Weather, Water, Railroads, and Good Roads: Orlando Tourism Before Disney
By Joy Wallace Dickinson and Rick Kilby from the Spring 2025 Edition of Reflections Magazine “With the coming of the railroad Orlando’s days as a pioneer town were numbered,” historian Eve Bacon wrote about the event that made Orlando accessible from Sanford and in essence all points north, by train
The Presidents Hall of Fame: Clermont’s Roadside Treasure
By Jeremy Hileman, Assistant Curator With numerous world-class tourist destinations located throughout Central Florida, it may be easy to forget that visitors flocked to the area prior to the emergence of the theme parks that so many associate with the region today. A number of notable attractions predated the opening
The Brave Beauty of the Black Lagoon
Orlando’s Ginger Stanley Hallowell blazed cinematic trails in a sci-fi classic and as Florida’s photogenic underwater ambassador. We at the History Center were saddened to learn of the death on Jan. 19, 2023, of Ginger Stanley Hallowell of Orlando. She was 91. An excellent swimmer, Hallowell pioneered underwater work in
Land of the Lost Attractions
Central Florida has long been a tourism hot spot where roadside attractions that have come and gone. Some, such as Cypress Gardens, loom large in Florida’s history, while others have been largely forgotten. Here’s a photographic look back at just a few.