Road Tripping South Florida (Part 1)
See part 2 here.

Story and photos
by Kathleen Walls

I just returned from a fun road trip in south Florida. From Punta Gorda to the southmost point in the US, Key West, I visited lots of great attractions and learned a lot about places I thought I knew.

Punta Gorda

Punta Gorda is filled with natural attractions and more. Punta Gorda is located at the juncture of Peace River and Charlotte Harbor, making it suitable for water sports like kayaking, swimming, and boating. Additionally, there are bike trails, parks, and three historic districts.

Isaac Trabue founded the town in 1884 and initially named it Trabue. In 1887, the town incorporated as Punta Gorda, meaning Fat Point in Spanish.

History Park

My first stop was Punta Gorda's History Park. Normally, on Sundays from 9 am to 1 pm, you'll find locally grown produce, fresh eggs, local honey, artisan bread, and more. Since my trip had me there on Easter Sunday, the market was not open. I met a local artist there who told me a bit about the center and, peeking in the windows, gave me a glimpse of the fantastic glassware and pottery made there.

I saw Punta Gorda's oldest buildings, the Trabue Land Sales Office, the Price House, the Cigar Worker's Cottage, and the Quednau-Hindman House. The Trabue Land Office, which houses the museum, is the town's oldest building, dating back to the 1800s. I walked through the butterfly garden and the community garden.

Fishermen's Village

Fishermen's Village is much more a mall. It's semi-indoors, but there are many open areas to glimpse Charlotte Harbor, and sunlight pours in from above. Downstairs, there are unique shops, restaurants, and entertainment. I was in and out several times on this trip.

On the second floor, there are dog friendly two-bedroom suites with full kitchens There are waterfront views from the back balconies and a view of the mall from the front balconies. It has all the amenities you find in a fine hotel.

Downstairs, next to the marina, there is a heated pool, shuffleboard, tennis courts, BBQ and picnic area. There are laundry facilities on site.

Harpoon Harry's and Captain's Table anchor the back of the mall on the waterfront. They offer upscale dining upstairs at the Captain's Table on the second floor or casual dining with full bar and live music downstairs at Harpoon Harry's. I enjoyed my steamed shrimp with corn on the cob and potatoes there and had fun watching the local birds skim in and out of the open section over the water.

You can board a Kingfisher Fleet boat at the marina. I took a sunset cruise, which was fun and gave me a magnificent sunset view over the waters of the bay. You can take a trip to Cabbage Key, Boca Grande, or Cayo Costa, or a fishing trip. You can rent a boat here too.

There's a mural called School Marms on the Bay at Fishermen's Village. It shows three schoolteachers in 19th-century clothing rowing across Charlotte Harbor. In the 1800s, Punta Gorda and neighboring Charlotte Harbor Town had no bridge, so people crossed the harbor by boat. Above the harbor scene, there's an image of the historic Punta Gorda built by Henry Plant, who brought the railroad to town and built several other hotels on Florida's west coast.

Public Art

I drove around to view many of Punta Gorda's Murals. Punta Gorda Historic Mural Society has 32 murals, but many restaurants and shops have unofficial murals. Many of the murals tell the town's history, like the one at Fishermen's Village. There's a two-part mural about Henry Plant, builder of the Punta Gorda Hotel, and Issac Trabue, town founder, at Suncoast One Title & Closings downtown. It's called End of the Line.

A mural called Hotel Charlotte Harbor at Charlevoi Condominiums on 150 Harborside Avenue shows the former Punta Gorda Hotel after it was bought by Barron Collier. He added two floors and re-named it Hotel Charlotte Harbor. The historic hotel was destroyed by fire on Aug. 14, 1959.

Visual Arts Center

I got to see some more public art at Visual Arts Center. The Center includes three free galleries, showcasing art created by local artists. The displays include jewelry, pottery, and paintings. They also offer classes. Outside, there are benches with mosaics on them and a small sculpture garden with two statues of musicians.

