Abandoned Florida

Abandoned Florida Instagram: Abandoned Florida started out as a database for abandoned and forgotten places throughout the state of Florida.

Since then, it has grown to feature photographers and artists throughout the state as well helping to bring exposure to buildings that are in need of preservation. Pick up my book 'Lost Miami' here: http://amzn.to/1jWPRCM

Prints are available at the following locations:
Dysfunctional Grace Co.: https://www.facebook.com/DysfunctionalGrace/

Novel Tea: https://www.facebook.com/Novelteafl/

Crossroa

ds Corner Consignment: https://www.facebook.com/Crossroadscornerconsignment/

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If you’ve driven through downtown Jacksonville, you’ve undoubtedly passed the 19-story landmark at the corner of Duval a...
06/10/2026

If you’ve driven through downtown Jacksonville, you’ve undoubtedly passed the 19-story landmark at the corner of Duval and Julia streets. Known by most locals today as the old JEA Tower, this early-modernist skyscraper actually began its life in 1955 as the home office for the Independent Life and Accident Insurance Company. Designed by the renowned architectural firm Kemp, Bunch, and Jackson, the $5 million building was a marvel of its time, blending cutting-edge utility with classic luxury. Its exterior boasted a striking mix of Indiana limestone, black Swedish granite, and glazed terra cotta brick. Inside, it featured a bustling operations hub that processed over 40,000 insurance applications a week, an 18th-floor "Skyroom" recreation space paneled in African zebra wood, and a main lobby adorned with massive white bronze statues.

By 1976, Independent Life had outgrown the space and relocated to Independent Square (now the Wells Fargo Center), clearing the way for the Jacksonville Electric Authority (JEA) to acquire the tower and move its own headquarters in. JEA operated out of the building for over two decades, making it a staple of the city's municipal identity until it officially vacated and abandoned the property in March 1999. Since then, the tower has stood as a quiet, empty monument of Mid-Century Modern architecture.

https://abandonedfl.com/old-jea-tower/

The Once Historic Monroe Station 🏚️⛽️Established in 1928 by Barron Collier, this two-story wood-frame building was one o...
06/09/2026

The Once Historic Monroe Station 🏚️⛽️

Established in 1928 by Barron Collier, this two-story wood-frame building was one of six waystations constructed every ten miles along U.S. Highway 41 to provide fuel, food, and security to travelers. Operated by husband-and-wife teams, the ground floor housed a small restaurant while the upper floor served as living quarters. The husbands also pulled double-duty as part of the Southwest Florida Mounted Police, patrolling the road by motorcycle to assist stranded drivers, a group that ultimately laid the foundation for the Florida Highway Patrol.

As decades passed and the surrounding Everglades transformed, the station evolved. Following the creation of the Big Cypress National Preserve in 1974, the station lost its gas tanks and eventually closed its doors for good in 1987. Though it sat empty for years, it enjoyed a brief moment in the Hollywood spotlight when it was featured in the 1997 film Gone Fishin' starring Joe Pesci and Danny Glover, and it was officially added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000. Sadly, this piece of roadside Americana was lost forever on April 9, 2016, when a long-exposure photography session involving burning steel wool sparked a massive fire, reducing the historic structure to ashes. Today, only the memories and photographs remain of this legendary Everglades landmark.

https://abandonedfl.com/monroe-station/

For decades, the Miracle City Mall served as the heartbeat of Titusville, Florida. Born out of the 1960s space boom when...
06/08/2026

For decades, the Miracle City Mall served as the heartbeat of Titusville, Florida. Born out of the 1960s space boom when the local population rapidly swelled, this 275,000-square-foot shopping center officially opened during the 1968 holiday season. For generations of Space Coast residents, it was the ultimate community hub, anchored by major retailers like JCPenney and Belk Lindsey, and filled with classic storefronts ranging from Thom McAn shoes to a Walgreens complete with its own interior snack bar. It even featured a twin movie theater and the beloved "Dave’s" hot dog stand (originally an Orange Julius kiosk).

