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ARTS & CULTURE
Never content to follow the trends, South Florida is a defining force in the worlds of dance, music, theater and the visual arts, not to mention the cultural diversity making each of these disciplines that much more compelling.
Miami has standout groups in each world, all coming together at the Adrienne Arsht for the Performing Arts in Downtown Miami, home to the internationally acclaimed Florida Grand Opera, the Miami City Ballet and the New World Symphony, along with 300+ events each year, including jazz and local theater series, an annual Flamenco Festival and Free Gospel Sundays.
While Miami has long been lauded for bringing world-class talent to town for events like Art Basel and Broadway musicals direct from New York, the reverse is now also true—Miami artists have taken their place on the national stage. In the once-blighted neighborhood of Wynwood, north of downtown, what started as street graffiti has evolved into the Wynwood Arts District, a globally renowned street art “museum,” transforming the definition of modern art and changing the lives of contributing artists while also welcoming cutting-edge work from fine artists, graffiti writers and muralists from all over the world.
Before Wynwood came the Miami Design District, once lined with neglected warehouses and showrooms and now one of the city’s most elegant neighborhoods, dedicated to innovation, design, art, architecture and dining.
There are satellite artistic enclaves throughout Greater Miami, from Coral Gables with its Lowe Art Museum, multiple galleries and Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre; to Miami Beach/South Beach, home of Art Basel and acclaimed venues like the Bass Museum of Art, the Colony Theatre and the Fillmore Miami Beach at the Jackie Gleason Theater.
Radiating out from Miami’s spot in the southeast corner of South Florida, you’ll find art and culture in every direction. Head to the Florida Keys for cultural enlightenment while soaking up the beaches and fishing. There are community theaters up and down the island chain, including Key Largo and Marathon, while Key West has the mother lode: six theater stages, including the Red Barn Theatre, the Tennessee Williams Theatre and the Waterfront Playhouse, adjacent to Mallory Square.
One of the newer venues in Key West is the Coffee Butler Amphitheater at the Truman Waterfront, presenting yearlong live performances and named for island ambassador and legendary musician Coffee Butler.
North of Miami, you’ll plunge into an ocean of culture in Greater Fort Lauderdale, home of Seminole folklore, professional theater and dance, and festivals celebrating jazz and art. If you’re hunting for live music or a show, the Broward Center for the Performing Arts in the downtown Riverwalk & Entertainment District has a ton of talent on tap, from Broadway to ballet, concerts and comedy.
Fort Lauderdale museums are visual and educational marvels, from the NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale to the Museum of Discovery and Science, home of more than 150,000 sf mind-blowing interactive exhibits, Florida’s only aviation-themed Makerspace idea hub, wildlife habitats and an outdoor science park. Then head south for a walk through the Downtown Hollywood Mural Project, featuring 30+ outdoor, contemporary murals by internationally recognized artists.
North of Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach County’s modern cultural history started with a palatial home that is now one of the country’s greatest troves of art and sculpture—the Flagler Museum, Gilded Age mansion of railroad baron Henry Flagler and now a National Historic Landmark. In addition to its own lavish decor and priceless works of art, the museum welcomes changing exhibits during the year.
Another star in the world of art, the Norton Museum of Art, boasts a permanent collection of more than 8,200 works of European, American, Chinese, contemporary and photographic art.
The Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach, meanwhile, hosts plays, musicals, concerts and dance; while works by “the Bard” himself are featured during the Palm Beach Shakespeare Festival, held annually at the Seabreeze Amphitheater in Jupiter.
For the complete (and enormous) roster of arts and cultural organizations in Palm Beach County, visit the Palm Beach County Cultural Council at palmbeachculture.com.
Across the Everglades from Southeast Florida, appreciation and creation of the arts is a priority in Fort Myers, where the 1917 Florida Repertory Theatre stages plays, musicals, concerts and festivals.
So close and yet so far, the quirky fishing village of Matlacha is part of Greater Fort Myers and Cape Coral but has a vibe all its own with colorful galleries and shops, classic Florida-style seafood and a contagious laid-back attitude. Damaged during Hurricane Ian in September 2022, Matlacha is on the comeback trail, with many galleries restored and operational.
South of Fort Myers, the Gulfside enclave of Naples has a thriving arts scene featuring exhibits at institutions such as The Baker Museum at Artis—Naples, renowned Everglades photographer Clyde Butcher’s Big Cypress Gallery, the Naples Art Association Galleries and the Marco Island Center for the Arts.
