Florida Trivia & Tidbits - Page 17

Looking for Florida trivia? Try our list Florida little know facts, tidbits and trivia.

The highest point in Florida is Britton Hill, which, at 345 feet, is the lowest high point in the nation.

first appeared: 1/7/2001

Key West (pop. 27,000), a 3-by-5 mile island, is the southernmost city in the continental United States, located where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Gulf of Mexico.

first appeared: 12/31/2000

Trinity Church in Apalachicola (pop. 2,602), one of the oldest churches in the state, was built in New York in the 1830s, then floated in sections by schooner down the Atlantic Coast to Florida.

first appeared: 12/24/2000

Silver Springs, near Ocala (pop. 44,975), is the largest limestone artesian spring formation in the world. Its average output is 800 million gallons per day.

first appeared: 12/17/2000

Chiefland (pop. 1,917), founded in 1845, is named in honor of the Native American farmers who once lived here.

first appeared: 12/10/2000

New Smyrna Beach (pop.16,543) was founded by a Scottish doctor in the late 1700s. Dr. Andrew Turnbull named the community in honor of Smyrna, Greece, his wife—s home.

first appeared: 12/3/2000

Around 1924-25, Venice (pop. 21,000) was a fishing village which was to be transformed into a retirement city for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. Development was halted by the 1929 stock market crash, but the town is an architectural gem today.

first appeared: 11/26/2000

Dania (pop. 13,024) originally was settled by Danish farm families. The city was once hailed as the tomato center of the world because of the crops they produced. The town now is an attraction for tourists seeking antiques.

first appeared: 11/19/2000

Tony Janus flew the world's first scheduled passenger service airline flight from St. Petersburg to Tampa in January 1914.

first appeared: 11/12/2000

President Theodore Roosevelt signed an order on March 14, 1903, which set aside Pelican Island as America’s first federal wildlife sanctuary.

first appeared: 11/5/2000

Cape Canaveral once was called Cape Kennedy. The original name—Cape Canaveral—was changed in honor of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. The name was changed back in 1973.

first appeared: 10/22/2000

Don’t sit under this tree for shade. The Manchineel tree, which grows in south Florida, is one of the most toxic trees in North America. Its apple-like fruit causes sickness when eaten, and the tree’s sap causes blistering, swelling, and numbness. Even water dripping from the leaves can cause the symptoms.

first appeared: 10/8/2000

The St. Johns River in Florida is one of the few in the country that flows north instead of south. It’s also Florida’s longest, running for 310 miles.

first appeared: 9/24/2000

Tarpon fishing originated in southwest Florida’s Pine Island Sound in the late 1880s. The “Tarpon Fishing Capital of the World” is said to be Boca Grande Pass, the opening between Cayo Costa (island) and Gasparilla Island.

first appeared: 9/10/2000

Florida's state song is The Swanee River (Old Folks at Home) by Stephen Foster. It became the official state song in 1935.

first appeared: 8/27/2000

Key limes take their name from the Florida Keys. The limes flourished when first brought to the Keys by trading ships and Bahamians.

first appeared: 8/13/2000

Talk about being made of money. The dining room walls of Florida’s Cabbage Key Inn and Restaurant (in Cabbage Key) are covered in dollar bills—more than $10,000 worth—held in place with masking tape. Each bill is signed by the tourist who put it there.

first appeared: 7/30/2000

Everglades National Park is the largest subtropical wilderness in the continental United States. The 1.5 million-acre park has numerous fresh and saltwater areas, open prairies, and forests. It is the only place in the world where alligators and crocodiles exist together, say park officials.

first appeared: 7/16/2000

ST. AUGUSTINE, FLA., IS THE OLDEST European settlement in America. European explorer Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles founded the city in 1565-55 years before the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth, Mass.

first appeared: 7/2/2000

Benjamin Green, a pharmacist in Miami Beach, Fla., invented the first suntan cream, Coppertone Suntan Cream, in 1944. He cooked cocoa butter and other ingredients in a granite coffeepot on the stove, testing each batch on his bald head.

first appeared: 6/18/2000

jump to page: 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18

newspaper partner login create account

Recent

Popular

Recipes

Below are the most recent American Profile articles:

Below are the most recent, highest rated American Profile articles:

Below are the most recent, highest rated American Profile recipes:

Relish

Spry

Below are the most recent articles from our Relish sister site. Click on the "Spry" tab above to see the most recent articles from our other sister site.

Below are the most recent articles from our Spry sister site. Click on the "Relish" tab above to see the most recent articles from our other sister site.