>>This program is brought to you in part by the Paul B.

Hunter and Constance D. Hunter Charitable Foundation, a proud partner of WUCF, and the Central Florida community.

>>On this edition of Florida Road Trip... >>You'll love the Capitol Theater because it is a piece of history and you can still see a lot of it.

>>We make a pit stop at the theater vital to downtown for more than 100 years.

And... >>Who doesn't want to enjoy the feelings of a holiday on any day of the year?

>>A shop that swaps swimming pools for trees and tinsels.

Plus... >>People think it's just the beach and it's not.

>>We'll explain why people came to this coastal city.

And here's a hint.

It wasn't for the beaches.

Buckle up.

Florida Road Trip is back on the road and headed to Clearwater.

♪♪ Hello and welcome to this exciting edition of Florida Road Trip.

I'm Scott Fais.

Nestled between Tampa and St. Petersburg awaits Clearwater.

Now, when you think of Clearwater, your mind instinctfully goes to those pristine beaches, famous for their white powder sands.

But spent some time in this community, and you'll begin to hear the stories and meet the people that give Clearwater its character.

>>Clearwater can go back as far as the 1400s, 1500s.

There were Tocobagan Indians that were here.

They started up in Safety Harbor and came down here to Clearwater.

Then the English and the Spanish came in.

The first settlers, we can go back to about 1840.

>>Clearwater received its name from the area's early Native American residents.

It was actually "Clear Water Harbor."

It was three words.

Along the bluff in Clearwater is all springs.

So like some of the people that grew up here, they said you could be swimming along and all the sudden you have a cold spot and you just know you went over the springs.

>>On April 2nd, 1841, Fort Harrison was established in Clearwater.

The fort was named after President William Henry Harrison.

He was the ninth president of the United States and served the shortest presidency in U.S. history.

Harrison was the first president to die in office, passing away a little more than a month after his inauguration.

Not unlike his presidency, the fort in Clearwater, bearing his name was also a bit unique.

>>It was never actually used as a fort.

They ended up using it as a convalescent home for soldiers as they got hurt in the war.

They would come out here, get the fresh breeze and everything like that, and they would, you know, hang out and get better, and then they'd go back to war.

It was a rehab center for for soldiers in the Seminole War.

>>One of the main driving forces to bring people to live in Clearwater was Florida's Armed Occupation Act of 1842.

>>They gave you 160 acres if you were the head of the household, 18 years or above, you built a house there and you were willing to take up arms against any invasions of Indians or other foe.

>>James Stevens was considered the father of Clearwater because he was the first one here.

He actually came down when they abandoned the fort and he and his family moved into the fort until he built his home.

>>Just like many cities across the state, the railroad was a game changer for the area.

The freshly laid tracks brought more than people.

The railroad led to one of the most iconic buildings in the area.

>>Henry Plant bought the Orange Blossom Railroad and he upgraded it to - for passenger cars, before it was just for freight.

And then he built the Bellevue Biltmore.

The citizenship of Clearwater was very small at that time.

But then all the sudden everybody came in with the hotel.

Plant's influence change the area's identity as an agricultural town.

>>The tourism part that we know today didn't start until 1897 when they opened the Bellevue Biltmore.

The Bellevue Biltmore used the springs.

They had a huts over them so that if you were staying at the hotel, you could come in there.

You'd go in the springs to bathe and things like that.

>>But the beautiful beaches Clearwater is known for today weren't much of an attraction back then.

>>You wore wool bathing suits, so nobody wanted to go in a wool bathing suit to the beach.

If you can imagine.

Going to be strange, no one knows this.

Alachua County, would cut all the way down here.

Then they decided to break it up and it became West Hillsborough County.

And if you needed to get anything done, you had to go all the way to Tampa.

After years and years of writing to the governor and saying, "We want to be our own county, we're feeling left out over here" and things like that.

They said, okay, we'll give you your own county.

They named it Pinellas County.

And so then Clearwater was like, "Well, we want to be the county seat."