For live music and the performing arts, Artis–Naples is home to the Naples Philharmonic Orchestra, Broadway productions, concerts and other performances, while the Naples Players perform at the Sugden Theatre. The Opera Naples season is held between November and May.
Explorations of culture and the impact of history are observed in Naples at the Holocaust Museum & Cohen Education Center, displaying artifacts and photographs telling individual stories within the larger history of the Holocaust while presenting programs and exhibits related to the Holocaust and other genocides.
HISTORY & HERITAGE
South Florida’s history has something of an escapist theme to it. First, the Seminole tribes trying to escape forced extraction from their ancestral lands by the U.S. government—and refusing to concede—fled to the inhospitable swamps of Big Cypress, eventually becoming today’s successful entrepreneurs of casinos, resorts and heritage museums.
In the Florida Keys, settlers escaping hard lives and former slaves escaping from the South trickled in from the north, turning Key West into a thriving port town of Cuban cigar making, sponge harvesting, salt production and fruit orchards.
Enter railroad magnate Henry Flagler, whose Florida East Coast Railway had already chugged down Florida’s entire eastern seaboard, bringing with it assorted dreamers, opportunists and those simply seeking a better life. That trend continued even after the railroad was destroyed by a hurricane in 1935, because newly built roads and the Overseas Highway—constructed using the foundations of Flagler’s railroad—kept the people coming in.
It was a floodgate that never closed, and visitors can follow the timeline of the famous and infamous who streamed into South Florida and the Keys during the late 19th and early 20th centuries by visiting local museums as well as the homes they left behind.
In Key West, the home of Nobel-winning author Ernest Hemingway—who loved the laid-back anonymity of Key West as it was back then—is now a museum featuring the office where Hemingway worked and the city’s first in-ground swimming pool.
Cuban poet and patriot Jose Marti was a frequent visitor to Key West, planning Cuba’s fight for independence from Spain at the San Carlos Institute, which still stands on Duval Street and is today a museum featuring a permanent Marti exhibit. It joins such sites of local history as the Oldest House Museum Key West and the Florida Keys History & Discovery Center.
Back on the mainland, automaker Henry Ford and scientist and inventor Thomas Edison, fleeing the harsh winters of the north, built winter homes in the Gulf Coast town of Fort Myers and today, the Edison and Ford Winter Estates stand beautifully preserved, with original furnishings and in Edison’s case, his original laboratory equipment.
While they were living in Fort Myers, Ford and Edison witnessed construction of the road that would connect southwest and southeast Florida—the Tamiami Trail which, like Flagler’s railroad, would change Florida forever. The Trail continued further north, where a bridge built over Charlotte Harbor connected to the fledgling town of Punta Gorda, set at the mouth of the Peace River.
Despite its subsequent development, Punta Gorda remains one of those Old Florida towns that is easy to navigate on foot. Today, the Punta Gorda National Register District covers 22 city blocks, with structures including Queen Anne-style wood frame buildings and the Neo-Classical Revival Punta Gorda City Hall.
Across the Tamiami Trail from the Gulf Coast, hardscrabble pioneers and wealthy businesspeople alike, all seeking new opportunities, poured into Southeast Florida, among them Gilded Age executive and collector James Deering and his brother Charles, who both built sprawling estates by the water.
While James Deering constructed the Mediterranean-style villa Vizcaya, filled with art, textiles and furniture from Renaissance Europe, the Deering Estate to the south showcased Florida’s historic architecture and natural environment. Today, both operate as museums, with the Deering Estate retaining much of its acreage along the southwestern edge of Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserve.
Heading north from Miami, South Florida pioneers are recalled at the Old Davie School Historical Museum, the Immokalee Pioneer Museum at Roberts Ranch, and historic homes including Stranahan House in Fort Lauderdale.
Meanwhile, the Elliott Museum and the House of Refuge, in Stuart, together with their parent organization, the Historical Society of Martin County, wow visitors with displays of classic cars, bicycles and boats, as well as a glimpse of early life in Martin County.
NATURE & ECOTOURISM
Take a walk on the wild side, get your feet wet on a water adventure or enjoy the serenity of a cultivated garden. There’s no wrong way to experience nature in South Florida, home of Everglades National Park—largest subtropical wilderness in the U.S.—and Everglades wetlands covering the region in an extended floodplain from Lake Okeechobee south.
