Gifts from a Classic Florida Road Trip
Hwy 17 – Jacksonville to Tampa
While the East Coast of Florida has its allure, history and fabulous beaches, the inner workings of the state show the traveler a much more beautiful and deep experience. Hwy 17 runs along the old rail line that used to be the main artery to the state. Not only did the train ferry people through here, but in most cases, so did the steamboats along the St. Johns. Many old towns lived and died along this path and their ghosts remain along with that old Florida air.
Take Highway 17 to leave the colorful Eighties through the Fifties and go further back… Let’s head into the late 1800’s, my personal favorite.
If US1 can be considered a coastal road, then Highway 17 could be considered a swamp road. Ninety percent of it is through swamps and fields. It’s a beautiful country drive and each notable town along its track has it’s own unique personality.
Traveling in a southwesterly fashion out of Jacksonville and Orange Park, you will find yourself on a long and pine tree lined highway. This will go on until Green Cove. In Green Cove Springs watch your speed. The town is well known for its law enforcement. Check out the nicest building in town as you go through, it is the courthouse. While that one is nice and new, go just a little ways into the town and you will find the Old Clay County Courthouse. One of the most haunted buildings in the state.
While that sucks, they have one of the coolest natural springs ever at Springs Park and it also is the home to Gustafson’s Milk. While the farm was sold in 2013, Gustafson milk is still produced there.
Palatka is the next stop on our trip down this road into the bowels of Central Florida. That smell… One will soon realize that there is one thing that you will never forget about Palatka. That smell is Georgia Pacific. It is a monster paper mill which is the heartbeat of the town. A mill has always sat on this site.
Gifts from a Classic Florida Road Trip
First it was the huge cypress logs that were cut and hauled out to the river port. A hundred years later or more, it would be this monolith to Angel Soft. Palatka is a cool place. I love Palatka, Florida. It reminds me of a quieter and much smaller New Orleans.
The place just has that feel to it. It is quiet now, but it used to be one of the prime destinations on the river. Currently it is home to the only still running Amtrak train station in the area. The city is well known for its Blue Crab and Azalea Festivals.
They have a parade for every event. Shrimping by the full moon is a sight to see. People come out and line the bridge over the river on either side. They stay out there all night casting nets into the beams of the full moon, filling bucket after bucket of running shrimp.
When you pass through here be sure to stop and have a margarita at The High Level on the way in, lunch at the Ravine State Gardens, and Corky Bells green beans with your dinner. Just watch out for the ghosts at the old Holiday Inn… cause they are there, that place was PARTAY central from the late 60’s well into the early 90’s. Overdose, shot, stabbed… You name it. In Putnam County back then, those were probably the best ways to die though… You could’ve been fed to the gators…
Heading this way you will ride down the same pavement as thousands of bikers. Highway 17 is a well known biker route to Daytona Beach for Bike Week and Octoberfest. Right out of Palatka, heading Southeast, on the right hand side of the road is a big red and brick building called the Cheyenne Saloon. Reminiscent of those old Western saloons, the Cheyenne is a well known biker bar in the area.
When I tended bar up the road at the now gone Guy’s Fountain, we constantly bugged Wes to get a pool table. He never would. One day you hear in the news about how two bikers got into it at the Cheyenne. The altercation resulted in death by pool cue, I won’t even describe how. The victim died on the table right there in the front room. Turns out ol’ Wes wasn’t so wrong after all…
Gifts from a Classic Florida Road Trip
This is one beautiful drive. Heading towards San Mateo is a little memorial by some power lines. It is a few trees, a picnic table and a plaque. This place is where a wealthy landowner tried to start a utopian village with a bunch of convicts from England. Needless to say, they all ran off and left him, possibly becoming some of the earliest residents of this area.
If you take a left on Highway 100 and follow it just a little ways, you can find fresh Florida Orange Blossom honey for sale. Get back out onto Highway 17 south though cause 100 goes back to the beach and it ain’t a very scenic route.
Passing through the towns of Satsuma, Welaka, and Crescent City on down to Pierson you will pass swamps, fields, orange groves and ferneries. Ferneries are nurseries where they grow only ferns. In fact, Pierson is the Fern Capital of the World.
