• Subscribe to the Magazine
  • Read the Magazine
  • The Best of Fort Lauderdale
Subscribe to our newsletter

Subscribe to our newsletter and never miss a thing!

  • Features
  • Fashion
  • City Life
    • Business
    • Community
    • Culture
    • Development
    • Profile
  • Good Life
    • Casa Chic
    • Health
    • Motors
    • Outdoors
    • Sports
    • Travel
  • Guide
    • Entertainment
    • Events
    • Restaurant Guide
    • Snapshots
  • Food & Drink
    • Chef’s Corner
    • Grazings
    • Light Bites
    • Restaurant Guide
  • Around Town
  • From the Editor
  • Goods
  • Old Lauderdale
  • The List
  • Subscribe
  • Events
  • Restaurant Guide
  • Read the Magazine
0
Subscribe

Read the current issue

Fort Lauderdale Magazine
Fort Lauderdale Magazine
  • Features
  • Fashion
  • City Life
    • Business
    • Community
    • Culture
    • Development
    • Profile
  • Good Life
    • Casa Chic
    • Health
    • Motors
    • Outdoors
    • Sports
    • Travel
  • Guide
    • Entertainment
    • Events
    • Restaurant Guide
    • Snapshots
  • Food & Drink
    • Chef’s Corner
    • Grazings
    • Light Bites
    • Restaurant Guide
  • Around Town
  • From the Editor
  • Goods
  • Old Lauderdale
  • The List
  • The Best of Fort Lauderdale
  • DINE Fort Lauderdale
  • Good Life
  • Travel

Beyond the Mouse

  • June 1, 2017
  • FLMag Staff
Here at Fort Lauderdale Magazine, we have no quarrel with Disney World. But with school getting out and people looking for fun trips around the state, we’ve got a few suggestions that offer a little something different.
Stetson Kennedy Cottage at Beluthahatchee Park.
Stetson Kennedy Cottage at Beluthahatchee Park.

Beluthahatchee Park

Where: About 25 miles south of Jacksonville
Stetson Kennedy was a Florida hero. The writer, activist and forklorist who died in 2011 at 94 is perhaps most famous for infiltrating the Ku Klux Klan and revealing their secrets in writing, but he spent a life writing, working and chronicling, mostly in his native Florida. Now his home and surrounding lands, including a small lake, have been turned into a park. Visit for “Stetson Second Sundays” – on the second Sunday of every month, the house hosts folk musicians.
Tip: Before visiting, check out some of Kennedy’s books, many of which chronicle the people’s history of Florida.
More info: stetsonkennedy.com & bartramscenichighway.com


Hotel Jacaranda

Where: Avon Park
Old-time Southern charm is pretty much on tap in this historic 1920s hotel where the likes of Clark Gable and Babe Ruth once stayed. If you don’t feel like the pool, sit out on the veranda (because of course there’s a veranda) overlooking Main Street. It’s conveniently located for much of what Central Florida has to offer – including several of the other places on this page. And when you compare prices with, say, a couple days away on South Beach – well, it’s like they’re giving weekends away in Avon Park.
Tip: If you’re there around lunchtime on a Sunday, you can experience the hotel restaurant’s Grand Buffet.
More info: hoteljac.com


Bok Tower Gardens

Where: Lake Wales
The story goes like this: In the 1920s, noted landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstead Jr. was commissioned by Edward W. Bok to create something beautiful. In 1929, the winding exotic garden with a 250-foot tower in the middle was dedicated by President Coolidge. The Art Deco/Gothic Revival tower hosts a carillon that is played daily, giving it the nickname “the singing tower.” Today the gardens also feature a children’s garden, tours of the Spanish-style Pinewood Estate and a nature trail – as well as the opportunity to soak up nature in one of Florida’s most unique landmarks.
More info: boktowergardens.org


