Exploring Potter's Wax Museum

Potters Wax Museum is one of those old Florida attractions that I've taken for granted because I thought it was just too "touristy" for a real Floridian to visit. Two things got me to finally pay admission to what claims to be America's first wax museum: my passion to visit all the surviving old Florida tourist attractions and Ponce de Leon. Founded by George L. Potter in 1949, the entrance fee is fairly reasonable by today's standards, but the attraction is pretty small too. It was originally located further east at the corner of Menendez Avenida and King Street. At some point, however, they moved into their current location, assuming the spot once occupied by Walgreens in the Ponce de Leon Shopping Center. In researching this unassuming Mediterranean Revival structure, I stumbled upon a bit of interesting history:

"In 1955 Lapidus (Morris Lapidus architect of Miami Beach's famed Fontainebleau Hotel) created the Ponce de Leon Shopping Center near the plaza in St. Augustine, the Nation's Oldest City. The anchor store, Woolworth's, was the scene of the first sit-in by black demonstrators from Florida Memorial College in March, 1960, and in 1963 four young teenagers, who came to be known as the "St. Augustine Four" were arrested at the same place and spent the next six months in jail and reform school, until national protests forced their release by the governor and cabinet of Florida in January 1964. Martin Luther King hailed them as "my warriors." The Woolworth's door-handles remain as a reminder of the event, and a Freedom Trail marker has been placed on the building by ACCORD, in its efforts to preserve the historic sites of the civil rights movement."

I must have missed the Freedom Trial marker and shot the photo of the Woolworth's door handle only by chance. On a previous trip I stumbled upon the marker of the site where a motel manager poured acid in the swimming pool an effort to get African Americans bathers to leave. St. Augustine has a rich role in the struggle for Civil Rights, but it isn't widely publicized.

Earlier location of the museum further east

Vintage brochure, probably when the museum had more elaborate sets (and space) for the wax figures at the previous location

I found these promotional images from the 1960s in the State Archives, shot when the museum was a bit fresher (and larger) than it is today.

State Archives of Florida

Today's journey through time at Potter's, begins with characters from the bible, followed by figures from the Middle Ages and British royalty. The chronological order is not strict, so one might find a bizarre juxtaposition like Princess Di standing behind Queen Victoria. Nearby I found Ponce de Leon hanging out with Menendez, looking towards Robert E. Lee and other Confederate Civil War generals. The wax figures are packed tightly together and much of the museum is dark. There were very few visitors on the day I visited, and I have to admit it was slightly creepy. More than once I remember the Wild Wild West episode where the figures in a wax museum turned out to be evil robots.

Looks like they need to hit Ponce's armor with some steel wool as it's getting rusty

The section with U.S. presidents is every bit as campy as the one at the President Hall of Fame in Clermont; JFK looks like he has Donald Trump's hair and Ladybird Johnson looks like she was embalmed rather than made of wax. One soon transitions into a recent pop culture area where a Harry Potter section is probably very popular with today's kids, and nearby celebrities from Brittany Spears to Micheal Jackson are holdovers from the days when they were at the top of super stardom.

I find the wax figures appealing in the same inexplicable way I find taxidermy appealing. The figures look lifelike but they have a surreal out of context aspect that always intrigues me. While it's not one of St. Augustine's larger or more elaborate attractions any more, I really enjoyed my visit there.

Old Orchard Beach

Old Orchard Beach is the Daytona Beach of Maine. Or maybe the Panama City Beach. It's a place where the kitsch is overwhelming and the good taste, ever present in the rest of Maine, gets tossed aside to appeal to a steady influx of French Canadians tourists. A rare sand beach in Maine, Old Orchard has a rich history of entertaining vacationers and the campy eye-candy is everywhere.

