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Motoring in Florida

Florida: The March of Progress

Circa 1930s

By Nathan Mayo, Commissioner of Agriculture

Florida offers perfect motoring throughout the year. No ice-coated roads, no frozen radiators, no blizzards to mar the pleasures of travel. In, summer no suffocating heat, but balmy breezes beneath a smiling sky.

Over eight thousand miles of hard-surfaced highways invite motorists to any point in the state; no mud, no dust, no sharp rocks to destroy tires, no mountains to climb in low gear or in second, but smooth surfaces leading through hills and forests, over prairies and through tropical jungles, along splendid shorelines, across fine bridges, past cultivated farms, orchards and gardens, along beaches where the white-flecked waves of the deep blue ocean break on sands of golden hue or silver sheen-Florida presents every variety of pleasant landscape except rugged snowcapped mountain peaks.

Historic places abound. There is St. Augustine, the oldest permanent white settlement in North America. Near Jacksonville is the site of the earlier settlement by French Huguenots. New Smyrna has its ruins of the Turnbull colony of Greeks and Minorcans. Near Bushnell is the scene of the Dade Massacre, while at Olustee, the Natural Bridge, and Marianna are battle fields of the War Between the States. The historic city of Tallahassee is the only southern capital east of the Mississippi that was never captured. At Pensacola are the old Spanish forts.

Of great interest to the tourist is the oversea route along the keys, the railroad extending 12.5 miles into the sea below Miami. There is the proposed Royal Palm Park containing 3,000,000 acres; the Bok Tower; the Gandy Bridge, longest bridge in the world, and many other points which are described in this book.

Whether you come to farm, fish or frolic, manufacture or merchandise, study, teach, hunt or loaf-to do any or all of these things or do nothing but live on your income—Florida invites you.

Source:
Excerpt from "Florida: The March of Progress" published circa 1930s by the Florida Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Immigration.