53 Florida Facts They Never Taught You In School

1. There are laws in some areas of Florida preventing mobile food truck operators from dressing too sexy out of fear it may be a source of distraction for passing drivers. 2. Everywhere in Florida is less than 60 miles from the ocean. 3. Pigs are not allowed on Miami Beach. 4. Preventing funny tanlines nationwide, Miami pharmacist Benjamin Green invented sunblock in 1944 to help protect the skin of visitors to the local beaches. 5. Gaining weight can result in lost dollars for Florida highway patrol officers, who can lose their bonus if they’re more than 15 pounds overweight. 6. Feeding a wild gator in Florida will get you a misdemeanor. 7. Ybor City in Tampa was once capable of producing more than 700 million cigars a year, made by roughly 12,000 workers. That’s 58,000 cigars made by each! 8. Every public building in Florida has outward opening doors to prevent them from being forced open by strong hurricane winds. 9. More than 200 pairs of sunglasses are turned into Disneyworld’s Lost and Found each day, over 70,000 a year. 10. More lightning strikes Clearwater, Fla. per capita than anywhere else in the nation. 11. There are no stones in the walls of Disney World’s Cinderella Castle, its shell is made of fiberglass. 12. Unmarried women are forbidden by law to parachute on Sundays in Florida. 13. For a small donation, the bed and breakfast “WildLife on Easy Street” in Tampa will let you cuddle with a range of exotic animals, including baby cougars, leopards, and bobcats. 14. Saint John’s River is one of few in the country that flows north instead of south because its origin in Central Florida has a higher elevation than Jacksonville. 15. Siesta Key beach is made up of 99 percent pure quartz crystal, which is why it stays cool to the feet and extremely white. 16. Skateboarding is illegal in Florida without a license. 17. Florida state law considers an elephant to be the same as a vehicle in many ways. For instance, if one ties their elephant to a parking meter, the meter must be filled as if the elephant were a car. 18. In order to beat the summer heat, Apalachicola resident, Dr. John Gorrie, invented the first mechanical refrigeration machine in 1851. 19. Around 75 percent of all U.S. oranges are produced in Florida. This makes up roughly 40 percennt of the world’s orange juice supply. 20. There are 663 miles of beaches in Florida. 21. The American alligator was adopted as the official reptile of the state of Florida in 1987 to be a symbol of the state’s untamed wilderness. Perhaps it’s even wilder that the Florida panther is the state mammal. 22. There are more bars per capita in Key West than anywhere else in America. 23. The moonstone is the official state gem of Florida, despite it not being found naturally in the state… or on the moon for that matter. 24. The world’s first passenger service airline flight was flown from St. Petersburg to Tampa in 1914. 25. At some point in Florida history, it was necessary to make a law forbidding the sale of one’s own children. 26. The man who wrote Florida’s state song, “Old Folks at Home,” has never been to Florida. 27. Almost 14,000,000 different combinations can be made with the six Florida lottery balls. 28. Not only do Florida swamplands help clean water that passes through the vegetation, they also prevent flooding by slowing heavy rain flow. 29. While Ponce de Leon claims to be the first European to discover Florida, he also claims to have met a Spanish speaking tribesman while he was there. Hmm. 30. The Bayshore Boulevard in Tampa is thought to be the world’s longest continuous sidewalk. 31. Next time the waiter drops a tray, don’t clap. It’s illegal to break more than three dishes a day in Florida. 32. Despite once setting a Guinness World Record for having 768 straight days of sunshine, St. Petersburg was ranked as the saddest city in America by Men’s Health. 33. It is illegal throughout the state of Florida to have any sexual relations with a porcupine. 34. Julia Tuttle founded Miami, making it the only major U.S. city founded by a woman. 35. With high unemployment, lack of insurance, and expensive housing, Florida ranks as the most stressed state in the country. 36. Disney is the largest single site employer in the country, with over 62,000 employees required to keep the resort up and running. 37. The Everglades National Park is home to the slowest moving river in the world. 38. The Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum in Sanibel has more than 2 million shells and is the only professional museum in the world dedicated to mollusks and the shells they make. 39. The Belleview Biltmore in Clearwater is the world’s largest occupied wooden structure. 40. With over 185 miles of waterways, it’s no surprise that people refer to Fort Lauderdale as the Venice of North America. 41. Walt Disney World Resort is roughly the same size of San Francisco at over 40 square miles. 42. Florida is famous for its watersports with Key Largo known as the “dive capital of the world” and Islamorada often called the “sport fishing capital of the world.” 43. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Clearwater has the “most days of sunshine.” 44. The first ATMs in Miami were installed with rollerbladers in mind, as these athletes couldn’t wear their wheeled shoes into the banks to get cash. 45. The Guinness World Record for world’s largest strawberry shortcake was set in Plant City Florida where participants made a 827-square foot, 6,000 pound cake. 46. One of the two naturally round lakes in the world is at DeFuniak Springs. 47. Blame it on the southern weather, but there are more golf courses in Florida than any other state, with over 1,000. 48. Florida’s South Beach was voted by Travel Channel as the No. 1 beach in America. 49. Walt Disney World attracts over 50 million visitors annually that consume more than 10 million hamburgers, 6 million hot dogs, and 10 million pounds of fries. 50. The ecosystem found in the Everglades is the only of its type in the entire world. 51. Gold and silver are regularly found both on and off land in Southern Florida, left behind by pirates that used to frequent the area. 52. Florida is the only place where alligators live among crocodiles in a natural habitat. 53. The Annual Jug Race is the world’s longest river sailboat race, stretching for 42 miles between Palatka and Jacksonville. Feature Image Source: heri gallardo Did we miss anything? Tell us your favorite fact about Florida in the comments below!