The mall's decline began in the mid-1990s with the arrival of a nearby Walmart Supercenter, which was later exacerbated by the economic downturn and the end of the Space Shuttle program in 2011. By early 2013, the building had deteriorated so severely that JCPenney, the final remaining anchor, vacated the property, forcing the mall to officially close its doors. While the nostalgic structure was completely demolished to make way for an open-air retail plaza, the history of Miracle City Mall remains a fond chapter in Titusville's local heritage. What are your favorite memories of shopping or hanging out here? Drop your stories in the comments! 🛍️

https://abandonedfl.com/miracle-city-mall/

The old Reddick High School in Reddick, Florida, served as a filming location for the 2001 film, Jeepers Creepers, with ...
06/04/2026

The old Reddick High School in Reddick, Florida, served as a filming location for the 2001 film, Jeepers Creepers, with some scenes also being filmed at the nearby old Weirsdale schoolhouse. The building was used for both exterior and interior shots of the police station in the movie. Deemed unsafe and unsalvageable, the school was demolished in October 2021.

Designed by A.C. Price, the old Reddick school was first designed with the idea of being constructed out of flint rock. But when construction began in 1923, the Wright and McCalla Company could not get their hands on enough flint, so the building was constructed of both flint rock and red brick. The original school designs were used in other schools in the county, such as the old Weirsdale Elementary School. Students who first attended the school were from Reddick and Lowell. By 1930, the towns of Shiloh and McIntosh schools were sending students in ninth grade to Reddick, and Shiloh would end up sending all of its students to Reddick three years later. Throughout the years, many other schools in the area would follow.

https://abandonedfl.com/old-reddick-high-school/

The Old Weirsdale School opened in 1923 to serve students in grades 1-12 from East Lake Weir, Weirsdale, and the surroun...
06/03/2026

The Old Weirsdale School opened in 1923 to serve students in grades 1-12 from East Lake Weir, Weirsdale, and the surrounding areas. The schoolhouse was built by the construction company Ray & Thomas of Ocala for approximately $17,000. The building's design is a near carbon copy of the Reddick High School building in the nearby town of Reddick. In 1955, with the opening of Lake Weir High School, the school became Weirsdale Elementary School for grades 1-6. It closed in the 1970s when the present Stanton-Weirsdale Elementary School was constructed.

Early homesteaders began settling around Lake Weir in the 1870s. The region boomed with the arrival of the railroad in 1883, which allowed the local community to easily ship agricultural goods to major markets and attracted winter tourists. Local sawmills dominated the economy, with E. Stanton Perrin's being one of the largest in the region. He invested $50,000 in a large lumber mill and a steamer that transported lumber, citrus, and passengers across Lake Weir. The community of Stanton grew around the mill, along with other communities and small towns surrounding the lake, some boasting hotels for vacationing New Englanders. When the trees were gone and the sawmills shut down, many of these towns disappeared.

The old Weirsdale School sat empty until around 2000, when the gymnasium was converted into an opry house. Over the years, it operated under several names, starting as "Hawhee's Country Music Opry," then the "Weirsdale Opry," followed by a one-year stint as "The Great American Music Hall" before finally becoming "The Orange Blossom Opry," which is still active today. Meanwhile, the main schoolhouse has remained largely unused, serving only as storage and a backdrop for a few interior scenes in the 2001 horror film Jeepers Creepers. Other parts of the movie were filmed at the nearby Old Reddick High School, which famously served as the police station in the film's finale.

https://abandonedfl.com/old-weirsdale-school/

Charles Dummett, the son of plantation owner Douglas Dummett and Leandra “Anna” Fernandez, died at just 15 years old. Th...
06/03/2026

Charles Dummett, the son of plantation owner Douglas Dummett and Leandra “Anna” Fernandez, died at just 15 years old. The exact circumstances of his death are unclear, though most accounts point to a tragic hunting accident.

Heartbroken, Douglas Dummett reportedly chose to bury his son at the very spot where the accident occurred, and the grave has remained there ever since. When developers arrived in the 1950s, they opted to construct the new road around the memorial rather than undertake the lengthy legal process required to relocate it. This would have been a very different story if construction had occurred in current times.

