1947 Way Pictorial Tourist Map of Florida

This is a 1947 George D. Way pictorial tourist map of Florida. Vignettes highlight attractions from Pensacola to Key West. These include national parks, forests, beaches, museums, wildlife sanctuaries, gardens, and zoos. Florida is portrayed as America's outdoor playground with activities including tennis, golf, waterskiing, fishing, and boating taking center stage. Florida's tropical weather is also hinted at by emphasizing the Ringling Brothers' Circus winter quarters, Major League Baseball's spring training fields, and the map's overall aesthetic. Photographs adorn the border and promote sites throughout the state, including the Oriental Gardens, Silver Springs, Fort San Marcos, and the Bok Tower.

Verso Content

Since the front of the map is meant to draw tourists to Florida, the map's verso shows them how to get there. A detailed road map the state occupies the entire verso, with insets of Pensacola, Orlando, Tampa, Lakeland, Daytona Beach, Palm Beach, St. Petersburg, and Miami situated in the Gulf of Mexico. A mileage chart and an alphabetic index of cities and towns are included. A circular inset along the bottom border highlights the principal highways in the southeast, further simplifying a potential vacationer's trip.

Publication History and Census

This map was drawn by George D. Way and published by the State Road Department of Florida in 1947. An example is part of the collection at the Touchton Map Library at the Tampa Bay History Center. Eight examples of this map are cataloged in OCLC and are part of the institutional collections at the University of Kentucky, Ball State University, the University of South Carolina, the Jacksonville Public Library, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, the University of Minnesota Minneapolis, Memorial University/Newfoundland, Elizabeth II in St. Johns, Newfoundland, and the University of Kansas.