And St. Petersburg is like, "No, no, no, no.

We're more sophisticated.

We should be it."

So the governor said, "I don't care.

You know, whoever builds the first courthouse is the county seat."

>>So now, while St. Petersburg did it very methodically, they hired an architect and did everything like that.

Over here they decided just to go ahead and build one.

So they built this building.

And that's really the facade and the sides took a picture of everybody in the front of it and went up to Tallahassee.

And they got there first.

And by the time they came down to check it, it was finished.

So they had to keep guards on it all the time, 24/7 until it was declared the city seat because St. Petersburg kept saying, they're going to come down here, burn it down.

So then they finished it.

By the time Tallahassee came to check that it was a courthouse, and then they realized they had no bathrooms in it.

So [LAUGHING] that is how quickly they built this thing.

♪♪ >>The Clearwater Marine Aquarium likely bubbled up on your radar when Winter the dolphin swam onto the silver screen and into the hearts of folks around the world.

What you may not know is how the aquarium is rooted in the 4 Rs of Rescue, Research, Rehabilitation and Release.

>>Being this close to the water, we have always looked at helping our aquatic community.

So any time there was a stranding, any time there was an animal that was ill, that we could contribute our time and talents to to rehabilitate and then ultimately release that animal, that's where we engage it.

>>What you might not know is that the Clearwater Marine Aquarium was once a water treatment plant.

It was abandoned.

Then in 1978, the City of Clearwater donated the facility to the group to create a research and rehabilitation center for all of the Tampa Bay area.

>>We did a lot of research in and around the Clearwater area, and then ultimately we started to garner a little bit of fanfare with the movie.

>>That movie, Dolphin Tale, was released in 2011, starring Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd, Harry Connick, Jr. and of course, Winter.

>>Winter holds a very interesting story in the fact that the world had never seen a dolphin that was an amputee.

So Winter came to us with a tail fluke that was compromised and ultimately that tail fluke had to be amputated and working with a prosthetic company, Winter was a poster dolphin for prosthetic tail fluke.

I would say Winter really gave everyone inspiration to overcome ailments and be able to show the world how, regardless of any setbacks that you may have, you can persevere.

>>How the Clearwater Marine Aquarium helped Winter is reminiscent of how the professionals here helped so many other creatures in need.

>>Winter would not have survived because an animal in the wild with that sort of injury would be prey for another animal.

We consider ourselves to be the spokesperson for all of our residents because our animals that we have in our care come to us with compromise health.

So currently we have three bottlenose dolphins and we have two rough toothed dolphins and they are all our stars.

We also have sea turtles, small clawed otters, we have pelicans.

I would say that all of our animals tell a very unique story.

They tell a story of survival.

We have all sorts of animals here under our care that each and every one of them is an ambassador, not only for their species, but an ambassador for the aquatic community.

>>The aquarium has a reputation well beyond Clearwater for the contributions made outside of Florida.

>>Clearwater Marine Aquarium is engaged in research across the globe.

We are an international organization in a sense that we are doing research in Belize, in the Dominican Republic and in Cuba.

We contribute to research all across the world.

We are proud of the work that we do as it relates to dolphins in particular, as well as manatees.

But we also step in a gap as it relates to sea turtles as well.

♪♪ Rehabilitation is core to what we do as an organization.

So think of Clearwater Marine Aquarium sort of in this two pillars state.

Part of what we do is we want to bring people in so that they can see these animals.

But we also have to recognize that sometimes we're going to be the forever home for these animals.

And we want our public to know that the animals that we have out here are compromising health.

We are their forever home.

>>Sandwiched between Tampa and St. Petersburg, you may not expect Clearwater to have a need for multiple performing arts venues.

The Sound, Ruth Eckerd Hall, and the Capitol Theatre have all carved their place in history, and today they're thriving.

>>We all love the Capitol Theatre because it is a piece of history and you can still see a lot of it.

>>The theater was originally built as an open air facility, used for band concerts and picnics.

Today, you can still see part of the original exterior, along with a painted sky, a tribute to the theater's early days.

