Sunken Gardens

WHAT IT IS

A century-old tropical garden growing fifteen feet below street level in a drained lake bed.

George Turner drained a shallow lake in 1903, found extraordinarily rich muck at the bottom, and planted it. He started charging a nickel in 1935. For decades it shared the site with a wax museum and a gift shop shaped like a giant clam. The city bought it in 1999. You descend a ramp out of downtown St. Pete into a humid bowl of banyans, flamingos, and 1930s roadside ambition.

HOW IT SCORES

NEARBY