Cypress Gardens: America’s Tropical Wonderland
Program Details
In this program, vintage photographs and videos illustrate the story of Cypress Gardens, the world-famous tourist attraction created out of swampland in central Florida by Dick Pope. Pope, known as the “man who invented Florida”, combined a water ski show, tropical gardens, and iconic Southern Belles to create an enduring symbol of Florida. Learn why this attraction cemented Florida’s reputation as the land of sun and fun from the 1930s into the early 200s.
About Lu
Lu Vickers was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship for fiction as well as two Florida Book Awards and three Florida Individuals Artists Fellowships. In addition to writing Remembering Paradise Park with C. Graham, she has written Breathing Underwater, a novel and three other Florida history books: Weeki Wachee, City of Mermaids, Cypress Gardens, America’s Tropical Wonderland, and, Weeki Wachee, Thirty Years of Underwater Photography.
