4 Unusual Facts You May Not Know About Florida

The Sunshine State is full of history and mystery if you know where to look.

Have you ever paddled a kayak down a river with monkeys squealing on either shore, or have you seen the state’s oldest tree, which has been standing tall for approximately 2,000 years? Here are four unusual and unique things you may not know about the Sunshine State:

1. Silver Springs State Park is home to an invasive population of rhesus macaque monkeys.

For nearly a century, Silver Springs State Park has been attracting visitors with its lush forests and wetlands that grow to meet a spring-fed river gentle enough for a leisurely paddle. Most Floridians know the site is one of the state’s earliest tourist attractions, but many have not been acquainted with the river’s most populous inhabitants. Local legend has it they were left behind after Hollywood crews wrapped up the six “Tarzan” films shot at Silver Springs in the 1930s and 1940s, but the truth is that a man named Colonel Tooey brought them here from South and Southeast Asia to complement the “jungle cruise” theme of his boat tour business. In the 1930s, Tooey let loose six rhesus macaques, monkeys native to parts of Pakistan, India, China, and Afghanistan, on a small island in the river known to this day as Monkey Island.

Today, at least 300 rhesus macaques reside within Silver Springs State Park, and they’re becoming somewhat of a problem. They’re breeding rapidly, and about a quarter of the population carries herpes B virus. Though the CDC says infections in humans are rare, the park has closed down a few times in recent years after the monkeys acted aggressively toward humans, one even chasing a family. 

Where else in the United States can you paddle a kayak past scores of monkeys squealing, screaming, and making guttural noises as they go about another day in their neighborhood?

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2. The country’s first national wildlife refuge is Pelican Island, near Sebastian, Florida.

It’s a small island just off the coast of a not-so-populated portion of Florida’s eastern coastline, so it makes sense that many Floridians are unaware that the nation’s history of preserving wildlife started right here. 

Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge, sitting in the Indian River Lagoon near Sebastian, Florida, is the country’s first national wildlife refuge. The island and its surrounding nearly 5,500 acres of land and water were protected in 1903 when President Theodore Roosevelt created the National Wildlife Refuge System. Roosevelt was convinced to do so by devoted scientists, conservation groups, and citizens who expressed concern that many species of coastal Florida birds were on the brink of extinction thanks to the late-1800s fashion trend of decorating women’s hats with feathers from pelicans, herons, and egrets, among others. 

Today, though visitors cannot enter the island or its protected waters, you’re welcome to get as close as the law allows on a pontoon boat tour operated by the local Environmental Learning Center. Make sure to snag a pair of binoculars to help you spot the large breeding colonies of fuzzy brown pelicans, bright-pink roseate spoonbills, massive wood storks, and great egrets who use the island as a rookery and feeding ground.

3. There was almost a canal cutting Florida in two.

Just over 50 years ago, President Richard Nixon issued an executive order that halted construction on the Cross Florida Barge Canal, a project that would have cut the state in half just about 90 miles north of Orlando. You may have driven past its remnants without realizing it—today, the would-be canal is the Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway, a conservation area 107 miles across and named after the Florida environmentalist who led the fight to protect this land.

Some attribute the Cross Florida Barge Canal idea to the Spanish who colonized Florida in the 1500s. Whatever its origins, in the 1930s, the idea picked up steam, and those in the commercial shipping industry began petitioning Congress for funding to build a cross-state canal, citing that the project would ease trade between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. By eliminating the need to travel around Florida’s tip, the canal would make Florida the nation’s center of waterborne commerce and trade, its supporters believed. As part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, federal and state authorities funded construction’s start in 1935, but it was halted not long after its start over concerns of salt water overtaking Florida’s water supply.

In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson visited Palatka, Florida, to announce plans to resume construction of the Cross Florida Barge Canal. Not even seven years later, Nixon halted all construction, citing its negative environmental impact. Thus the canal gained notoriety as the nation’s largest public works project left unfinished. 

This environmental victory was achieved because of the relentless work of Marjorie Harris Carr and her colleagues in Florida Defenders of the Environment (FDE). A group of geologists, hydrologists, zoologists, economists, and concerned citizens, FDE created one of the country’s first environmental impact statements in the late 1960s. That statement helped spur the creation of the National Environmental Policy Act, law requiring all federal projects to assess environmental impact before work may start. In 1969, FDE sued the Army Corps of Engineers, who were building the canal, and in 1971, a federal judge halted construction of the canal. Three days later, Nixon issued his order.

Today, the FDE continues working to restore the Ocklawaha River and its surrounding riverine forest, environments that have been spoiled by the canal project’s construction of the Rodman Dam and Rodman Reservoir, which don’t allow the river’s waters to flow freely.

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4. Florida’s oldest tree is named Lady Liberty, and it’s 2,000 years old.

Crowds usually flock to St. Augustine to get their fill of Florida’s colorful history, but there’s one being who’s called Florida home for at least a half-century longer than Florida’s oldest city. Its name is Lady Liberty.

You can find Lady Liberty at Big Tree Park in Longwood, Florida, a hydric hammock swamp that has drawn visitors from all over the state aiming to get a peek at the 2,000-year-old bald cypress tree that holds the record for Florida’s oldest. Clocking in at 89 feet tall with a 10-foot diameter and a 32-foot circumference, Lady Liberty is an iconic reminder of Florida’s wild past. 

After the tragic, accidental demise of Lady Liberty’s cousin tree, The Senator—who stood 121 feet tall and was 3,500 years old when it burned down in 2012—the state called on non-profit organization Archangel Ancient Tree Archive in 2015 to collect clones of Lady Liberty, so it may be replanted and donated to various schools and organizations across its native state.