by Amanda Capote, Assistant Curator
Summertime is road trip season! Long before GPS and interstate highways, families piled into station wagons and explored South Florida by way of local roads like Dixie Highway and Federal Highway. While many visitors came to Boca Raton for its beaches and fishing, others stopped to experience Florida’s quirky roadside attractions. By the late 1950s, U.S. 1 was lined with attractions that offered everything from alligator farms to live mermaids to giant fruit stands. Let’s take a drive back in time and revisit a few of Boca Raton’s forgotten roadside attractions.
Africa U.S.A. (1953-1961)
Opened by Jon Pedersen in 1953, Africa U.S.A. was a 300-acre safari park located on the land where the Camino Gardens neighborhood sits today. The attraction gave visitors the opportunity to see exotic wildlife without leaving South Florida and quickly became one of Boca Raton’s best-known roadside destinations. Africa U.S.A remained open until 1961, when a combination of factors, including a tick infestation and surrounding residential development, led to its closure.
Ancient America (1953-1958)
One of Boca Raton’s most unusual roadside attractions was Ancient America, located near U.S. 1 and Yamato Road on the land that is now part of the Boca Marina Yacht Club. Opened by E.G. Barnhill in 1953, the attraction was built around prehistoric Tequesta Indian burial mounds and allowed visitors to view archaeological artifacts displayed in a tunnel cut through one of the mounds. Easily recognized by the large concrete ship at its entrance, Ancient America offered travelers a unique look into South Florida’s prehistoric past before closing in 1958.
Bibletown, U.S.A (1950s-Present)
In 1950, Reverend Ira Lee Eshleman purchased 30 acres of the former Boca Raton Army Air Field with the vision of creating a winter Bible conference grounds for evangelical Christians. Originally known as the Winter Bible Conference Grounds, the campus was renamed Bibletown, U.S.A. in 1952 and quickly expanded to include lodging, a swimming pool, tennis courts, shuffleboard, putting greens, and a large auditorium. Notable visitors included Billy Graham, Anita Bryant, and the widow of evangelist Billy Sunday. Today, the site continues to serve the community as Boca Raton Community Church.
By the late 1950s, South Florida’s roadside attractions began to disappear as rapid development and changing transportation patterns reshaped the landscape. The opening of the Sunshine State Parkway (now the Florida Turnpike) in 1957 redirected travelers away from U.S. 1 and other local roads, while Interstate 95 further shifted traffic away in the following decades. At the same time, South Florida experienced a population boom that caused new neighborhoods and developments. With the arrival of larger vacation destinations like Walt Disney World in 1971 and SeaWorld in 1973, many of the quirky tourist traps became a thing of the past that we still remember fondly today.
