Welcome to old Florida, where a 1940s mermaid show is still enchanting visitors.

"Bite or Smite" became the unlikely mascot of a Tampa suburb.

The site of a gold-digging conquistador's bloody landing in the Americas.

Manatees congregate around a power plant's discharge canal where the water is especially warm.

The snowbirds here are circus sideshow performers.

The history of the traveling carnival is remembered by this sprawling collection of vintage wagons, games, and rides.

This home is decked out like a psychedelic explosion of colors and bowling balls.

A haunted hill that supposedly defied gravity.

Possibly the most beautiful carillon in the world, set atop Iron Mountain in Florida.

A tiny, unassuming park in Tampa that belongs to the Republic of Cuba.

A gleaming white tower in ornate Indian style soars above the low-slung bungalows of north Tampa.

In all of the 29 years it was in operation, no prisoners ever escaped successfully... or so they claim.

Recycled junk and fishing buoys litter the yard and facade of this bait shop cum art project.

An oddities shop that dabbles in the deathly and beautiful.

Electrical pylon in the shape of Disney's beloved mouse.

An octet of classic chrome trailers speared into the ground act as a tribute to the silver bullets of the open road.

Step back into the glory days of Florida's nascent tourism industry at this Gilded Age palace.

A tribute to a future time when gravity is conquered.

A hollow cement depiction of time's inexorable effect on the human body.

The unluckiest U-boat in the entire German fleet is now on display in a Chicago museum.

What's left of the ruins of the 1893 Columbian Exhibition, or World's Fair, also known as the White City.

First planned industrial community in the United States.

This small, but long-running hobby club has built one of the largest model rail lines in the US.

This massive stained-glass masterpiece is thought to be the largest Tiffany dome in existence.