This small island was the first National Wildlife Refuge ever created in the United States.

Florida's first suspension bridge.

Though nicknamed the “Russian Freighter,” this ship was actually sunk off the coast of Pensacola by the U.S. government in a top-secret operation.

This video store is a horror buff's dream.

A peaceful, unique botanical garden complete with waterfalls, mini islands, and swans.

For 32 years the famous Ringling Bros circus troupe spent winters in this sunny spot in Florida.

The 44,000-ton aircraft carrier was purposely sunk to create an artificial reef teeming with life.

A former hospital is now home to a pizza parlor and maybe a few ghosts.

The "worst battleship ever built" is enjoying a grand second act, submerged 30 feet in the Gulf of Mexico.

One of the best places in Florida to spot rare, carnivorous pitcher plants.

The largest freshwater lake in the Florida Keys.

These crumbling foundations are all that remain of the once-stately 1840s manor that gave the town of Bradenton its name.

One of the last of the great 1920s movie palaces is a Floridian Greco-Spanish-Persian dreamscape.

The ruins of a once-thriving sugarcane plantation that was burned in the Second Seminole War.

The giant squid's 27-foot-long corpse lies preserved within a Sarasota aquarium.

The ruins of a once massive plantation are now a private residence hidden in the Florida wilderness.

This state park was once an important Native American cermonial center.

Off of the Crawfordville Highway in Florida, nature is taking back this decrepit row of Ford trucks.

One of the world’s largest and deepest freshwater springs, where mastodons once roamed.

The unique collection includes bronze cast handprints of some of America's most famous astronauts.

The island residents are known for taking their quirky sense of humor with them to the grave.

Visit these gentle, bell-bottomed, exquisite equines at the home of North America's first Gypsy Vanner horses.

Would you like a sleeper hold with that?

Strange beasts lurking in a garden are all that remain of a quirky, short-lived theme park.