“CHART is focused on ‘re-storying’ or retelling colonial history by including other voices and perspectives that have been previously ignored,” said Meryl Shriver-Rice , an assistant professor in Research Data and Open Scholarship and principal investigator of the CHART project. 

“Essentially, we are looking at what we call the untold stories of Florida’s history. And we are doing storytelling at those sites through an interactive app with podcasts, as well as other types of community-based research,” added Shriver-Rice, who highlighted the over dozen years of capacity building through partnerships and collaborations that make CHART’s work possible. In particular, the Florida Public Archaeology Network (FPAN) has played a critical role. 

The forthcoming launch of the storytelling app coincides with the 200th anniversary of the Cape Florida Lighthouse. 

CHART, which merges the disciplines of anthropology, engineering, Indigenous studies, history, and environmental studies, was initially funded two years ago with a University of Miami Laboratory for Integrative Knowledge (U-LINK) grant. 

Over the years, Shriver-Rice, FPAN, and many other groups realized that due to rising sea levels and other climate change impacts such as storm surge, thousands of heritage sites were going underwater or would be. 

“What do we do? How should we prioritize and try to salvage them?” she remembered wondering. “White settler colonial sites” most often received funding and were turned into public parks with resilience strategies. This attention contrasted with heritage sites associated with Indigenous and other marginalized peoples—generally abandoned and neglected—and the decision was made to employ a decolonial lens for CHART’s efforts. 

The Saltwater Underground Railroad spans a period of three hundred years and explores the movement of formerly enslaved people from the Southeastern seaboard seeking freedom by using the waterways to move southward. 

As violence pursued them throughout their lives, the fleeing escapees were pushed further and further south, and many times ending up living with and sometimes intermarrying with Indigenous groups in Florida, according to Shriver-Rice. 

Doctoral students Nina Jean-Louis and Karen Backe have been instrumental in advancing CHART’s efforts related to SUR. 

Jean-Louis, midway through her studies with the Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering, is focused on assessing climate resilience for cultural landscapes. 

After earning a master’s in historic preservation, Jean-Louis was looking for a case study to support her dissertation research on underrepresented cultural landscapes and found it through Shriver-Rice’s CHART project. She will be working with communities at American Beach in northern Florida, part of the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor. 

“What I bring to the project are the engineering statistical composite methodologies that can be used to potentially quantify resilience. This is where engineering is the strongest, to quantify, while ethnography is stronger in qualitative terms,” Jean-Louis explained. 

“Separately, they may not speak to a community very well, but bridged together, they can have a potentially powerful impact and be used as a decision-making tool. 

Jean-Louis is focused on developing a “resilience risk tolerance scale” where the composite metrics from the ethnographic study can feed into the scaling tool. 

“Like a stoplight system, communities can look at this scale and see where they visualize fall in terms of risk resilience,” Jean-Louis explained. “Coupled with maps and vulnerability hot spot maps, this is where we can prioritize and reallocate resources. That’s where it all threads together.” 

A key insight for Jean-Louis has been to witness how passionate communities are about their heritage. 

“Just the overall desire to have their story shared and told and seen and heard. That’s the value-driven work that we essentially support,” she said. “We want those stories to be told, yet we have to remember as researchers that we are the facilitators—not the decision-makers—and to be facilitating that process has been amazing as well.” 

For Shriver-Rice, the research has revealed that the story of Florida is far more Black and Indigenous than most are aware. 

“As part of our research, we’ve recognized that there was a lot more Black Indigeneity and enslaved Indigenous peoples,” Shriver-Rice said. “In American history, we tend to think of Native Americans and then there were enslaved African people, and maybe they talked to each other occasionally. 

“But in Florida there are three hundred years of these peoples living together, living amongst each other and creating families, sharing culture, and arriving at new forms of culture as they sought out safety and refuge together.”

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Visit Florida’s Playbook: Tourism CEO on Marketing, Conventions and Luring Californians

Dawit Habtemariam , Skift

April 28th, 2024 at 8:00 AM EDT

Florida wants to show the world the tourism opportunities the state has to offer.

Dawit Habtemariam

Leaders of Travel: Skift C-Suite Series

What are the top trends impacting hotels, airlines, and online bookings? We speak to the executives shaping the future of travel.

