Glass Bottom Boats and Mermaid Tails: Florida's Tourist Springs by Tim Hollis

I picked up Tim Hollis' book, "Glass Bottom Boats and Mermaid Tails" before our trip to Florida.  I have read Tim's writing before, and I really like the picture he paints of the old tourist stops throughout the south.

I still enjoy stopping at the colorful roadside attractions that are still up and down the road- the weirder the better!  AND it makes me sad when legendary old ones close down.  Fortunately, as Tim Hollis points out, the Florida State Parks System has kept a few going. 

Mermaids, Indian Princesses AND the Creature from the Black Lagoon ALL make appearances on the pages of this book..... and in the decades of roadside tourist attractions in Florida.

The book talks about how the springs attracted explorers forever.  At a certain point, people realized that the beautiful, clear springs would make $$$ pleasant family tourist spots.

The sites became popular, and tourists came.  Then, some spots even used the clear springs to make movies.

As other tourist locations opened, many of these great springs saw the number of visitors decline.  Some closed up shop, some evolved.  Some closed, but later opened again.

Tim talks about how the whole idea of mermaids being used at Weeki Wachee came about, and he also covers the use of the glass bottom boats.

This was a great book to read before visiting some of these places!