Financed by Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, the Florida attraction opened on June 23, 1938. Originally designed as a motion picture studio for the purpose of filming sea life, an estimated crowd of 10,000 people attended the opening. Located eighteen miles south of historic St. Augustine, Florida, it went through several ownership changes from the mid-1980s. The name exists but the attraction is totally different as it is more of a “discovery” experience where swimming with the dolphins is the feature. Once the original attraction featured a restaurant, motel, service station, gift shop, and more.
Late 1930s/early 1940s view of the attraction with gift shop to the left and gift shop in the foreground
Aerial view mid-1960s
Bus Depot for north-south bound Greyhound and Trailways buses
Curator Forrest Wood and early sonar location experiment in tank near the laboratory
Very early images
Early amenities. Notice the beach with coquina rock formations
Company newsletter noting how and who discovered porpoises could be trained
Late 1950s view of entrance area
Personal photo of Mitch Lightsey feeding in what was the educated porpoise stadium
View of the stadium show mid 1950s
One of hundreds, if not thousands, publicity photos released over at least six decades
I love this! My parents took me in the 80s. It’s now part of UF and does important research on marine life. Great article, neighbor!
I love this! My parents took me in the 80s. It’s now part of UF and does important research on marine life. Great article, neighbor!
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