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The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is 45 minutes east of Orlando International Airport. It brings to life the epic story of the U.S. space program through immersive and interactive experiences. Exhibits highlight the history of space exploration, including s Saturn V moon rocket and the Space Shuttle Atlantis. The U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame is located on the center’s grounds.
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The Key West Memorial Sculpture Garden, located in Mallory Square, features bronze busts of locals who had had a significant impact on Key West, including Henry Flagler, Ernest Hemingway and Tennessee Williams. It originally featured 39 bronze busts but has space to increase to 72 busts. The city of Key West established the garden and the criteria for inclusion in the memorial, which opened in 1997. “The Wreckers” monument stands at the Key West Memorial Sculpture Garden’s center.
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The Key West Veterans Memorial Garden is located in Bayview Park and commemorates those who served and sacrificed for the country. The garden, located in Bayview Park, opened in 2015. It includes placks with information about wars involving American soldiers. The garden also includes the Civil War Forgotten Soldier Memorial, unveiled in 2016 and honoring the more than 120 black soldiers from Key West who served the Union during the conflict.
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Mallory Square is a plaza situated on the waterfront in Key West’s historic Old Town just west of the northern end of Duval Street, facing the Gulf of Mexico. It hosts the nightly “Sunset Celebration,” considered one of the city’s main tourist attractions. Every night, hundreds of tourists flock to the square — or one of the adjacent watering holes — to watch the sunset. The celebration includes arts and crafts exhibitors, street performers, and food carts. Adjacent to Mallory Square is the city’s cruise ship port, which opened in 1984. However, cruise ships must depart before the nightly sunset celebration.
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The Manatee Observation and Education Center is located on the waterfront in downtown Fort Pierce, Fla. The environmental education and wildlife viewing center opened on Nov. 1, 1996, in time for Manatee Awareness Month. The mission of the Manatee Observation and Education Center is to promote understanding and responsible actions for the protection of the Treasure Coast’s fragile ecosystems and their inhabitants. It does that through exhibits and an outdoor viewing platform where visitors can watch manatee.
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Dr. Charles Bressler-Pettis conceive the idea for the Monument of States in the dark days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Bressler-Pettis wrote to governors and asked them to send stones for a monument; they obliged. The 40-foot-tall monument is topped by a 562-pound bald eagle made of concrete and was built using stones from all 48 states (at the time of its completion). Bressler-Petti also included stones he and his wife collected from other places. The structure, dedicated in March 1943 and located at the corner of Monument Avenue and Johnston Street, contains 1,500 rocks from all 50 states and 22 countries. A number of parties, including tourists, governors, a prime minister and President Franklin D. Roosevelt, also donated stones to the cause. While it can’t be confirmed, a human skull is also alleged to be included in the mix. Interestingly some of Bressler-Petti’s ashes are said to be buried in the monument.
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The Old Town Fernandina Historic Site is the original location of the city of Fernandina Beach. The village was laid out north of the modern-day town on a low bluff overlooking the Amelia River in 1811 and expanded in 1821. The settlement was near Fort San Carlos, which was erected in 1816 and abandoned about 1821. When the railroad built to the area in the 1850s, it was unable to construct to the site of Old Town Fernandina and instead terminated at present-day Fernandina Beach. In 1853, the city relocated to its present-day location. Some buildings stand in the Old Town section, but none date to the original settlement.
The Overseas Highway is a 113-mile-long highway carrying U.S. Route 1 through the Florida Keys to Key West. It was largely built on parts of the former Overseas Railroad right-of-way, an extension of the Florida East Coast Railway to Key West Extension completed in 1912. The 1935 Labor Day hurricane heavily damaged and partially destroyed the Overseas Railroad. The Florida East Coast Railway was financially unable to rebuild the destroyed sections and sold roadbed and remaining bridges to Florida, making it a famous drive between Miami and Key West.
The Spanish government donated this statue of Juan Ponce de León in 1976. It stands in Bayfront Park and was re-dedicated on May 22, 1995.
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