Mount Dora: The Little Lakeside Town That Said No to the 21st Century

Thirty miles northwest of Orlando, past the theme parks and the toll plazas and the endless strip malls, there’s a town that looks like it wandered in from a New England postcard. Mount Dora sits on a bluff above Lake Dora with a downtown full of brick storefronts, oak-canopied streets, and one of only three freshwater lighthouses in all of Florida. It has been quietly charming visitors for more than 140 years, and it has no intention of stopping.

Named for a Woman, Built on a Lake

The area was first settled in 1874 by the Simpson family, and the town was later named for Dora Ann Drawdy, an early settler in the 1880s. Mount Dora’s first hotel opened in 1883, and by 1887 the railroad had arrived, bringing winter visitors from the north. That original hotel evolved into the Lakeside Inn, which still operates today as one of the oldest continuously running hotels in Florida. The town incorporated in 1910 with a population of just a few hundred, and it has kept that small-town scale ever since.

800 Antique Dealers and 30 Festivals a Year

Mount Dora is famous for two things: antiques and festivals. Renninger’s Antique Center draws hundreds of independent dealers under one roof, and its Antique Extravaganza events bring more than 800 vendors from across the country. The town hosts over 30 festivals annually, including the Mount Dora Arts Festival each February, one of the largest juried outdoor art shows in the Southeast. There’s a craft fair, a bicycle festival, a Scottish Highland Games, and a holiday lighting event that draws tens of thousands.

Where to Start

Park anywhere along Donnelly Street and walk. The downtown is compact and entirely walkable, lined with independent shops, galleries, and restaurants. Climb the Gould Lighthouse on the lakeshore for a view across Lake Dora, then check the town’s event calendar before you visit. In Mount Dora, there’s almost always something happening.