Dinosaur World

Where: Plant City
It sometimes seems like the big Central Florida theme parks can’t go five minutes without announcing some new film-related rollercoaster or hi-tech new ride that’s got even more bells and whistles than the last. This place offers several museums and some quaint-by-2017-standards animatronics, but the real thrill here for kids and grownups are the acres of life-sized dinosaur models. Kids can dig for “dinosaur bones,” play in a dinosaur-themed playground – or just explore some Central Florida countryside populated by Jurassic Park residents.
Tip: Pack a lunch; the park doesn’t have a café.
More info: dinosaurworld.com


Highland Hammocks State Park

Where: Sebring
One of Florida’s oldest parks – the state bought the land in 1935 after locals had begun a movement to make it into a national park – offers plenty of wild Florida nature today. There’s a boardwalk over cypress swamp, a three-mile paved loop for cycling, numerous hiking trails and, if you don’t feel like extending yourself quite that much, a tram tour. The park offers a full-service campground; otherwise, stay in Sebring and enjoy the town’s Old Florida charms.
Tip: The tram tour’s not just for the exercise-averse; it also gets people back into areas of the park that are otherwise restricted.
More info: floridastateparks.org


<em>Photography: Bob Bird.</em>
Photography: Bob Bird.

Melrose

Where: About 20 miles east of Gainesville, near Lake Santa Fe
North and Central Florida offer plenty of lovely towns for those willing to venture away from the interstates, and few places offer as much charm as the village of Melrose. Its well-preserved Victorian buildings have attracted artists and gallery owners; a stroll through town might exercise your wallet if you’re the art-buying kind.
Tip: For lodgings, rooms are available in historic homes.
More info: melrosefl.com

Related Topics
  • Avon Park
  • Beluthahatchee Park
  • Boo Tower Gardens
  • Dinosaur World
  • Florida
  • Highland Hammocks State Park
  • Hotel Jacaranda
  • Lake Wales
  • Melrose
  • Plant City
  • Sebring
  • Stetson Kennedy
  • Summer
  • travel
Previous Article
This Rio Vista home features four bedrooms and five-and-a-half baths, a two-car garage, a wine cellar and an outside area that offers an Intracoastal water view. Photography: Barkin-Gilman & Associates, Coldwell Banker Global Luxury.
  • Casa Chic
  • Good Life

Regal in Rio Vista

  • June 1, 2017
  • Natasha Yvette Lucas
View Post
Next Article
  • Casa Chic
  • Good Life

Summer on the Mile

  • July 1, 2017
  • Natasha Yvette Lucas
View Post
You May Also Like
View Post
  • Good Life
  • Health

Habits for a Healthy 2023

  • January 18, 2023
  • Gisel Habibnejad
View Post
  • Casa Chic
  • Good Life

Style Above the City

  • January 12, 2023
  • FLMag Staff
View Post
  • Good Life
  • Travel

Lost and Found in Colorado

  • January 10, 2023
  • FLMag Staff
View Post
  • Casa Chic
  • Good Life

Minimalist Design, Maximalist Luxury

  • December 20, 2022
  • Gisel Habibnejad
View Post
  • Good Life
  • Travel

The Season in the Circle

  • December 13, 2022
  • Edward Dyson
View Post
  • Good Life
  • Travel

Mists of History

  • November 22, 2022
  • Summer Swinson
View Post
  • Casa Chic
  • Good Life

Sport & Style on the Sea

  • November 21, 2022
  • Gisel Habibnejad
View Post
  • Casa Chic
  • Good Life

Go to Sea in Lavish Luxury

  • November 11, 2022
  • Gisel Habibnejad

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe to our newsletter

Subscribe to our newsletter and never miss a thing!

Fort Lauderdale Magazine
  • Contact Us
  • Media Kit
  • Careers
  • Submit An Idea
© PD Strategic Media. All rights reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of PD Strategic Media. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our privacy policy.

Input your search keywords and press Enter.

Best of Fort Lauderdale 2023 Logo
Vote Now!
X
X