>>Back in the turn of the century in 1921, they built it to serve the community, both as for entertainment but also for silent films.

So it became part of the vaudeville circuit that was going around at the time.

And then additionally, before they had talkies, they used to have films down there for the community.

>>The theater changed hands many times over the years, but in 2009, the city of Clearwater and Ruth Eckerd Hall stepped in to save the Capitol Theatre by taking ownership.

Much of the original theater is still intact.

Yet at nearly 100 years old, the structure needed renovations to meet building codes.

>>We've kept some of the stage.

There actually are fewer seats in the venue than there were originally, but we've added loge boxes.

We do have some of the original seats and we have them on display there.

The Roebling Chair is an interesting story because Mr. Roebling was a Clearwater resident and he was an inventor.

He had invented the Roebling Tank, which was I guess a game changer, from what I understand, in World War Two.

He would come to the theater almost every weekend, from what I understand, loved to watch films there.

And he was a large size man, so he had a special chair built with him.

>>And remember those original walls?

Well, during the renovation, some history revealed itself.

Evidently, they put up on the wall of one of the side buildings a list of all the citizens of Clearwater that had served in World War One had gone overseas and certain people had a star next to their name.

And what we discovered was that the star meant that they had died in battle.

The other thing that was interesting we noticed is some of the names were black and some of the names were in green, and the names that were in green were African American citizens who had served.

I would say the thing that strikes that everyone who goes into the Capitol Theatre is that it has a personality of its own.

You know, there's a sense when you go through that building, especially when you watch a performance, you kind of get a sense of the years that are behind it, the decades of people that have coming through.

It has its own history.

>>Ruth Eckerd Hall was built to address the need for a performance space for the Florida Orchestra.

>>The Florida Orchestra has been performing in this area for a long time, but in the late 70s they were performing in a local high school auditorium.

>>The hall, which opened in 1983, is renowned for its acoustics, all because it was originally designed to be the orchestra's home.

>>Fortunately for the music lovers at Clearwater, a very special birthday present resulted in a financial boost and a name for the new hall.

>>They were doing the final fundraising.

They were short, and someone approached Jack Eckerd and he said, "You know what?

My wife's birthday is coming up."

So he surprised her.

He gave the final I think it was $2 million as a birthday gift to her.

We named the hall after her.

>>Don't recognize the name Jack Eckard?

You may just recognize his business: Eckerd Drugs.

>>It's a very philanthropic family.

And they absolutely were dedicated to the arts and to youth, especially teens at risk.

So you see a lot of things in this area named after the Eckerds.

>>This is one of the newer venues in Clearwater.

The Sound at Coachman Park, which opened in June of 2023.

Yet it sits on space not unfamiliar to concertgoers from decades gone by.

>>I believe the history goes back to when they built the Capitol Theatre because that was a place where the town would use for community concerts in the park.

They moved across the street and Coachman park, it was available and they built a bandstand.

They've had Bandstand there continuously through the 1900s.

There was always music playing in that park.

It was only up until this last renovation of the park and expansion that the city decided that they would put more substantial infrastructure and they built the Sound.

The Coachman Park itself is so large it takes up just a small section of it.

So it's kind of the best of both worlds.

You have this beautiful view and green space and then a great performance area.

And people come from all around to see music concerts there.

♪♪ >>It all started as a tree sapling back in the 1870s, and today it is still flourishing.

We're here at the Kapok Tree Farm, also known as the Kapok Inn.

We have Pam with us.

Pam, you are the owner.

How did this place first start?

>>Well, it started, as you said, in the 1800s.

It was farmland and orange groves.

And a friend of the owner at the time brought back a kapok seedling.

He brought back several and only one took, the big kapok tree in the front.

And what's unusual about this is it's in North America.

This tree usually lives in South America or India only, due to the weather.

So in the early stages, they actually had scaffolding with heaters to heat the tree and keep it warm when it when freezes would happen.

>>And that was the attraction.