Visit Florida is about to jump start tourism to its overlooked hidden gems in its northwestern region. The destination marketing organization was awarded a $10.5 million grant earlier this month to promote the eight counties in that region, said Visit Florida CEO and President Dana Young.

Young spoke with Skift about the grant, emerging travel trends in the state, how Los Angeles became a top inbound market, visa wait times, and more.

This interview was edited for clarity and length.

$10.5 Million to Drive Tourism to Northwest Florida

Skift: Visit Florida was recently awarded $10.5 million from Triumph Gulf Coast, a state-funded non-profit, to promote its northwestern region.

Dana Young: All eight counties that were included in the group of counties that were deemed impacted by the Deepwater Horizon Oil spill many years ago. All of those counties came together with support of their county commissions and they partnered with Visit Florida to get this grant. 

Northwest Florida is so beautiful, sort of what you would think of old Florida, but beaches in that area, which we call the Florida Panhandle, are absolutely magnificent and uncrowded and certainly not as developed as you would see in South Florida. The counties are geographically large, but they’re less populated, some are more rural. It’s just a different feel up there. 

What’s your marketing strategy for this hidden gem?

We’re going to do a two-pronged marketing approach that aims to level out seasonality and introduce that region to new markets around the U.S. There’s going to be a regional campaign called “Adventure within Reach” that highlights adventure travel opportunities in all eight counties. 

The second prong is we’re developing individual marketing programs for each of the eight counties in coordination with their DMO to highlight the specific things that they want to show to the rest of the country.

What are some other campaigns you have in the works?

We did get $5 million in our budget this year, specifically earmarked for nature-based travel and trails and trail towns. We started this campaign last year. Many people do not realize that Florida has over 15,000 miles of trails, and they aren’t just hiking trails. They are hiking, biking, kayaking, paddle boarding, scuba diving, horseback riding. We even have a fishing trail that’s launched. Focusing on those adventure activities, definitely a push for us.

We are definitely seeing a real trend with impulse travel, people that are just able to get up and go. We are really looking to target these millennials and young adults that are impulse travelers with campaigns that are focused on increasing desirability and bookings in the spring months.

NAACP Travel Advisory’s Impact on Conventions

Last year, the NAACP put a travel advisory on Florida. Skift Meetings reported on a wave of conventions pulling out of the state due to its controversial laws. What was the impact on Florida’s events calendar?

My understanding just from conversations with the DMO heads around the state is that for any meetings that were canceled for any reason, there were three or four lined up to take their place. In 2023, revenue was up by 13% and grew faster for meetings and convention bookings than for leisure bookings. So I think that those sorts of advisories are publicity stunts more than anything. 

Latin America See Strong Rebound, But Visa Wait Times Aren’t Helping

How is Florida’s Latin American tourism source market performing? Has there been an impact from the long visitor visa wait times ?

Latin America is really doing great. Mexico is particularly a shining star right now. Mexican visitation is the highest that we have seen since we started tracking those numbers.

The visa wait time issue is still very, very real and very, very significant in its impact to us. Florida is disproportionately impacted by this because we have such a huge level of visitation from Latin America. 

Brazil tourism recently reached a million. That’s the first time since 2019 that we’ve gotten to that level. A lot of those are new visa holders. 

I have met with the State Department on numerous occasions in person to talk about the wait times and what they’re doing. And after those meetings, it’s kind of funny, the wait times will go down in some markets then a few months later they’re back up. So I don’t know what’s going on over there, but they certainly can do better.

Tourism Recovery of Fort Myers Since Hurricane Ian

In the fall of 2022, Hurricane Ian devastated Lee County, home of Fort Myers. How has that area’s tourism sector recovered? I know it brought lots of negative publicity and destruction.

The negative earned media was huge. It was about $164 million in earned media because what they did is just show the destruction over and over again.

I was down there about six months ago and spent three days touring around the areas and they are actually doing well. So visitation is up, but they’re off about 29% from pre-hurricane 2022. But given that they have had sort of a limited number of accommodations that were open, they’ve been gradually reopening, that’s pretty darn good. 

