This engine, No. 21, was built in 1886 for the Florida Southern Railroad and named ‘Ocala’ after the city. This photo is from ‘The Plant System’ by Gregg Turner and Seth Bramson. You can purchase a copy by clicking here[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Posts Tagged Florida tourism
Here’s a matchbook for the former Southernaire Motel that was in Tallahassee, In it’s place is a huge apartment complex that caters to students going to Florida State University. Here’s what’s in the place of the Southernaire Motel today:[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Apparently the sharks were away at the time. Ocean Beach has gotten lost in the muddle of development along the coast of Dade County. The island is now a managed developed area and primarily all private. The island is here:[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Coming out of Jacksonville in 1898, and heading south on the Jacksonville, Tampa and Key West Railway is Engine #6. The Baldwin Locomotive Works built the engine. This line never got to Key West and was handled by the Plant[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Swampy’s Florida Postcards: Caspar’s Alligator Jungle, St. Augustine!
Here’s a postcard of the old Caspar’s Gator Jungle. I wish this postcard had two things: 1) a postmark 2) an address. I’ve seen much about Caspar’s over the years. I know I’ve read about it, but the memory is[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
On the right is the owner of Whaley’s Grocery Store, Sid Whaley. Whaley was known for wearing am overcoat and a hat. The photo is from around the 1930s.
It’s 1906 and the railroad repair yard in Dunnellon, in western Marion County, is busy. Notice the steam coming from the locomotive and the people in the background to the right. I’d be curious to know how this photo was[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Swampy’s Florida Tuesday Ads – Sylvia Groom, Realtor, Sarasota, 1973.
Sylvia Groom realty had been still around! Seems the children have continued the business when I first posted this in 2013. Then, the business was part of Realtor.com. Now, that is gone. There had been a Patch blurb with a[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
This undated postcard shows the Bahia Mar Yacht basin, the home of the famed Travis McGee. He lived at slip F-18 on the Busted Flush. John D. MacDonald created the hero of McGee and wrote 21 novels to tell his[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Swampy’s Florida Postcards: Flagler’s Hotel Ponce de Leon in Saint Augustine.
Here’s, what is known today, as Flagler College in St. Augustine. At the time of this undated postcard this was, as it was built, the Hotel Ponce deLeon built by Florida pioneer Henry Flagler as he built the Florida East[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Here’s the Dania train station in 1916. This photo is from the book of the history of the Florida East Coast Railway, ‘Speedway to Sunshine’ by Seth Bramson. You can purchase one by clicking here or below.: https://amzn.to/2ROA6T3 This book is[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Swampy’s Florida Postcard : Owen Godwin & friends at his Gatorland, south Orange County.
Here’s Owen Godwin with his friends at the place he started, Gatorland. The postcard is undated, but I would guess this is from the mid-60s. Swampy’s handler, Rob Smith, Jr., had the opportunity many years ago to speak with Owen’s[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…