The first boarding house for summer tourists was built in 1837. In 1853, the Grand Trunk Railroad connected Old Orchard Beach to Montreal, giving French Canadians easy access to the sandy beach. In the twentieth century, the long, crescent shaped beach was used a starting point for trans Atlantic flight attempts, based on the success of Charles Lindburgh, according to Old Orchard Beach website. Today visitors take flight in an assortment of rides at a beachside amusement park. Like so many beachfront communities in Florida, large chunks of quaint charm has been lost to condos. But enough is left over to get a glimpse into this city's colorful past.

The State I'm in

In the past month and a half I've left my base in Orange County and traveled through the following Florida Counties: Seminole, Volusia, Flagler, St. Johns, Osceola, Polk, Lake, Sumter, Marion, Alachua, Gilchrist, Dixie, Lafayette, Taylor, Jefferson, Wakulla, Leon, Madison, Suwannee, and Columbia. The more Florida I see, the more I want to see. It's a great state and not enough people living here realize that. And not enough people living here, do enough to preserve it.

• 20th century roadside resources are vanishing quickly from our state. Signs and motels my brother and I photographed just a couple years ago are gone or repainted. The places still open, appear to be hanging by a thread.

• The poorer the area, the greater the number of roadside resources. When there is money to renovate, remodel or rebuild it usually done. Many of the best surviving relics of the road are in some pretty tough areas.

• Florida's old attractions are fascinating. The places that appealed to folks driving in pre-interstate Florida are still pretty interesting. Some are literally time capsules, opening a window into an earlier time. Places like Bok Tower do a great job of embracing their past and looking towards the future. Others like Fountain of Youth and the Stephen Foster Memorial are so rooted to the past that they lack the political correctness of the 21st century. All of them, however,  are worth a visit.

• There is often great artwork at some of these forgotten places. I've blogged previously about the New Deal era murals I've discovered in St. Augustine and Lake Wales. My latest discovery is two incredible paintings by famous illustrator Howard Chandler Christy in the museum at the Stephen Foster Memorial in White Springs Florida... who knew?

• History is around every corner. We discovered places we'd never heard of that played major roles in shaping our nation. San Marcos de Apalache or Fort St. Mark was such a place. We just stumbled across it in the little town of St. Mark and were quite impressed with the production values of the short film explaining it's remarkable history.

• Florida's little towns are gems. Places like Lake Wales, St. Marks, White Springs, Apalachicola, Micanopy, etc. are small but infinitely interesting. Perry seems worthy of more investigation. I can't wait to explore the museums of Tallahassee when I have more time (although it's not really a small town.)

• Sprawl is just downright ugly. The closer you get to the interstate, generally the uglier it gets. I'm sure there is an upside to Lake City. But the road we took was just awful.

• If you can take the blue roads- do! Interstates are for moving you fast from point A to point B as quickly as possible. But if the you believe that how you get from one point to the next is just as essential as getting there, take US 98, 27, or 441.  You'll never know what you'll find.

• Floridians are blessed with an amazing state park system. They preserve history and nature and educate the masses about our state in a generally entertaining way. We visited 4 parks over Christmas and enjoyed them all. And thanks to the "Friends" organizations for taking special care of these places (Friends of Wakulla Springs for example.)

• The panhandle is the Deep South. Central Florida is about the least "Southern" place in Florida, aside from maybe South Florida. But there is a Southern twang in the panhandle and it's quite refreshing. 

• The Big Bend area of the panhandle is gorgeous, but go there soon. While largely undeveloped, it appears to be sprouting up residential neighborhoods left and right just like the rest of Florida. At least St. Marks Wildlife Refuge is safe, what a treasure!

• I can't wait to see more. I can't wait to start exploring Miami's Art Deco and mid-century modern architecture. I'm anticipating visiting more of our old roadside attractions again (Weeki Wachee, Silver Springs, the Citrus Tower) and for the first time (Hall of Presidents, Potter's Wax Museum, Alligator Farm, etc.) 

2009 is going to be a fantastic year, but I urge everyone to seize the opportunity to visit this great state because it's changing fast!