The Sunshine State Emerges on the World Stage

Near the end of the Great Depression, Florida ends the decade with a triumphant tenure at the 1939 New York World’s Fair, dozens of thriving tourist attractions, and a newly built Florida Park Service. By 1940, Florida enjoyed a thriving tourist industry that attracted more than double the entire population of the Sunshine State.

The Mother Who Birthed the Florida Park Service

As the most powerful woman in pre–World War II Florida, May Mann Jennings was instrumental in the development of the Florida Park Service and its predecessor, Florida Forestry Service, as well as bringing the Civilian Conservation Service into the state for park work.

A Tropical Depression

From flappers and speakeasies to the Harlem Renaissance and The Great Gatsby, the Roaring Twenties has long been a common trope in popular American memory. Florida went through its own version with the land boom and the arrival of tin-can tourists. But there was an “other Florida” that was more in line with the rest of the Deep South than the pleasures of South Florida. After two disastrous hurricanes and the crash of the land boom, those two Floridas began to share similar concerns and fears as Florida suddenly found itself in the depths of the Great Depression.

Introduction

The following chapters examine the relationship between the Florida Park Service and the Civilian Conservation Corps between 1935 and 1945. It was clear early in my research that the CCC not only assisted the FPS in the early years; it funded, designed, built, and in large part ran the state park program. The FPS is financially, thematically, ideally, and literally a direct product of the New Deal. The New Dealers believed in conserving nature for society’s use. This belief resulted not only in the CCC’s highly publicized efforts in tree planting and fire prevention but also in the building of public parks and other nature-based recreational activities.

A New Deal for Florida

Chapter 2 explores both the nation’s and Florida’s reaction to the Great Depression, resulting in the New Deal and the creation of the Civilian Conservation Corps.

Florida Crackers and Yankee Tourists

Chapter 9 looks at those Floridians who rejected this manufactured version of a tropical paradise. Resentful of the changing political and economic priorities, these people (including ranchers, farmers, turpentiners, and North Florida politicians) saw “foreign” control over their livelihoods and culture. First we look at the development of the Florida Cracker as an idea and cultural construct. Long used as a derogatory label, writers such as Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings converted that image into one of resistance, illustrative of an alternative and “authentic” Florida. Finally, the chapter will conclude with two case studies, tick eradication and the anti-fire campaign, in which we see direct clashes between rural and agrarian peoples with those favoring the creation of a new Florida image.

The New Deal in Old Florida

Chapter 8 follows Governor Fred Cone’s failed attempt in 1937 to circumnavigate the federal restrictions over welfare funding in order to control state spending and patronage. This effort arose out of not only political motives but also as a way to directly challenge and reverse the efforts to commercialize Florida. Cone and others saw the power shift that the New Deal had brought: from North to South Florida, from rural and agrarian interests to urban and commercial, and finally from native Floridians to newly transplanted Floridians.

Improving Paradise

Key to Florida’s tourism was the commodification of the state’s natural resources, tangible and otherwise. Florida developed a specific image of itself: tropical, exotic, safe, and natural. But reality did not always cooperate. In order to present the expected natural landscape for its visitors, the Civilian Conservation Corps created state parks that fit the popular image of what Florida was supposed to look like. It began to remove native fauna and flora, alter water flow, introduce exotic species, and artificially landscape areas that were then presented as natural. We will also look at similar processes in other areas of Florida. Although advertisements, publications, and other forms of popular culture celebrated Florida’s Eden-like qualities, many in the state still believed that paradise needed improving.

State-Sponsored Tourismand the Building of Florida’s State Parks

This chapter offers a detailed look at the planning, construction, and advertising of Florida’s state parks. Of particular interest here is how the Florida Park Service served as an example of state-sponsored tourism. The New Deal era is the only time that Florida’s state government controlled the industry, using both local civic groups and federal relief programs to develop and sell its tourist resources.

Tourism, Conservation, and State Parks

For Florida, conservation and tourism have always been linked. As many argued during the Great Depression era, we should conserve those elements that we can sell to visitors. This chapter looks at the development of both during the 1930s and how they led to the creation of the Florida Park Service.