Babcock Ranch

My favorite attraction here is Babcock Ranch Eco Tours. In February 1914, a lumberman from Pennsylvania named Edward Vose Babcock saw an opportunity to make money harvesting the plentiful cypress trees and yellow pine. He bought 156,000 acres of what had been the Crescent B Ranch and began logging. Despite cutting down cypress trees, Babcock was conservation-minded long before it became stylish. They preserved a good bit of the ranch in its natural state. When his son, Fred, took control of the ranch in the 1940s, he transferred 65,000 acres to the state to create Fred C. Babcock / Cecil M. Webb Wildlife Management Area.

Our guide on the tour, Roger, took us for a 90-minute tour on the Swamp Buggy Eco Tour where we glimpsed the natural world of southwest Florida. The wildlife we saw was amazing: wild hogs, deer, birds of all kinds, cracker cattle, raccoons, and lots of alligators. There's even a Florida Panther on the ranch but he stayed hidden when we toured.. The swamp buggy is an old school bus with the windows cut out.

We visited what was once the tiny town of Rouxville. A white frame two-story building that once housed a post office, a general store, a medical doctor who also acted as a midwife, dentist, barber, and the undertaker. A schoolteacher, who taught the local children, lived upstairs.

Another stop on the tour is Telegraph Cypress Swamp, where we saw remnants of the miles of telegraph wire that were strung around the swamp to the Gulf of Mexico and then underwater to Cuba.

Back at the starting point, I visited the museum that was built as a hunting shack prop for the movie, Just Cause, that was partially filmed here. There are shops, a red barn with Lulu, a preserved three horned cow born at the ranch, and The Gator Shack Restaurant. If the tour leaves you hungry, sample the 'gator dishes there.

Peace River Wildlife Center

At the Peace River Wildlife Center, I viewed an array of beautiful Florida birds. The center treats and rehabilitates injured and orphaned native-Florida wildlife and is open to visitors. One of my favorites was a regal-looking eagle. One of the helpful volunteers tole me that in spite of its reputation the eagle is not the best hunter in the center. We walked down to view a barred owl which she claimed was a better hunter because they are larger and can take bigger prey. Both are majestic birds.

The center is in Ponce de Leon Park, a beachfront park overlooks Charlotte Harbor. It has a boat ramp, fishing piers, mangrove boardwalk, playground, beach, and picnic pavilion. The park is the perfect place for swimming and watching the sunset on the harbor.

Peace River Botanical & Sculpture Gardens

Peace River Botanical & Sculpture Gardens is more than just a garden. It houses 27-acres of plants mingled with sculptures. There are 10-acres of waterways and international sculptures. Many of the plants are so colorful, I was amazed. The butterfly garden was filled with so many flying jewels, I had to check myself carefully so as not to let any of these precious creatures out.

Sculptural exhibits ranged from the ZimSculpt, which was in its last day there, to the permanent exhibits. One of my favorites was Yellow Andy, a tribute to Andy Warhol by Jack Dowd on the anniversary of Warhol's death. Another one I loved was Best Friends, where bronze figures of dogs and owners enjoy wet fun with a streaming hose.

I strolled out onto the boardwalk to get a view of their natural area.

Military Heritage Museum

The Military Heritage Museum was one of my last stops. It tells the story of our military forces from the Revolution through current conflicts. There are 6 galleries with interactive exhibits, a personal memorabilia collection, a lending library with greater than 5,000 books, 1,000 documents and 30,000 artifacts for researchers. Their 247-seat Gulf Theater offers entertainment both related to military stories and regular shows.

Wyvern Hotel

Having a comfortable place to stay is one of the most important decisions on a trip. The minute I checked into the Wyvern Hotel, the desk clerk made me feel at home. I looked around and knew this was an art lover's dream. The desk clerk told me the hotel partners with the Visual Art Center, so the art in the hotel by local artists rotates and is for sale. I loved the lobby's paintings of lighthouses, especially the St. Augustine Lighthouse, which is very near my home in Northeast Florida. The lobby had some modern art.

When I went up to my comfortable, spacious room, there was more art, a sailboat at sunset and another soft pastel.

The hotel has two great restaurants, Perch 360 on the rooftop, and 88 Keys Florida Restaurant, downstairs just off the lobby,

I headed off towards the Keys with happy memories of Punta Gorda.

(Part 2 is coming soon.)

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