People came out to see this tree and it continued to grow from there.

>>And eventually the property was sold to a Mr. Baumgardner and he was he was quite notable if you look him up.

He had a band and he was looking for a venue for his band to play because he got tired of trying to find venues.

And so he built the Kapok tree.

This is actually six different buildings he put together.

Now they're all under one roof.

And it was so popular that he gave up playing music to run the restaurant because in the seventies it was one of the top ten restaurants in the United States.

>>And you can see behind us, not only was it the restaurant, these beautiful gardens.

Tell us where have the statues come from?

And explain a little bit about the amazing waterfalls.

>>Well, that amazing waterfall is truly amazing.

It puts out 60,000 tons of water an hour.

>>Wow.

>>And comes from Venice.

It was taken apart piece by piece.

Each piece was numbered.

And they rebuilt it here.

The statues come from Greece and from Italy.

Mrs. Baumgardner was an avid collector.

She would go to Europe every summer and she would buy the Regency Lounge and the Grand Ballroom.

All the paneling from one from France and the other from Belgium.

And we have chandeliers from all over the world.

And she just collected and kept building.

>>You mentioned the inside of the ballrooms.

At one point in time, there were multiple dining rooms.

Walk us through what it felt like to actually dine here.

>>You would come in the main entrance and there were lots of little alcoves with souvenir shops and such.

You would go to a large information booth and you would tell them what you want to eat and how large your party was and based on the size of your party, they would then send you to one of the ballrooms.

And at that time there were seven ballrooms.

>>And today it's a banquet facility and you can still enjoy a meal here.

>>Yeah.

>>Pam, thank you so much for joining us.

>>Thank you for having me.

>>Lots of great information and phenomenal Florida history.

♪♪ The only guarantee with technology is that it's always changing.

And that includes transportation.

We've come a long way from the days of trains, horses and buggies.

The Collection on Palmetto is one pit stop where the Industrial Revolution lives.

The Collection on Palmetto is an antique car museum, and we also have engines that would have been used in field and factory.

This all evolved from our founders love of all things steam and mechanical.

And we also on the property have a one third scale model of the Benoist which was the first scheduled airline flight which took place from St. Pete to Tampa January 1st in 1914.

We also have a 1/8 scale train that goes around the property, all five acres, and people can ride on that.

The big kids and the little kids love it.

>>The largest collection is cars.

The display ranges from some of the earliest ever made to the new vehicles of today.

The oldest is a replica of an 1886 Benz.

>>They really do represent all the different changes that unfolded before we got to the point of the kind of cars we have today, which are completely autonomous.

One of the first dilemmas that hit the automotive industry, which is hitting us today is gas or is it going to be electric?

>>There is also a third option.

Steam.

>>The basic concept is with steam you have a fire underneath a boiler.

The boiler fills with a great deal of pressure.

Now, a steam engine really doesn't create the power.

It simply consumes it from the steam boiler.

>>A Stanley Steamer like this one is known to be a high performance car and would have already made 20 minutes worth of power for when the driver was ready for it.

We might think of the electric car as a new innovation, but some of the earliest cars were also electric.

>>The electric cars were arguably one of the first successful means of transportation.

Now, mind you, you're limited to as the distance just as you are today.

All that distance was even less and you're limited to speed.

But when people are used to communicating with a horse, the whole notion of getting in a carriage and being able to manipulate it.

Electric cars were very simple, very easy to drive.

>>Outside the museum, there are two verandas with industrial engines on display and they all still work.

One side is reserved for steam engines and the other features gas powered engines.

>>Behind each of our engines, we've had custom painted by local muralists these beautiful depictions of the engine's application in industry.

>>There's an engine that would be used inside a saw mill.

Another that might have been used at a power and light company and a marine engine.

The gas powered engines here were typically portable and brought to work sites with many of them used in the farming industry.

>>We like to think we bring to life aspects of the Industrial Revolution and the Second Industrial Revolution in our country.

And we think of ourselves as kind of a living history museum.

We intend to keep growing our education programs.

