San Marco

Book excerpt: Decades before Walt Disneys dream took root in central Florida, tourists flocked to a place on the banks of the St. Johns River known simply as South Jacksonville. Although small and rural, it played a large part in the history of Florida, helping establish a premier tourist destination. South Jacksonville evolved into San Marco, whose unique history rivals anything found in a best-selling novel. That history includes steamships and bridges, ostriches and alligators, sharpshooters and daredevils, train wrecks, haunted theaters, sprawling plantations, Oriental gardens, The Coney Island of the South, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Babe Ruth, John Phillip Sousa, Tom Mix, and an elephant named Toddles. All played a part in the rich and varied history that is San Marco.