It is a beautiful drive through old oak canopies and flowing creeks. At the intersection of Highway 17 and Highway 40, if you take a right towards the west, there is a really neat flea market type of place. The Barberville Yard Art Emporium has huge statues of chickens, dinosaurs, the Statue of Liberty, ants and anything else you might want custom made in a enormous size. They also have beautiful pots and it’s really a neat place to explore… At the very least it will provide some cool photo ops!
Up the road from here is the Barberville Pioneer Village where you can see a reproduction of one of the first pioneer homesteads out here.
Gifts from a Classic Florida Road Trip
Green Cove isn’t the only place with a natural spring along this path. This route takes you through the heart of the Central Florida springs, the lifeblood bubbling up ice cold from the limestone bedrock aquifer. These are some of the most beautiful sights you will ever see. Prehistoric and preserved.
Some were rescued, some are so large that they will always be safe. Great cavernous wonders in crystal clear turquoise blue. De Leon is only the second natural spring you will pass. They too have a little Old Florida perk to the attraction. There is a restaurant in there that has been there forever. The line sometimes wraps around the building. What is the catch?
You get to cook your own pancakes on a cast iron griddle in the middle of your table. It is one of those neat little things you can still find out here. Don’t swim too soon after a big breakfast though! Safety first.
Deland is amazing and the Central Florida antiques capital. They have an antique store on like every corner. If you veer off to the East towards Lake Helen a little ways, you may find Cassadaga, the Psychic Capital of the World. I say you may find it because it is very hard to find if you are not meant to find it. Get it?
Head back towards the SouthWest of the city to check out Blue Springs first thing in the morning. The best time for a visit to this natural wonder is in the winter, just as the sun is coming up. Camping is the best way to experience this magical thing. As you arise from your freezing bed and barren campsite, you head to the bathroom and wander down towards the spring run.
The sun is just coming up, you can see it’s golden rays slanting through the leaves and branches creating a multitude of different shades of green… You notice the amount of people are increasing the closer you get to the spring. They are lined up down the path, in groups on the floating docks. You get down to the water and you see why. In front and underneath you is one of the largest natural outdoor aquariums you will ever see.
The manatees are one of the biggest features literally. They are plentiful and protected here. Larger than you realize, it is breathtaking when you see one of these peaceful beauties glide slowly under your feet. Getting on your knees to see closer, this ancient animal is inches from your hand, just under the water. Next to her could very possibly be her young offspring.
Gifts from a Classic Florida Road Trip
Across the way a small gator will probably be lounging on an outstretched tree branch as schools of small fish dart around their larger compadres. Turtles, birds, snakes, you name it. All here in refuge from the cold weather as these springs stay an average temperature of 73 to 74 degrees year round.
Highway 17 is split when you get to Orlando, with Orlando being in the middle of it. The road ends at Colonial Drive and it is suggested you head West to 423 or John Young Parkway, and then head South again. This route will take you straight through and back to 17.
If you want to explore Orlando some great places to check out are the Orlando Science Center, Church Street Station, and Fun Spot Orlando. The Fun Spot is the evolution of an Orlando icon. See here is the thing, Disney, even if the tickets were free, is expensive. It was like $10.00 for a soda back in the 80’s. That may be a slight exaggeration, but for most local Floridians, Disney was not really a weekend destination with the kids.
Fun ‘N Wheels was. It was cheap if you only did certain parts. Like the Midway. My favorite anyways… I loved it, used to dream of running away and going straight there. The mirrors with the band logos, I always tried to get those. Now it is the Fun Spot and in a different location, but it’s the same owners so it is still a very cool place to spend some time in Orlando.
Moving on down the road you have to check out Bok Tower Gardens and good ol’ Spook Hill in Lake Wales. Make sure you head straight on South Highway 17 coming out of Haines City.
Bok Tower Gardens can be found by turning East off of Highway 17 otherwise known as North Scenic Highway, onto Burns Avenue. Go East to Tower Boulevard. You want to head North on Tower Boulevard but at this point there are signs and you are on the property.
Any visit to this place will be better if you can coordinate it with a concert. Their program and calendar can be found here. See, for those who don’t know, a Carillon, is a Medieval musical instrument consisting of a huge tower full of bells. One person, called a Carillonneur, uses a keyboard and foot pedals to play beautiful music throughout the land… Or gardens in this case.
