by Scott Morris

Long before Disney World, there were already plenty of entrepreneurs trying to lure tourists to the Sunshine State. In those early days, instead of chopping down trees and paving over everything, the idea was to take the abundant beauty of Florida and draw attention to it and make it available for visitors. Some of those old-school attractions still exist today, and make great excursions at a much lower price.

Silver Springs

Home of the famous Glass Bottom Boats, Silver Springs, located inside Silver Springs State Park, bills itself as Florida’s first attraction. People have been visiting the springs since the 1870s, when two dreamers designed boats with glass bottoms so passengers could get an amazing view of what lies within the shockingly clear waters. The springs are one of the largest artesian springs in the world. Their beauty is something you don’t want to miss, especially since you can get there within an hour’s drive.

Silver Springs and the Silver River are so beautiful, in fact, that Hollywood came calling. The first movie was filmed there in 1916. Then came the monkeys. In the 1930s, one Colonel Tooey, who ran the “Jungle Cruise” boat ride, brought a troop of wild rhesus monkeys and put them on an island in the Silver River. One problem. The Colonel didn’t realize rhesus monkeys are excellent swimmers. They escaped the island in no time, and began forming their own feral troops along the river. These monkeys can still be seen along the river.

Which worked out perfectly for Hollywood’s most famous interaction with Silver Springs. It was the location for filming Tarzan the Ape Man, featuring Johnny Weissmuller. Five more Tarzan movies were filmed there in the 30s and 40s. In 1954, the cult classic Creature from the Black Lagoon was filmed there, as were episodes of the TV series Sea Hunt.

There’s a water park on the premises, and the website will keep you posted on dates when they have live music and other events.

But the real draw is the springs, the river and the nature trails. You can bring your own bike, paddleboard, canoe or kayak or rent bikes, canoes and kayaks at the park. 

Weeki Wachee

Another treasured bit of Florida’s past that’s still in business is Weeki Wachee. It, too, is a dream inspired by a spring, and it’s a state park. Traditionally, Florida’s springs and rivers are home to bass, bluegill, gar, gators, bream and, of course, manatees. But what if you added mermaids to the mix?

That was Newton Perry’s thinking back in 1946. A former Navy man who trained SEALS during WWII, Perry discovered Weeki Wachee Springs and thought: mermaids!

Perry experimented with underwater breathing hoses and designed a system of free-flowing air hoses that supplied oxygen from a compressor — as opposed to traditional scuba diving with a tank strapped to your back. By swimming over and taking a gulp of air when needed, humans could frolic twenty feet below the surface as if they lived there.

He built a theater right into the limestone six feet below the banks of the spring, with glass walls looking out directly into the depths. Next he began asking women if they’d like to be mermaids. Lots did. He taught them to use the air hoses, drink Grapette and eat bananas underwater. He choreographed aquatic ballets for the them to perform.

By the 1950s, Weeki Wachee was one of the nation’s most popular tourist attractions. ABC purchased it in 1959 and built the current 500-seat theater 16 feet below the surface, and they began promoting it heavily. Women came from all over the world to audition to be mermaids. Celebrities showed up to see the shows, including Elvis.

While those glory days may have faded the mermaids still perform — and this only makes going to Weeki Wachee even more mind-bending in a wonderful way. Their old mermaid motto was: “Once a mermaid, always a mermaid.” Sounds incontrovertible.

Incorporated in 1966, little Weeki Wachee is one of the smallest cities in the United States. Other than the mermaid shows, the park itself offers an assortment of activities. There’s a water park, riverboat ride, the reptile show and the main event, the mermaid shows all included in the cost of admission ($13).

The drive is around two hours. You have to ask yourself: am I, or am I not, the kind of person who would drive a few hours to see live mermaids? You want to be the kind of person who would make the drive.

Gatorland

There’s only one thing mermaids are afraid of — gators. Okay, that’s just a guess, but people are afraid of them and for that reason love to scare themselves silly by getting up close and personal with them. For that, there’s nothing compared to Gatorland, aside from being stranded in the middle of the Everglades at two in the morning, which is not an approved old-school Florida attraction.

Gatorland was founded by Owin Godwin in 1949 and is still owned by his family. Known as the Alligator Capital of the World, Gatorland has thousands of alligators and crocodiles, including four extremely rare leucistic “albino” alligators. The park also has a free-flight aviary, petting zoo, animal shows, an alligator breeding marsh and the “Screamin’ Gator” Zip Line.

Adventure Hour and Night Shine are guided tours not included in the price of admission. Adventure Hour ($10) allows you to actually go into the gator’s natural swamp habitat and experience genuine terror. Night Shine ($19) is similar but happens at night. Gators are nocturnal so don’t expect the usual lazy, lumbering qualities they exhibit in the daytime. Make reservations in advance online or by phone.

Gatorland’s Screamin’ Gator Zip Line ($69.99) was voted best zip line in the country by AOL Travel. It includes general admission to the park. Given that you have over 1,200 feet of a journey, with towers standing over seven stories high and that you’ll be travelling over the Alligator Breeding Marsh, where 130 hungry gators watch from below, it’s money well spent.

Bok Tower

More Florida eccentricity and beauty can be found at Bok Tower in Lake Wales.

The point is, this area, which has one of the highest elevations in Florida, has some kind of peculiar creative magic to it. Bok Tower is part of that. The tower opened in 1929, and over 23 million people have visited it. The tower and gardens are the creation of Edward W. Bok, an immigrant from the Netherlands who became a successful publisher and Pulitzer Prize-winning author.

Bok hired the best craftsmen that money could buy to realize his vision. Standing on part of the Lake Wales Ridge, one of the highest points in Florida at 298 feet above sea level, the area is known as a prime spot to take in legendary Florida sunsets. Bok enlisted Frederick Law Olmstead Jr. as a landscape architect, directing him to transform the the grounds into “a spot of beauty second to none in the country.” Filled with azaleas, camellias, magnolias, live oaks, pines, fern palms and cypress, it is one-of-a-kind, anchored by the tower and a reflection pool large enough to capture the reflection of the entire Bok Tower.

About the tower—in a word, amazing. It is a 205-foot, neo-Gothic and art deco tower and — it sings! Yes, it sings. That’s because it houses one of the most audacious carillons you’ll find. It has 60 bells ranging in weight from 16 pounds to nearly 12 tons.

Visit the Bok Tower website to read about the roll-call of prominent architects and craftsmen who made all this possible.

Bok Tower was designed to be a place of peace and inspiration. It’s not a place to rush through. Bring a book, a camera and some soulful friends and let it do its work.

Once you’ve achieved spiritual peace, you may as well freak yourself out and try Spook Hill on the way home. Just a few minutes down the road from Bok Tower, Spook Hill got its name because a spooky thing happens when you park your car at the bottom of it and put it in neutral. Your car rolls uphill. Since no spooky event is complete without a story, there’s a legend about a Seminole Chief battling an alligator that somehow ties into this gravity-defying experience.