As of April 11th, 77% of hotel rooms are back open and the airport saw a massive 29% increase this March compared to last year. They’ve got some new properties that have opened. There’s a brand new resort, Margaritaville Resort, on Fort Myers Beach that is stunning.  Everything’s trending in the right direction.

Californians Flock to Florida

During the pandemic, Florida wasn’t locked down for too long and did not stop marketing. Fast forward, what have been the long-term consequences of this?

Our numbers have been really just remarkable since 2019. We’re up 10.2% in travel spending from 2019. We’ve seen an increase in our domestic market share, which largely came from California. So that’s kind of fun. 

Prior to 2020, we had really done no marketing in California. We’ve not done any marketing in Los Angeles or on the West Coast, just because typically folks from California were vacationing in Hawaii or Mexico for warm weather vacations. But during the pandemic in 2020 and early 2021, we started marketing in certain cities in California and Oregon and Washington. 

LA has gone from not even on the radar to one of our top 10 inbound markets. They were looking for freedom and they found it here in Florida.

Florida’s Michelin Stars Attract Culinary Tourism

Like Discover Atlanta , Visit Florida partnered with Michelin to review local cuisines. What’s the payoff?

We are entering our third year of our partnership with Michelin. Orlando, Miami and Tampa each invested $150,000 and Visit Florida invested $150,000.

Prior to our partnership with Michelin, 37% of respondents in a survey that we do saw Florida as having unique local cuisine. Two years into our partnership with Michelin, 51% of respondents see Florida as having unique local cuisine.

When we entered into this, we wanted to make sure we were highlighting cuisine throughout the entire state, not just those three cities. We launched two different culinary based video series highlighting cuisine all over Florida. They’ve been extremely popular.

Has the Michelin Guide helped attract culinary talent to Florida?

Absolutely. We’re seeing chefs move to Florida from other cities because they see opportunity to get a star. A lot of restaurants are opening. Look, I mean that improves the quality of life for Floridians and visitors.

Visit Florida on TikTok

Congress just passed a bill that gives TikTok 12 months to find a new owner or be banned in the U.S. Is Visit Florida on TikTok ?

We were significantly ahead of the legislative push that a lot of states, including Florida, had. We just decided that that was not a platform that we wanted to use and we stopped using it and we’ve seen absolutely no impact to our reach.

We just feel like we were the smartest ones in the room. We did it early and we’ve already made other plans. A lot of state tourism boards are going to be struggling to fill that hole where as we did it very mindfully way back.

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Reactions Pour in as Jordan Travis is Selected by New York Jets in 2024 NFL Draft

One of the top quarterbacks in FSU program history will begin his professional career with the Jets.

• Author: Dillon Riera

In this story:

The 2024 NFL Draft saw many great Seminoles find their future homes at the professional level with the likes of Jared Verse, Braden Fiske, Trey Benson, Jarrian Jones, Renardo Green, and Keon Coleman having already been selected, thus far. While a good handful of ‘Noles still wait to hear their name called, storied Seminole quarterback Jordan Travis’ wait is finally over. The New York Jets selected Travis in the fifth round with the No. 171 overall pick, making him the first Florida State quarterback to be drafted since Jameis Winston in 2015.

READ MORE: FSU Football Adds Five Picks On Second Day Of NFL Draft, Reaches 300 All-Time

Jordan Travis’ journey through the Florida State football program was full of twists and turns, but that all came to a head in 2023 when Travis commanded a record-breaking offense for the ‘Noles. The veteran quarterback threw for 8,644 yards and 65 touchdowns and ran for 1,910 yards and 31 touchdowns on 409 carries en route to an undefeated regular season, an ACC Championship, ACC Player of the Year honors, and a fifth-place finish in the Heisman race. Unfortunately, Travis’ promising season was cut short by a leg injury suffered against North Alabama in late November. 

Despite the ups and downs during his time in Tallahassee, Travis was a prime example of Mike Norvell’s culture and a leader both on the field and in the locker room, which was evidenced by the immense support that rallied around him following the devastating foot injury that cut his season short. Mere months later, that same level of support is showing up once again.

