. . . Before They're Gone
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. . . Before They're Gone
According to the Web site LostParks.com, which keeps a tab on the Sunshine State's vanished roadside distractions, "Tourist attractions have a way of springing up on the Florida roadside like wildflowers -- or litter: bright, shiny and full of hope to begin with, only to wither and die when they just can't quite sustain the magic."
We asked Lost Parks founder Robert H. Brown for a list of the most popular closed attractions featured on the site, gleaned from the number of page hits and comments he has received. They include:
* Pirates World, Dania. Featured concerts and buccaneer-themed rides. Closed in 1975.
* Circus World, Polk County. Part winter quarters for the Ringling Bros. circus, part theme park with roller coasters and other rides. Closed in 1986.
* Six Gun Territory, Silver Springs. A rootin'-tootin' but ultimately doomed look at the Old West. Closed around 1984.
* Floridaland, Osprey. An all-purpose park, with an Old West town, gardens and porpoises. Closed in the early '70s.
* Stars Hall of Fame, Orlando. A big-budget wax museum with more than 200 figures. Closed in 1984.
* Aquatarium, St. Petersburg Beach. A gulf-front park, replete with trained sea life, that went belly up. Closed in the mid-'70s.
* Cypress Knee Museum, Palmdale. An ode to, according to Lost Parks, those "knobby protuberances that cypress trees grow from their roots up above the surface of the swamp water that often surrounds them." Closed in 2000.
* Masterpiece Gardens, Lake Wales. Built around a mosaic of Leonardo da Vinci's "Last Supper," the park featured a few rides, a gator pit and Monkey Island. Closed in 1981.
* Miracle Strip Amusement Park, Panama City. Beachfront icon with Ferris wheel, merry-go-round and requisite roller coasters. Closed in 2004.
* Tragedy in U.S. History Museum, St. Augustine. Morbid collection of doodads scoured from history's dark moments, including Lee Harvey Oswald's bedroom furniture. Closed in 1998.
-- Andrea Sachs and John Deiner
