Send us your Florida questions!

If you thought the Pilgrims celebrated the first Thanksgiving in the present-day United States in Plymouth, well, you've been lied to. Cathy and Rick talk about the first and second Thanksgivings, both of which happened in Florida, and why the 16th-century French Huguenot Thanksgiving — celebrated in what is now Jacksonville — may be the only of the first three that didn't celebrate the darkest parts of our national origin story. 

Links We Mentioned

The French first Thanksgiving in North America

LeMoyne engravings of French first Thanksgiving 

Michael Gannon and the "Grinch who stole Thanksgiving"

How the Mayflower arrived in a world already scarred by slavery.

Support the show

Question or comment? Email us at [email protected].

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.

Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).

NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

Send us your Florida questions!

This week, Cathy calls BS on Turkey Day and scholar Jeremy Carnes helps us understand the connection between art created by American Indians imprisoned at Fort Marion and the art produced by contemporary indigenous people. The trio also offers their perspective on how they attempt to respectfully observe the fourth Thursday in November.

Ever heard of Ledger art?

Links We Mentioned

Ledger Art and Comics: The Talk

Away from Home exhibit about Indian boarding schools

Betty Mae Tiger Jumper (a legendary storyteller)

Highwater Press (comics)

Marvel's Indigenous Voices

Red Planet Books and Comics

Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki (Seminole Tribe of Florida museum)

nativelands.ca (Who lived where you lived before colonization?)

Catalog of Plains Ledger Art

Silberman collection of Native Art (with a lot of Ledger Art) from the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum

Red Planet (Now ATCG) books and Comics

Highwater Press

The origin story for America's Indian Boarding Schools begins in St. Augustine

Ledger drawings produced by American Indians who were prisoners at Fort Marion

Connect wth Jeremy:

Support the show

Question or comment? Email us at [email protected].

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.

Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).

NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

Send us your Florida questions!

Rick and Cathy talk about the evils of beach renourishment — not only why it's a no-win situation, but how great Florida beaches could look without renourishment. It's a controversial take — especially for beach property owners. 

Links We Mentioned

Fort De Soto

Canaveral National Seashore

St. George Island State Park

Anastasia Island

Anna Maria Island public beach

Washington Oaks State Park

Army Corps will not renourish Pinellas Beaches

Indian Shores Tiki Garden Beach

Support the show

Question or comment? Email us at [email protected].

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.

Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).

NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

Send us your Florida questions!

This week's episode welcomes Floridian David Jordan, a puppet master (not his real title, but we love to use that phrase) who wrangled the puppets on Pee-wee's Playhouse. Hear him talk about his puppetry with efforts to save the whooping crane and the Florida panther, his work with the Henson family, and his Central Florida charity, the Big Potato.

Links We Mentioned

Pee-wee's Playhouse

Pee-wee's Christmas Special

David Jordan

Billy Baloney

Panther and Crane

Heather Henson

Kermit's Swamp Years

Big Potato Foundation

Support the show

Question or comment? Email us at [email protected].

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.

Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).

NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

Send us your Florida questions!

For the final podcast of October, Rick and Cathy tell ghost stories and a few "wait, was that a ghost?" stories. Join the fun and let yourself get scared (or not so scared!) with the Florida Spectacular podcast this week!

Links We Mentioned

The Blair Witch Project

Robert the Doll

Robert the Doll by David Sloan

Robert the Doll Key West Ghost Tour of Fort Martello

Hernando Historical Museum Ghost Tour

May-Stringer House in Brooksville

Imagination Skyway podcast about Disney's Haunted Mansion

Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp

Rick's Cassadaga blog.

Support the show

Question or comment? Email us at [email protected].

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.

Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).

NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

Send us your Florida questions!

Forget ghosts and ghouls, this week Rick and Cathy talk about Florida things that should scare you — like baby gators (a protective mom is near), coyotes (hide your cats!), and killer manatee (OK, that one isn't a thing.) 

They end on a Florida B-movie note (because happy scary season!) and talk about, of course, snakes (they're more scared of you than, but don't push it!).

Links We Mentioned

Frogs

Slotherhouse

Rick's post on Reptile World in St. Cloud
Yearling special with rattlesnake
And looks like Rick was wrong about the brown recluse spider
National Park Service's social media bear safety post.

Support the show

Question or comment? Email us at [email protected].

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.

Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).

NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

Send us your Florida questions!

Quick, name a B-movie made in Florida. Did you say Creature from the Black Lagoon? Cathy and Rick talk about the history of one of Florida's most enduring movies and the areas where Universal filmed it, its little-known connection to Citizen Kane, and why The Little Mermaid and Creature from the Black Lagoon tell essentially the same story.

Links We Mentioned

Creature from the Black Lagoon

Shape of Water

Fiji Mermaid

Ningyo

The Legend of Mami Wata

Rick’s blog "Remembering Marineland”

Rick’s blog about Marine Studios

Rick’s blog about underwater starlet Ginger Stanley Hallowell 

Newspaper article about Ricou Browning

The Creature Returns to Florida

Check out classic horror films showing on Turner Classic Movies all month.

Support the show

Question or comment? Email us at [email protected].

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.

Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).

NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

Send us your Florida questions!

This week Rick and Cathy talk about Florida Man — but not the weird ones; the men who make Florida spectacular. From Abiaka to Lawton Chiles, they celebrate these wonderful men. (And yes, there's at least one in the works about great Florida women, too.)

Links We Mentioned

Governor Bob Graham and his Workdays

Governor Lawton Chiles and Walkin Lawton [VIDEO] — trail named for Chiles

Nat Reed (and his book, Travels on the Green Highway)

Guy Bradley and Officer Down Memorial Page  and the Guy Bradley Trail

Abiaka/Sam Jones

Support the show

Question or comment? Email us at [email protected].

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.

Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).

NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

Send us your Florida questions!

"The rules are different here." Florida attracts all kinds, but often not the right types of people. 

This week Rick and Cathy talk about some notorious Florida men, starting with the earliest exploration narratives to more contemporary gentlemen (and they use that term loosely.)

Links We Mentioned

Governor Claude Kirk

Governor Sidney Catts

The biggest con man in Florida: Gregor MacGregor

Jean Jacques LeMoyne (more plates here)

Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues and Theodor de Bry's Images of Florida Indians

Murph the Surf

“Florida Man,” explained article by Kristen Arnett

Support the show

Question or comment? Email us at [email protected].

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.

Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).

NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

Send us your Florida questions!

Bird is the word on today's episode of The Florida Spectacular! Hurricane Idalia brought more than storm surge to Florida — for the first time in a long time, flamingos stroll along our beaches. Although many people (including Cathy!) didn't realize this, flamingos are, indeed, Florida natives — or so says the FWC. 

Photo credit Beth Forys, for The Gabber Newspaper.

Places to Bird in Florida

Archbold Biological Station, Ding Darling, Disney Wilderness Preserve, Everglades National Park, Fort De Soto (Pinellas County on Tampa Bay), Lyonia Preserve, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Orlando Wetlands Park in Christmas, Oscar Scherer State Park, Payne's Prairie Preserve State Park, Sweetwater Wetlands Park

Links We Mentioned

Atlas Obscura: "The Centuries-Old Mystery of How Florida Got Its Flamingos"

Birdwatcher, or you want to be? Check out the Great Florida Birding Trail.

Learning the Birds by Susan Fox Rogers

Support the show

Question or comment? Email us at [email protected].

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.

Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).

NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!