Silver
Springs, home of the famous glass bottom boats and a major tourist attraction
opening its gates in 1852. The glass bottom boat tours began around 1870.
Silver Springs was one of Florida's first tourist attractions. In 1971 it was
designated a National Natural Landmark.
I
remember going there with my parents as a kid. It was quite something. Not only
did we get to ride the glass bottom boats and tour the 200+ acres, but there
was a variety of local wild life on display including birds, like flamingos and
reptiles like alligators. For a pre-adolescent kid, this was exciting and a
great place. I still remember it, though probably a bit more vaguely now at my
current age.
Sadly,
since I was there as a kid, there has been a fair amount of development in the
area. This has caused all kinds of issues including run off and sewage issues
that clouded the pristine, crystal clear waters of the artesian spring. The
spring pumps out some 550 million gallons of water per day.
A
small amusement park was opened and operated on the property, but has since
closed due to declining tourist counts. The property also has a water park
called Wild Waters. Because it was becoming run down and no longer generating
the revenue to cover the cost of upkeep and maintenance, it has ultimately
become a Florida State Park. It's in a sad state of disrepair and no longer can
draw the crowds that would rather visit Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, ET and
Shamus the whale in Orlando.
My
feeling, well, there goes another part of my childhood. Nothing stays the same.
Time marches on just as it did with Marineland on the Florida Atlantic coast.
I had forgotten that there was ever a Marineland on the east coast. Apparently that was before my "traveling" time. We have been to the now defunct Marineland of the Pacific, as well as Sea World in California and Florida, but missed the ones in Texas and Ohio. Actually, we were in the parking lot of the one in Ohio, but it was not open for the season yet. That one is now no longer there, and has a WildWater Kingdom occupying it's grounds. As you said, everything changes, and in some cases, you can never go back.
ReplyDeleteTime marches on, John. Places I remember from my childhood and early adult travel years just don't seem to resemble what I recall. Maybe it's better if we stop revisiting the places from the past and finding them disappointing and depressing and just look for new places we've never been before - we have no frame of reference that way.
Delete