5Small wonder that even if you never set foot near the ocean or Gulf during your stay, you’ll be surrounded by water in South Florida, where inland waterways, canals and lakes saturate the land, providing placid settings for canoeing, kayaking and boating.
On the wild side are airboat tours—not available in the park itself, but operating pretty much everywhere else, from Sawgrass Recreation Park Everglades Airboat Eco Adventures, west of Fort Lauderdale, to Wooten’s Everglades Airboat Tours in Ochopee, southeast of Naples and noteworthy for being home to the smallest post office in the nation as well as the Skunk Ape Research Center.
You might also learn the ropes of sailing with Offshore Sailing School in Fort Myers, offering sailing lessons and powerboat courses while hosting amazing sailing vacation getaways to the Caribbean and other exotic locales.
On the more placid side, try one of the blueway trails crisscrossing South Florida, leading paddlers across marshes, along the coast, through mangrove tunnels and countless other water features, while the communities along the trail provide equipment outfitters, trail information and lodging.
Encompassing the Southwest Florida communities of Sanibel, Pine Island, Fort Myers and Bonita Springs, the Great Calusa Blueway paddling trail takes you along routes once traveled by the Calusa Indians, past pristine islands and waters teeming with fish and other wildlife.
To the north, a paddle across Charlotte Harbor and its islands will introduce you to bird and marine life, while interior trails include the wild Myakka River and fossil-rich Peace River.
From Everglades City, paddlers can take the Wilderness Waterway to Flamingo, with day paddles and overnight camping both popular choices.
Then heading northeast, the bustle of Palm Beach County cities fades away as you head along the Intracoastal Waterway, Lake Worth Lagoon and the Indian River. A huge draw on this route is Florida’s first wild and scenic river—the Loxahatchee—with its virgin cypress and historic trapper’s cabin.
Despite South Florida’s many glittering cities, communing with nature is a breeze here, with many preserves and sanctuaries within city limits. West of Fort Lauderdale, Flamingo Gardens transports you to a world of colorful peacocks and flamingos, which walk among visitors showing off their colorful plumage. One of the oldest botanical gardens and attractions in the state, Flamingo Gardens is home to non-releasable Florida wildlife including alligators, otters and panthers, as well as more than 3,000 species of rare tropical and subtropical plants and trees.
Heading northward, the Hobe Sound Nature Center in Martin County aims to foster connections between people and nature, doing so with wildlife presentations, hands-on exploration programs, up-close animal encounters and interactive museum exhibits.
In the north Palm Beach County city of Jupiter, the Busch Wildlife Sanctuary boasts state-of-the-art facilities designed to foster wildlife rehabilitation, conservation and education. The Sanctuary’s enhanced amenities include spacious habitats, interactive exhibits and a fully equipped wildlife rehab center.
In nearby West Palm Beach, the Manatee Lagoon-An FPL Eco-Discovery Center is a free educational attraction with a dedicated area for viewing manatees up close. The center also features hands-on exhibits where visitors learn all about these threatened, docile creatures.
Getting off the wild track, the pace slows down to peaceful at South Florida’s many beautiful, colorful gardens, including the meticulously tended bonsai gardens found at the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens in Delray Beach.
In West Palm Beach, the Mounts Botanical Garden is a 20-acre living plant museum with 25 unique garden areas, such as the O’Keeffe Rain Garden and the Florida Natives Garden. Through May 2024, 20 larger-than-life sculptures inspired by the ancient Japanese art of origami will emerge skyward throughout Mounts, each one a stunning merger of art and nature. Origami in the Garden features not only their compositions, but also moving collaborations with world-renowned origami artists Robert J. Lang, Te Jui Fu, Beth Johnson and Michael G. LaFosse.
At the other end of South Florida is the only frost-free botanical garden in the continental U.S.—the Key West Tropical Forest & Botanical Garden, a rare ecosystem on 15 acres showcasing flora native to the Keys, Cuba and the Caribbean as well as a native plant nursery and a collection of Champion Trees.
STAY AWHILE
Crane’s Beach House Boutique Hotel & Luxury Villas in Delray Beach is a Key West-style hideaway of luxury accommodations surrounding a lush tropical courtyard. The Flamingo Lodge, first hotel in Everglades National Park, has reopened after being closed for nearly 20 years, with 24 rooms, an onsite restaurant/bar and boat slips nearby.