St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park

On May 20, 1893, two entrepreneurs opened a small reptile exhibition on the beach at Anastasia Island, primarily to sell souvenirs. The reptiles became the draw. The park moved to its current location in the early 1920s, survived a devastating fire in the 1930s, and kept going. In 1993, for its centennial, it became the first place in the world to display all 24 living crocodilian species. Free-roaming egrets, herons, wood storks, and roseate spoonbills nest in the rookery out back. It has been a U.S. Historic District since 1992.