So our mission really is founded in education, and it is our hope to share with people of all ages this amazing progression of technology and innovation that can be seen in engines of field and factory and also of the cars.

♪♪ >>There's a decade old debate in Florida: When is too soon to begin decorating for the holidays?

Is it right after Halloween on November 1st that you put up your lights or do you wait until after my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving?

Secretly, I'm a fan of putting the lights up early.

But what if I told you there is one place in the Sunshine State that has the decorations available year round?

>>Who doesn't want to enjoy the feelings of a holiday on any day of the year?

>>No matter the size of your hearts, it will grow three times the size when you walk into Robert's Christmas Wonderland.

It's open every single day of the year.

Yet, ironically, except for Christmas Day.

>>Robert's Christmas Wonderland has been a holiday tradition for the Clearwater area since 1972.

It began when Robert decided, Gee, I've come from New York.

I used to be a teacher.

Now I'm in the land of sunshine and flamingos.

What could I possibly do that's a little bit different than everybody else?

>>He originally opened the store as Robert's Christmas World in Pinellas Park, but it was only open October through December.

Then in 1990, Robert's moved to Clearwater and merged with another Christmas shop in the area.

Christmas Wonderland.

>>Christmas Wonderland.

One of the goofiest things ever.

It used to sell swimming pools in the summertime and they would bring out Christmas trees.

It's just something to do in December.

And the Christmas trees did better than the swimming pools.

And next thing you know, when Robert saw that and everybody all saw that they said, you know, maybe going all 365 is the way to go.

>>In 1990, Robert's Christmas Wonderland opened year round.

For those here, it's not about offering Christmas ornaments year round.

Rather, creating an experience.

You know, you make breakfast, you go to work, you go get gas, buy the groceries.

Some days you just want to wake up and say, I feel like Christmas.

I feel like opening a present.

And they just want to put a smile on their face.

Folks come here because that's what the store does.

It's a happy place.

There's joy around every single corner in here, and they walk in with a big smile and they walk out with an even bigger one.

>>Some might call it a little bit of Christmas magic.

With more than 10,000 ornaments from which to choose from and more than 100 decorated trees.

>>You want Christmas trees?

We've got Christmas trees like you wouldn't believe.

Everywhere else, you find a green Christmas tree with white lights on it.

In here we got colored Christmas trees.

We got trees that go from colored lights to white lights.

We've even got upside down Christmas trees, which if you get one of those, you got to stack it with presents because you got a lot of space.

We got Christmas trees in the shape of snowmen, Santa Claus hats.

We got a cactus Christmas tree.

>>If you're like me, you'll collect an ornament as a souvenir from your trip.

And here there are plenty to choose from with an entire aisle dedicated to all things Florida.

>>Everyone knows where Clearwater beach is, but if you are heading the other way from Clearwater Beach, you drive right by us.

One of our top ornaments is seriously a little seashell that says Clearwater Beach.

And the visits here become a family tradition.

One of the most fun things about working here at Robert's is you see families and not just families, but families grow up.

I have seen a dad come in with his son.

And as the years have gone by, you know, he starts out, you know, seven, eight years old.

Now he's 20, 24.

He's now bringing his own kids in.

And it is fantastic to see the traditions just get passed down.

>>If Christmas is your favorite holiday, you may find it difficult to visit a store bigger than this one.

>>Robert's Christmas Wonderland is one of the largest Christmas stores, not just in the southeast United States, but in the United States of America.

>>One of the best things about living in this great state is our weather year round.

Christmas in July doesn't feel all that different than Christmas in December.

Just minus the heat and humidity.

Well, that's going to wrap it up for this edition of Florida Road Trip.

Thanks for joining us.

I'm Scott Fais.

I invite you to join us again next week as we continue our ride through Florida's history.

♪♪ Until then, safe travels, everyone.

>>This program is brought to you in part by the Paul B.

Hunter and Constance D. Hunter Charitable Foundation, a proud partner of WUCF, and the Central Florida Community.