The ruins of his father's plantation can be found in Ormond Beach along Old Dixie Highway, although inaccessible to the public as they're surrounded by fencing, and can only be viewed from afar.

Colonel Thomas Henry Dummett, a former British Marine officer and planter, established a vast sugar plantation in 1825 w...
06/02/2026

Colonel Thomas Henry Dummett, a former British Marine officer and planter, established a vast sugar plantation in 1825 when he acquired the adjoining estates of John Bunch and John Addison, land that once formed part of John Moultrie’s Rosetta plantation. This property, roughly 2,000 acres, lay on the west side of the Tomoka basin, about a mile west of what is now Tomoka State Park.

Dummett quickly transformed the site into a thriving operation, erecting a sugar mill and a rum distillery powered by the area’s first steam-driven cane-crushing mill. While he commissioned Reuben Loring to build the sugar mill and rum distillery, the houses and outbuildings came from Bunch’s earlier plantation. During grinding season, about 100 enslaved workers and 40 local Native Americans labored to extract cane juice, which was boiled into molasses and stored in three large cisterns before being distilled into rum. The Native Americans often exchanged freshly caught game for the sugar works’ products.

According to the memoirs of Dummett’s daughter, Anna, the family lived in a large log house with a palmetto-thatched roof, surrounded by Bermuda grass and shaded by live oaks. The home featured claw-footed tables and family portraits, and it became the setting for lively dinners and parties. Anna recalled playing with the enslaved children and even teaching some of them to read.

This idyllic life ended abruptly with the outbreak of the Second Seminole War in 1835. For safety, Dummett moved his family to St. Augustine and conveyed the plantation to his son, Douglas, purchasing a house at the corner of St. George and St. Francis Streets, today known as the St. Francis Inn. Anna would later convert the family home into a lodging establishment. The plantation was burned to the ground in early 1836 by a Seminole raiding party.

Colonel Dummett died in St. Augustine on August 31, 1839, and was laid to rest in the city’s Huguenot Cemetery. Today, the site of the former Dummett Plantation can be found along Old Dixie Highway, about two miles north of the entrance to Tomoka State Park.

https://abandonedfl.com/dummett-plantation-mill-ruins/

Located near Perry, Florida, these ruins are all that remains of the Hampton Springs Hotel, a massive resort, and health...
06/01/2026

Located near Perry, Florida, these ruins are all that remains of the Hampton Springs Hotel, a massive resort, and health spa. Back in the 19th and 20th centuries, Florida gained a reputation for healthfulness due to its warm climate and abundance of mineral springs. Part of the state’s fledgling tourist industry developed around these springs, providing facilities such as hotels and bathhouses while enjoying the cool, crystal clear waters.

Once one of the longest-lasting mineral spring resorts, Hampton Springs Hotel was located at Hampton Springs in Taylor County. The property it was located on was once known as “Rocky Creek Mineral Springs” before it was sold to the Hampton family in 1857. It wasn’t until 1900 when the Hamptons formed a corporation with local shareholders, and by 1908 a hotel and bathhouse were constructed.

By 1920, the Hampton Springs Hotel was one of the most luxurious hotels in the vicinity, boasting lush gardens with elaborate fountains and planters, a covered pool with foot baths which was fed by the springs, tennis courts, stables, casino, grand ballroom, outdoor dance pavilion, railroad depot, and nine-hole golf course which was among the first in the region. It also had its own power plant and a majority of the food served in the dining room was grown on the hotel farm. Hampton Springs had its own bottling plant and sold their water nationwide. They offered cases of 12 half-gallon bottles for six dollars or 5-gallon demijohns for four dollars. Buyers who returned the empty bottles to the springs received a rebate.

By the end of the 1920s, medical experts began switching over from these “water cures” in favor of more modern methods and prescription drugs. Hampton Springs adapted to the changing times by rebranding themselves as a golf resort, hunting and fishing lodge, and a wilderness retreat. The resort was destroyed in a fire in 1954. It wasn’t until 2006 when the site was uncovered and turned into a state park. The site is open to the public.

