Sanibel Island: The Shelling Capital of the World and the Stoop That Proves It
Sanibel Island is famous for its world-class shelling beaches, the Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge, and a community that came back stronger after Hurricane Ian.
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Amelia Island: Where Eight Flags Flew and the Shrimp Still Run
Amelia Island has flown eight different flags over its 400-year history. Today, its Victorian downtown, annual shrimp festival, and Fort Clinch make it one of the most storied destinations in Florida.
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McKee Botanical Garden: The Jungle That Came Back From the Dead
A Cleveland steel magnate and a Vero Beach eccentric bought 80 acres of tropical hammock in 1929 and turned it into one of Florida’s first natural attractions. McKee Jungle Gardens drew 100,000 visitors a year before closing in 1976. Twenty years later, the jungle came back.
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Washington Oaks Gardens: Where Formal Gardens Meet a Prehistoric Beach
On one side of A1A, formal gardens shade under live oaks. Cross to the other side and you are standing on a prehistoric beach covered in ancient coquina rock formations. Washington Oaks is two parks in one.
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Stiltsville: Miami’s Neighborhood in the Middle of the Ocean
A mile offshore from Miami, a handful of wooden houses stand on stilts above Biscayne Bay with no roads, no bridges, and no land beneath them. Stiltsville is one of Florida’s strangest and most beautiful places.
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Morikami Museum: A Japanese Garden Born from a Forgotten Florida Colony
A 19-year-old farmer from Japan arrived in Florida in 1906 and never left. George Morikami’s gift of nearly 200 acres became one of the most unexpected cultural treasures in South Florida.
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The Overseas Highway: 42 Bridges Built on a Railroad’s Ghost
The Overseas Highway runs 113 miles from Key Largo to Key West, crossing 42 bridges over open ocean. Most of the bridges sit on the foundations of Henry Flagler’s railroad, destroyed by the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935.
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Venetian Pool: The Limestone Quarry That Became a Venetian Lagoon
Coral Gables’ Venetian Pool holds 820,000 gallons of spring water, refilled daily from artesian wells. It has waterfalls, a swim-through cave, and a coral rock grotto, all carved from a limestone quarry in the 1920s.
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Micanopy: Florida’s Oldest Inland Town and the Street That Time Forgot
Micanopy is Florida’s oldest inland town, founded in 1821. It is a one-road collection of antique shops, live oaks, and front porches that moves at a pace the rest of the state forgot a long time ago.
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Dry Tortugas: The Island Fortress 70 Miles Past the End of the Road
Seventy miles west of Key West, a 16-million-brick fortress rises from the Gulf of Mexico. Fort Jefferson was never finished, never fired a shot in battle, and once held the doctor who set John Wilkes Booth’s broken leg.