READ MORE: New York Jets Select FSU Football QB Jordan Travis In Fifth Round Of 2024 NFL Draft

Fans, former teammates, FSU staff members and NFL veterans are all celebrating the quarterback’s selection by the New York Jets in the 2024 NFL Draft.

The New York Jets share Jordan Travis' initial reaction to getting the call

Love seeing the smile on @jordantrav13 's face 💚 "It's a friggin' dream come true." pic.twitter.com/ZcbNdHKcma — New York Jets (@nyjets) April 27, 2024

FSU Head Coach Mike Norvell congratulates an "All Time Great Seminole"

🙏 @jordantrav13 is one of the ALL-TIME GREAT Seminoles! So happy for him and the @nyjets going to be a special journey for them both. Excited to watch and glad @ii_jermaine has another member of the #NoleFamily coming!! #KeepCLIMBing https://t.co/kAdslqkk2l — Mike Norvell (@Coach_Norvell) April 27, 2024

FSU QB Coach Tony Tokarz congratulates his former Quarterback

Good things happen to good people who work hard. Congrats @jordantrav13 ! 🫡 — Coach Tony Tokarz (@Coach_TokarzQB) April 27, 2024

Former FSU Baseball Player and Brother of Jordan Travis, Devon Travis, celebrates his selection

A LEADER. A WINNER. THE BEST HUMAN I KNOW. JETS GOT THEM ONE. I LOVE YOU BRO. CONGRATS @jordantrav13 ! J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS!!!!!!!!!! — Devon Travis (@DeVoTrAv) April 27, 2024

Former FSU teammate and future NYJ teammate Jermaine Johnson chimes in

Yessir @jordantrav13 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 — Jermaine Johnson II (@ii_jermaine) April 27, 2024

Former Florida State teammate DE Jared Verse shares words of encouragement

YESSIR!!!! You deserve it brother!! Gonna be a problem!!!! https://t.co/mEb4oh19L5 — Jared Verse (@JaredVerse1) April 27, 2024

Former Florida State teammate RB Trey Benson posts his reaction to finding out the news

BRA, IM SO HAPPY 😭 sheddin tears man https://t.co/LwTZ4F6JzS — Trey Benson (@trey_uno1) April 27, 2024

NFL veteran and former Jet Damien Woody shows support for the Jets' draft pick

LOVE this Jordan Travis pick for the Jets!! — Damien Woody (@damienwoody) April 27, 2024

Heisman quarterback Robert Griffin III breaks down Travis' potential with the Jets

Jordan Travis to the @nyjets in the 5th round made my day. LEADER. WARRIOR. Exactly the type of QB you want in the building. Does everything the right way. Tough enough to handle New York and can fully heal behind A Rod and Tyrod. @JordanTravis_ #JetUp pic.twitter.com/vQC3luk3mC pic.twitter.com/45oLopPtzQ — Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) April 27, 2024

NFL scouts weigh in on the Jordan Travis selection

Text from an AFC North scout on new #Jets QB Jordan Travis: “I think his intelligence and legs make him a potential starter there post (Aaron) Rodgers. He’s got a real chance for sure.” https://t.co/6IvSo6S2IB — Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) April 27, 2024

The Florida State University Marching Chiefs express their support for Travis

Congratulations, @jordantrav13 , and again, thank you. ♥️💛 pic.twitter.com/tj6RplxMYV — Marching Chiefs (@FSUChiefs) April 27, 2024

College Football Fans react to the news:

YESSIRRRR. JORDAN. TRAVIS. 💚🛩️ — TaReef KnockOut (@TaReefKnockOut) April 27, 2024

We LOVE to see Jordan Travis get drafted 🙌 — College Football Report (@CFBRep) April 27, 2024

Leader. Culture setter. The epitome of the Unconquered spirit. There’s not much more to say about #13 that hasn’t been said already, except that he’s now an NFL quarterback. Congratulations, captain. We’ll miss you, JT. #Noles #NFLDraft pic.twitter.com/OZBGV5nC9X — Dillon Riera (@13d_riera) April 27, 2024

Jordan Travis to the Jets. Yesssssss — Sosua Stoute (@biggameJames_36) April 27, 2024

Stick with  NoleGameday  for more coverage of Florida State football throughout the offseason.

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