Your average tower has about 20 bells or so, the Bok Tower has 60.
The property was developed and the carillon bell tower built in 1929 by Edward W. Bok. It was called the Singing Tower at the time. Everything, the bells and the gardens, was done to give humans a place of peace and serenity.
He himself was one of the leaders of what would become the 1950’s Americana movement. Mr. Bok was a publisher of the Ladies Home Journal, a building plan magazine back then, for 30 years. He basically created the title “Living Room” since he was opposed to the term “drawing room”. Apparently he believed since no drawing went on in there, it shouldn’t be called that anymore.
Gifts from a Classic Florida Road Trip
A huge advocate for the American suburbs he was also strongly opposed to the women’s suffrage movement. He believed it would do more damage to the female, than help her, in the future. This Pulitzer Prize winning author and Dreamer of Peace, died in 1930, just a year after the completion of his beautiful bell tower.
Any visitor on their way out of town has to see Spook Hill before they go. This legendary Florida place is an anomaly, but of what kind no one is quite sure. Coming out of Bok Tower, go West on Burns Avenue. Head back the way you came. You are looking for 5th street, it will be on your left and very obviously heads downhill. If your vehicle seems to struggle here, you will know why shortly. Soon you will see the back of this archway and a white line across the road.
Spook Hill, written in eerie lettering, curving over your head. Drive on through and past the line until you get to the trees. Turn your vehicle around and you’ll see a sign there. It tells you the legend of the Native Chief who fought a supernatural Alligator enemy in this very place. The struggle your vehicle went through as you came down the hill was because it was passing through the immortal battle of the Chief and Gator and even as you move back up the hill, it seems you are still rolling backwards…
Gifts from a Classic Florida Road Trip
Many say that everything is just an optical illusion, but there are tales of pioneers coming through here in wagons. Their horses visibly strained against something very unknown to them. Follow the instructions on the sign and find out what you think is the cause of it all…
Back out on Highway 17 head South and enjoy the Scenic Drive through orange groves, blue sky and campy old hotels… At the end of the road, jump over to the other half of 17 via Highway 98 and drive on down to our own, Old West style cattletown Arcadia, for some fossil hunting and prehistoric Florida entertainment.
Take 70 west out to Pine Level. See Arcadia has one of the last real ghost towns in Florida. Created when the Union discovered Florida had cows, it soon became a town that could easily rival any in the Old West. Pine Level was a part of this town and you can check out the cemetery that is all that is left. Its slow death after the railroad chose a different stop, left nothing behind. Except the ghosts… Ghosts from the infamous Hanging Tree that used to be over by the church, and ghosts from so many shot down in the streets of a place that once had more saloons that anything else in town…
After that, you might want to lighten up a bit. Head on back down the road to 661 and the Peace River Canoe Outpost. Here you can rent a canoe or kayak and spend a few hours fossil hunting on the Peace River. One of the most popular places in the country for this hobby, you may come out of the water with any sort of prehistoric pieces. Rib bones, mastodon tusks, mammal teeth, shark teeth, megalodon teeth… Make sure you check in with the outpost for any kind of laws, rules or regulations regarding the collecting of fossils.
Highway 17 completes its route in Punta Gorda, at the coastline of the Gulf of Mexico. A beautiful scene and the Gulf itself is way safer down here where it blends with the Atlantic. Just keep going when 17 turns into Olympia Avenue. Driving through it doesn’t look like much. Simple, down to Earth. You drive through neighborhoods, past numerous medical facilities…
Gifts from a Classic Florida Road Trip
Finally the road ends, a sign in front of you says No Motorized Vehicles. Hang a right and ride parallel to the great Gulf of Mexico until you find a city park of your liking. Inhale that salty air and enjoy the sun and great outdoors.
Gifts from a Classic Florida Road Trip
References
https://underwaterflorida.homestead.com/greencovesprings.html
https://www.greencovesprings.com/history-of-green-cove-springs
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustafson%27s_Farm
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-1987-01-04-0100030159-story.html
https://fun-spot.com/
https://boktowergardens.org/
http://peacerivertrips.com/