Florida Resources

Offering a concise look at the subject from the 1820s to the present, Tracy Revels demonstrates tourism's relevance to all other major aspects of Florida history, including the Civil War, the land boom, and civil rights. In this enjoyable and well-written history, Revels shows how Florida's tourism industry has remained adaptive and expansive, ready to sell the next version of paradise to northerners hungry for sunshine. She also explains why the state's business and political leaders must consider the history of tourism development as they plan for the state's future.

With the arrival of the twentieth century, Americans continued in the pioneering spirit of their forebears and looked upon the automobile as a new way to explore the unknown. Thousands of Americans packed their tents in the backs of their cars and set out to enjoy the back roads of the United States. Carrying extra gasoline in five-gallon cans, plenty of canned food, and extra tires strapped to the fenders, these intrepid souls began an exploration of the North American continent with a thoroughness that put Lewis and Clark to shame. These tourists became the symbol of another "New Generation" of Americans, restless, adventuresome, and filled with boundless curiosity. These were the "Tin Can" tourists. In 1919, the official organization of Tin Can Tourists of the World was formed in Tampa, and the group held two meetings annually until disbanding in 1977. Early on, residents of Florida recognized the potential economic impact of the Tin Canners on the state, and the movement to improve roads and provide accommodations and amusements to these seasonal travelers flourished. By 1930, Florida had built more than 3,000 miles of paved roads, and campsites, roadside motels, and exotic animal parks could be found along most major thoroughfares.

Selling the Sunshine State offers a scrapbook of bygone brochures, postcards, souvenirs, and photos, all designed to lure northerners (and fellow southerners) into the peninsula. Tim Hollis's personal collection of Florida memorabilia and mementos lies at the heart of the nearly 500 color images herein. Lovingly assembled, the book is arranged according to the state's traditional tourism department regions, including the Miracle Strip, the Big Bend, and the Gold Coast which allows readers to discover the lost attractions and sometimes shocking appeals in promotional material created from the 1920s through the 1970s. An introductory essay on the history of Florida advertising methods and themes, along with additional commentary for each region, places the images in context. Hollis writes as a tourist, and his captions to the copious, eye-catching color illustrations transport the reader back to another era of Florida history.

What is Florida? Where does its image come from, and what is involved in the selling of that image? The myths and realities of Florida unfold in these 17 essays documenting the history and culture of the Sunshine State from 1875 to 1945. Since the time of Ponce de Leon, who sought the fountain of youth there, explorers, entrepreneurs, inventors, and visionaries have viewed Florida as a place where dreams come true.

To the average person weathering a New England winter, Dick Pope's Cypress Gardens must have looked even more exotic than a trip to Alice's Wonderland. The images coming out of his promotional powerhouse appeared in magazines, newspapers, newsreels, and movies. These Technicolor glories depicted everything from bathing beauties aquaplaning through walls of fire to southern belles relaxing beneath huge tropical plants, from Don Ameche proposing to Betty Grable under moss-hung cypress trees to Esther Williams performing a water ballet in the famous Florida-shaped pool. It was all happening in sleepy Winter Haven, where one real estate maverick turned tourism tycoon was out to sell "100,000 [visitors] 25 cents worth of Florida." Brilliantly illustrated with over 250 vibrant images, Cypress Gardens, America's Tropical Wonderland reveals the empire Dick Pope built from its origins as remote swampland to its heyday as a famous water-sports destination and playground for such stars as Joan Crawford, Johnny Carson, and Carol Burnett, as well as royalty from the Duke and Duchess of Windsor to King Hussein of Jordan. Lu Vickers also discusses the park's decline following the construction of Walt Disney World, changes in management, the evolving interests and vacationing habits of the nation, as well as its outlook for the future as a part of LEGOLAND Florida.

Paradise Park was the "colored only" counterpart to Silver Springs, a central Florida tourist attraction famous for its crystal-clear water and glass bottom boats. Together the two parks comprised one of the biggest recreational facilities in the country before Disney World. From 1949 to 1969, boats passed each other on the Silver River--blacks on one side, whites on the other. Though the patrons of both parks shared the same river, they seldom crossed the invisible line in the water. Full of vivid photographs, vintage advertisements, and interviews with employees and patrons, Remembering Paradise Park portrays a place of delight and leisure during the painful era of Jim Crow. Racial violence was at its height in Florida--the famous Groveland rape case happened right as Paradise Park opened--and many African Americans saw the park as a safe place for families. It was a popular vacation spot for the area's black community, one of the most cohesive and prosperous in the South. Tracing the color line through Florida's most famous spring, this book compares the park to other tourist destinations set aside for African Americans in the state and across the country. Though Silver Springs was Florida's only attraction to operate a parallel facility for African Americans, Paradise Park has been just a whisper in the story of Florida tourism until now.