REMARKABLE FACTS ABOUT FLORIDA YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW

FORT LAUDERDALE IS KNOWN AS THE

VENICE OF AMERICA BECAUSE THE CITY

HAS 185 MILES OF LOCAL WATERWAYS

THE MORIKAMI MUSEUM AND JAPANESE GARDENS

AT DELRAY BEACH IS THE ONLY MUSEUM IN THE

UNITED STATES DEDICATED EXCLUSIVELY TO THE

LIVING CULTURE OF JAPAN

PLANT CITY, THE WINTER STRAWBERRY CAPITAL

OF THE WORLD, HOLDS THE GUINNESS RECORD

FOR THE WORLD’S LARGEST STRAWBERRY

SHORTCAKE. THE 827-SQUARE-FOOT, 6,000-POUND

CAKE WAS MADE ON FEBRUARY 19, 1999, IN

MCCALL PARK

YBOR CITY WAS ONCE KNOWN AS THE CIGAR CAPITAL

OF THE WORLD WITH NEARLY 12,000 TABAQUEROS

(CIGAR-MAKERS) EMPLOYED IN TWO HUNDRED

FACTORIES. YBOR CITY PRODUCED AN ESTIMATED

700 MILLION CIGARS A YEAR AT THE INDUSTRY’S PEAK

GREATER MIAMI IS THE ONLY METROPOLITAN AREA

IN THE UNITED STATES WHOSE BORDERS

ENCOMPASS TWO NATIONAL PARKS. YOU CAN

HIKE THROUGH PRISTINE EVERGLADES NATIONAL

PARK OR RIDE ON A GLASS-BOTTOM BOAT ACROSS

BISCAYNE NATIONAL PARK

IN 1987 THE FLORIDA LEGISLATURE DESIGNATED

THE AMERICAN ALLIGATOR (ALLIGATOR MISSISSIPPIENSIS)

THE OFFICIAL STATE REPTILE. LONG AN UNOFFICIAL

SYMBOL OF THE STATE, THE ALLIGATOR ORIGINALLY

SYMBOLIZED FLORIDA’S EXTENSIVE UNTAMED

WILDERNESS AND SWAMPS

ON MAY 20, 1970, FLORIDA LAWMAKERS PASSED AND

SENT TO THE GOVERNOR A BILL ADOPTING THE

MOONSTONE AS THE OFFICIAL STATE GEM.

IRONICALLY, THE MOONSTONE IS NOT FOUND

NATURALLY IN FLORIDA NOR WAS IT FOUND

ON THE MOON

MIAMI BEACH PHARMACIST BENJAMIN GREEN INVENTED

THE FIRST SUNTAN LOTION IN 1944. HE ACCOMPLISHED

THIS BY COOKING COCOA BUTTER IN A GRANITE

COFFEE POT ON HIS WIFE’S STOVE