# I'm vacationing Fla. - tell me an historical place I can visit **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 16, 2000, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-vacationing-fla-tell-me-an-historical-place-i-can-visit/7538 "2000-02-16T02:38:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2000, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-vacationing-fla-tell-me-an-historical-place-i-can-visit/7538/21 "2000-02-17T15:06:00Z")
Sycorax wrote: > [@](#): > > [W]hen I was in Silver Springs and took the glass bottom boat tour of the lake, the guide said that’s where the Creature from the Black Lagoon was filmed. Hmmmm… Well, someone is telling a whopper, either your guide or all the folks at Wakulla. It occurs to me that Creature from the Black Lagoon had several sequels, so it’s possible that the original was shot at one spring, and one or more sequels was shot at the other, but I dunno. Just reporting what I was told. I do know that a lot of Tarzan filming was done at Silver Springs. They didn’t lay claim to the Airport sequel too, did they? If you ever get up to the Tampa/Clearwater area, check out Tarpon Springs. It was the center of Florida’s sponge trade in the olden days, when a thriving community of hardy Greek immigrants went out and cut the sponges by hand. There is still a Greek presence in the area (lots of good restaurants), and I believe they have preserved the old sponge market as a tourist attraction. ---
**Author:** ![Yeah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/dbc845/32.png) [@Yeah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeah)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2000, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-vacationing-fla-tell-me-an-historical-place-i-can-visit/7538/22 "2000-02-17T15:33:00Z")
Both Pensacola (at the Naval Air Station) and Key West (near Truman Annexe) have well preserved and well maintained old forts with informative visitors’ centers, if you are interested in that sort of thing. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2000, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-vacationing-fla-tell-me-an-historical-place-i-can-visit/7538/23 "2000-02-18T06:31:00Z")
Re: Tarpon Springs. Yes, that IS fun…they also do boat trips out and let you watch old Greek divers hunt for sponges. I would add something here about diving helmets and copper breastplates and lead-soled shoes, but manhattan has all but accused me of sexually fetishizing the stuff. * * * Uke ---
**Author:** ![Crystalguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dbc845/32.png) [@Crystalguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crystalguy)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2000, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-vacationing-fla-tell-me-an-historical-place-i-can-visit/7538/24 "2000-02-17T22:02:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by aha: > \*\*St. Augustine… has the world’s oldest something…building or town or something. Also is very quaint and beautiful. > > \*\* Not the worlds oldest but the oldest city in North America, I believe. Worth seeing, whatever its age. ---
**Author:** ![AlliKat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@AlliKat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlliKat)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2000, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-vacationing-fla-tell-me-an-historical-place-i-can-visit/7538/25 "2000-02-18T16:51:00Z")
While you’re in key west, make sure you see the cats. i don’t know where exactly they are but there are some cats that put on a show every weekend. this guy has trained them to jump thru hoops, go up to people for donations, and all kinds of funny and crazy things. * * * “Life is too short and too long to be unhappy.” ---
**Author:** ![AlliKat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@AlliKat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlliKat)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2000, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-vacationing-fla-tell-me-an-historical-place-i-can-visit/7538/26 "2000-02-18T17:06:00Z")
While you’re in key west, make sure you see the cats. i don’t know where exactly they are but there are some cats that put on a show every weekend. this guy has trained them to jump thru hoops, go up to people for donations, and all kinds of funny and crazy things. * * * “Life is too short and too long to be unhappy.” ---
**Author:** ![thefireswamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/90db22/32.png) [@thefireswamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thefireswamp)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2000, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-vacationing-fla-tell-me-an-historical-place-i-can-visit/7538/27 "2000-02-19T09:41:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Sycorax: > \*\*I’m going to Fla. end of Feb. for 3 weeks. We have a week with nothing planned for it so far. I want to visit an old city with historical sites, museums, artifacts, and an archeological dig would be nice too. I visited Jamestown, Va. a few months ago and it even had an archeological dig going - loved it – got anything like that in Fla? \*\* ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2000, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-vacationing-fla-tell-me-an-historical-place-i-can-visit/7538/28 "2000-02-19T14:00:00Z")
\SEX!!\ Now that I’ve got your attention… Our nation’s Space Program is an important part of our history. The Kennedy Space Flight Center (Cape Canaveral, to the old timers) has a \TOTALLY FREE\ museum of spaceflight. For a small fee, you may take one of several bus tours, one of which will let you enter the old Mercury Program’s Command center. The Apollo 13 launchpad is on the tour, too. The ammount of wildlife you can see on these tours is amazing. The only time in my life that I have seen a Bald Eagle in the wild was on the Kennedy Center Bus tour. I saw 2, a nesting pair. I recommend the Space Coast wholeheartedly. If you can, time your vacation so that you can see a Shuttle Launch. MAJOR WOW!!! 🆒 * * * With magic, you can turn a frog into a prince. With science, you can turn a frog into a Ph.D, and you still have the frog you started with. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-vacationing-fla-tell-me-an-historical-place-i-can-visit/7538.md?page=1)