LAKE WALES | Think of them as Florida's Galapagos Islands. One million years ago, the 100-mile-long stretch of ancient dunes that flanks the route of present-day U.S. 27 in Polk, Highlands and ...

Several million years ago, when most of Florida was under water, the ridge was an island where ... Some of those ancient plants are still found in the Lake Wales Ridge area, and that’s why ...

Lake Wales Ridge. That region has an ancient history, the museum says: "When much of the state was underwater, higher elevation sand dune areas along the Central Florida ridge behaved almost like ...

Despite its size and ecological importance, Lake Wales Ridge State Forest is relatively unknown to most people, he said. The estimated 5,000 visitors a year is small compared with the more than ...

Want to take a spur-of-the-moment trip to Florida’s Lake Wales Ridge? Here’s what you need ... dinner from $6.99. Ancient oaks, alligators, birds, tropical flowers and exquisite peace and ...

Wildlands Conservation Inc., a nonprofit based in Tampa, has received a $25 million award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to support the Lake Wales ... ridge, a remnant of Florida’s ...

A University of Florida researcher has spent his isolation time searching for the blue calamintha bee, thought to exist only on the Lake Wales Ridge ... the remnants of an ancient sand dune ...

Polk County is close to acquiring another property along the Lake Wales Ridge for conservation ... The Friedlander family has rich ties to Lake Wales history. Edwin Friedlander was named Lake ...