Things You Didn't Know About Florida USA

1. St Augustine was the first European settlement in North America. This makes it the oldest town in Florida.
2. Orlando is home to the most visited theme parks in the US.
3. Hawaii is in fact further south than Florida, thus making Hawaii the furthest southern state in the US.
4. Pine Island celebrates their mango crop every year by holding a mango festival and crowning a local lady the mango queen in honor of the fruit.
5. Thomas Edison had a summer home in Fort Myers. His friend Henry Ford liked the area so much he built his summer home next door. They are both now museums and you can still visit these homes today in their perfectly preserved state.
6. The alligator is the official reptile of Florida.
7. The largest lake in the state of Florida is Lake Okeechobee.
8. A person born in Florida thus making them a true native is known as a ‘cracker’.
9. Cape Coral has more waterways than Venice, Italy. It is a very popular vacation spot for boaters.
10. One of the world’s greatest tarpon fishing competitions is held every year in the open waters between Gasparilla Island and Pine Island at Boca Grande Pass.
11. The Palmetto Palm is the official tree of Florida.
12. Florida is now the third most populated state in the US.
13. The Seminole tribe resides in Florida. There are 2,000 Native Americans who belong to this tribe. They live on 6 Indian reservations in the state and are all directly descended from just 300 Seminole Indians who survived the civil war.
14. The first known inhibiters of Florida came to the state over 12,000 years ago.
15. President George W Bush and his family spend their Christmas vacation every year at Gasparilla Island. His brother, Jeb Bush, was the Governor of Florida until 2006.
16. Sanibel is world famous for the seashells that wash up on the beaches. When people collect these shells along the shore, their peculiar posture is known as the ‘Sanibel Stoop’.
17. Fort Myers is home to the Boston Red Sox during their spring training regime.
18. The Number 1 beach in the US in 2005, according to Dr Beach – world-renowned beach expert, is in Fort DeSoto Park, North Beach, and St Petersburg.
19. The Spanish Explorer Juan Ponce De Leon originally discovered Florida in 1513.
20. The English ruled Florida for only 20 years before being re-conquered by the Spanish in 1784.
21. Fort Myers Beach is home to Southwest Florida’s shrimp fishing fleet. Every year they hold a shrimp festival in celebration of the local shellfish. A priest blesses the fishing fleet for the coming year and the grand finale of the event is the crowning of the shrimp queen.
22. Florida has more golf courses than anywhere else in the world.
23. Conch is a type of edible mollusk that is a statewide delicacy. They are a little chewy and can be found fried, eaten raw with limejuice or in a soup. The correct pronunciation is ‘conk’.
24. Wakulla Spring near Tallahassee is one of the largest freshwater springs in the world, pumping more than 250 million gallons per day that eventually flows into the Gulf of Mexico.

By: Ivan Cuxeva Jr

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