You can find more photos and history about the hotel here: https://abandonedfl.com/hampton-springs-hotel/

🎒✨ Looking back at a piece of Jacksonville’s forgotten history: Public School No. 8. Originally opened in 1909 as the No...
05/29/2026

🎒✨ Looking back at a piece of Jacksonville’s forgotten history: Public School No. 8. Originally opened in 1909 as the Northeast Springfield School, this historic landmark replaced a humble wooden structure and became a cornerstone for the working-class Phoenix Avenue neighborhood. While its original designer isn't officially confirmed, evidence strongly points to Richard Lewis Brown, Jacksonville’s first Black architect, who was incredibly prolific with the Duval County School Board at the time. As the community boomed, the school was expanded in 1926 by another local architect, Roy A. Benjamin. Renamed J. Allen Axson Public School No. 8 in the mid-1950s, the school unfortunately began to face a steep decline in the 1960s after the construction of the nearby Haines Street Expressway cut off neighborhood access, leading to overcrowding and budget strains.

Tragically, after sitting vacant for years, the building suffered extensive damage from an intentional arson fire in May 2021. Today, this beautiful yet scarred piece of the River City's history is up for sale, waiting for its next chapter. 🏚️

https://abandonedfl.com/public-school-no-8/

Inside one of Tampa's Historic Landmarks 🗼Earlier in the week, I shared some photos and some history of the Sulphur Spri...
05/29/2026

Inside one of Tampa's Historic Landmarks 🗼

Earlier in the week, I shared some photos and some history of the Sulphur Springs Tower in Tampa. A friend of mine was able to photograph the inside of the tower 10 years ago, a rare look inside one of Tampa's iconic structures.

Some more history about the tower...

Constructed in 1927 under the supervision of Grover Poole, the Sulphur Springs Water Tower originated as a creation of Grover Poole, providing ample water pressure to the Sulphur Springs Hotel and Apartments. Often referred to as the Richardson Building, it boasted a variety of amenities, including 39 hotel rooms, 14 apartments and office spaces, a church, and an unknown quantity of shops and businesses. The original construction of the tower also featured a passenger elevator to transport people up the central core cylinder to the observation balcony, which offered a panoramic view of the area.

Josiah S. Richardson, a realtor and developer, commissioned the tower’s construction alongside his ambitious vision for the Sulphur Springs area. This vision encompassed expanding the resort spa, establishing an alligator farm tourist attraction, and initiating various other business ventures. Adjacent to the Sulphur Springs Hotel, Richardson also developed Mave’s Arcade, which occupied the hotel building’s ground floor and stood as Florida’s inaugural shopping mall.

The tower sits over the opening of an artesian well with pumps located under the tower itself. Another building adjacent to the tower, visible in earlier photographs, housed fluoridation and filtration equipment when the water company was supplying water directly to customers. When it was operational, it stored 200,000 gallons of water pumped up from the nearby artesian springs. The water tank occupies the upper quarter of the cylindrical tower, while seven floors, one room per floor, constitute the lower three-quarters.

Photos by Elliot Oso Blanco, IG:

According to legend, when the tower was filled with water to service the tourist camps along Florida Avenue, the Arcade facility, and the hotel above the Arcade, Richardson miscalculated the power and speed with which the water would make its way from the top of the tower to the faucets below. When the first faucet was opened, the rushing water blew the fixtures off the walls.

Financing the tower’s construction required Richardson to mortgage the entire resort, amounting to $180,000 during that period. However, the year 1933 brought unfortunate events as the Tampa Electric Company's dam experienced sabotage and collapsed during the Depression. The dam’s destruction, which drained nearby cow pasture lands previously flooded during the dam’s creation, wreaked havoc on downtown Tampa. Consequently, Mave’s Arcade suffered substantial damage, leading to business failures within the arcade and ultimately causing Richardson to face severe financial losses, marking the end of his business ventures.

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