LAND O' LAKES, Fla. — Hiding in the middle of Land O' Lakes lies ruins of an old attraction with a spot easy to miss and a past easy to forget.
Dupree Gardens was one of Florida's original tourist attractions. It once was 25 acres of flowers for the public to enjoy.
The area wasn't even called Land O' Lakes at the time.
Today, the former ticket booth of the attraction remains off U.S. 41 and Ehren Cutoff around a sea of subdivisions.
"It just speaks to how much the area has changed," said Tomás Monzón, West Pasco Historical Society vice president.
Visitors had an array of fabulous flora to see including violets, camellias and azaleas. They were all elegantly placed throughout never-ending patches of green.
It wasn't just a blooming display of flowers either. Visitors had the lodge, tea room, gift shop and boat rides at the lake to enjoy.
As many as 30,000 people would visit every season, according to The Historic Places of Pasco County.
Archives from the book show the late attorney J. William Dupree opened part of his 900-acre property to the public in 1940 after friends persuaded him. He had kept much of it to himself and spent years planting after an auto accident.
The gardens even made an impression as far north as New York City.
Camellia blooms from the garden were auctioned and sent to New York's mayor, along with Havana cigars, according to an excerpt from The Historic Places of Pasco County. The president of National Airlines pledged a winning bid of a quarter of a million dollars in war bonds.
Apparently, it impressed florists on Park, Madison and Fifth avenues. The book cited newspaper reports of the flowers displayed on black velvet backgrounds for maximum impact.
However, World War II also proved to be bad timing and later led to the demise of the attraction.
"They started rationing gasoline," Monzón said. "We don't have the ability to just go out on pleasure drives."
Limitations from gas and tire rationing led to a temporary closure. Archives show there were only visits for certain events before the property was sold.
In 2002, the county placed a historical marker by the preserved ticket booth.
Aside from the booth, reporting from the then-St. Petersburg Times that same year shows the lodge and guest house were converted into privately owned homes. The tea room burned down in 1995.
"The fact that somebody took the time and decision to say, 'You know, what? Let's respect the history that happened here and have some of the structures still there, it means they see the value that the place had in its time," Monzon said.
While time has changed the landscape of the area, Monzón said he hopes people are encouraged to connect with the county's historical roots.
"You think about all the times that people before you spent time here, all the work they did to build it, the visions that they had, you know, the memories they shared," Monzón said. "To me, that's just really special."
