Henry Plant’s Tampa Bay Hotel: A Grand Hotel from the Gilded Age

Henry B Plant Museum former Tampa Hotel building

Called Florida’s First Magic Kingdom, it was built in the middle of the gilded age as a tourist destination long before the resorts that are here now. You might say it was within these walls that Florida tourism began. Built between 1888 and 1891, it was Florida’s first effort into the resort business.

Clearwater Marine Aquarium Center 🐬 Winter’s Legacy & More

Although most famous for rescuing A Dolphin’s Tale star, Winter, and the follow-up rescue and movie A Dolphin’s Tale 2 star, Hope the aquarium has been helping marine animals around Florida since 1972. With a mission to rescue, rehabilitate and release of sick and injured marine animals the Clearwater Marine Aquarium is not your typical aquarium museum, it is a working marine hospital. Visiting takes you beyond the typical view of marine animals through the glass and offers you an up-close view of marine rehabilitation and animal care experiences.