by Tonia Hooper

Created on: June 17, 2010

The State of Florida, also known as the sunshine state, where I was born and raised, is a wonderful state with a rich and interesting history.  Living somewhere your entire life you may think you know just about everything there is to know, however being a history buff and always reading and learning more about the history of Florida I discovered some unusual facts that I was not aware of.  Here are some interesting and unusual facts about Florida that you may not have known: 

Florida has over 11,000 miles of rivers, streams and waterways Florida has 27 first magnitude springs, more than any other state Florida has 4,500 islands of 10 acres of more (second to Alaska) The Florida Everglades National Park encompasses 2,100 square miles and contains the largest mangrove forest as well as the slowest moving river in the world Established in 1955, Trailer Estates in Bradenton was the first mobile home subdivision in the nation. Couples can get married without leaving their vehicles in Zephyrhills, where Sharon Burnett, a minister and notary public, operates a drive-through wedding service. A couple with a marriage license, an adult witness and $20 can marry without turning off the car. The first Red Lobster restaurant opened in 1968 in Lakeland. The restaurant chain, headquartered in Orlando, is credited with popularizing popcorn shrimp and introducing snow crab and calamari to landlocked middle America. Wall murals, an inlaid mosaic floor and a 40-foot bar lit with gas lamps have made The Palace Saloon in Fernandina Beach a showplace for more than a century. Originally built as a haberdashery in 1878, the building was converted to a saloon in 1903 and is the state's oldest continuously operated bar. The largest collection of buildings designed by acclaimed architect Frank Lloyd Wright—a dozen—on a single site is on the campus of Florida Southern College in Lakeland. They were built from the 1930s to 1950s. A marker on Franklin Street in Tampa commemorates the spot where the Rev. Billy Graham began his ministry in 1939 by preaching to “derelicts, drunks and ‘Skid Row’ bums.” The original Ripley’s Believe it or Not! Museum in St. Augustine opened in 1950 in Castle Warden, a historic Moorish Revival-style mansion and later hotel that cartoonist and adventurer Robert Ripley frequented. Today, there are 27 Ripley’s museums worldwide. Rock ’n’ roll star Elvis Presley performed his first indoor

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