MUSEUM & CULTURE
Lake Wales History Museum
Polk County · Central Florida
The 1928 Atlantic Coast Line railroad depot at Lake Wales, kept as the town's history museum with rail cars standing outside.
ABOUT THIS PLACE
The museum occupies the original Atlantic Coast Line Railroad station, built in 1928 at 325 South Scenic Highway, and the building is as much the exhibit as anything in it. The depot is the reason Lake Wales exists in its present form: the railroad brought the citrus industry, and the citrus industry built the town. Historic rail cars and a caboose stand on the track outside and can be looked over. Inside, the exhibits cover the citrus industry, the founding of the town and the history of the surrounding ridge country, with photographs, documents and objects from local families. A self-guided walking tour app covers the historic downtown a short distance away, which turns a museum visit into an afternoon. The annual Pioneer Days festival is held here and costs nothing to attend. It opens Tuesday through Saturday from ten in the morning to three in the afternoon, and it sits on the Scenic Highway a short drive from Bok Tower Gardens and Spook Hill
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