I also love that a large and very much alive alligator, perhaps Joe’s descendent, was in residence daily on the pier at the Lakeside Inn during our November, 2021, visit. Today, Old Joe is a popular photo opportunity on whose back kids love to sit. Old Joe, the alligator (statue)Ī 15-foot bronze alligator along the lakefront pathway near the Palm Island Boardwalk commemorates the “largest, fiercest alligator in the lake” at the turn of the 20 th Century, when he was a highlight on boat tours. You’ll find his bronze statue on the lakeside path to Palm Island Boardwalk. Old Joe honors a famous alligator of bygone days. I stayed here years ago during it’s decline, and I love seeing how beautiful the old Lakeside Inn looks today! There are 90 rooms, a bar and restaurant. New owners bought it and started restoration work in 2011. Over the years, the inn had fallen into serious disrepair. When it first opened in the Victorian era, Central Florida was a popular winter destination for activities like bird watching, fishing and picnics. It’s a grand place, where President Calvin Coolidge and his wife stayed for more than a month in the winter of 1930. With its big porch, fireplace in the lobby and rocking chairs overlooking the lake, this inn looks like it could be in New England. It’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Lakeside Inn in Mount Dora opened in 1883, and it’s the oldest continuously operated hotel in Florida. The chamber can also give you the phone number of a private tour guide. Mount Dora Transit offers 30 to 40 minute tours by golf cart. The Mount Dora Trolley offers a one-hour historic tour twice a day four days a week. (I like that it’s location-aware, so you can just look up a building when you’re near it.) The same information is available on a free app, Distrx, which we used and enjoyed. Weekend visitors take note: They are open Monday to Friday 9 a.m. offers a free brochure with a self-guided walking tour of the historic district. The Chamber of Commerce, located at 341 Alexander St. There are several options for Mount Dora tours: You can enjoy them as you stroll through the very walkable downtown Mount Dora or you can take a more official tour. The Lake Dora historic district has dozens of well-preserved and carefully tended buildings, both residential and commercial, that give the town character. (Yes, the ornate Queen Anne house does look a little like a wedding-cake.) (Photo: Bonnie Gross) 1. Mount Dora is full of historic buildings but the 1893 Donnelly House takes the cake.
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