Posted 14 years ago
bahamaboy
(224 items)
Click on these very cool postcards to read the captions. Pic one is a live 500 year old Florida Alligator of the day. Having lived here in Fl. all my life, I can tell you firsthand, that since alligators were put on the endangered species list years ago, these reptiles are everywhere. People near where I live are always losing their pets and some of the big gators are being blamed. I'm fairly certain they are correct in their assumption of who was responsible in the missing pet/pets. This was a huge attraction from the 1915 or so time frame up until the depression when money became too sparce to justify going to an attraction such as this. Now the largest one of these type attractions is located in our nations "oldest city" which is St. Augustine Florida which is 30 miles south of Jacksonville. How about those teeth on the "Pablo Queen" in pic one above??
I had a girlfriend who growled like that!
And just how did they figure out he was 500 years old??? Did he tell them?? lol
Would that be "Old Alligator Joe's" tombstone in the second pic??
Good morning,
I was born and raised in Jacksonville Florida, (1959), and I never remember hearing or seeing anything about this over the years. Those are awesome postcards and are probably some of the only "artifacts" left from the alligator farm. That second photo looks like it has a tombstone in it. Wonder if it was a past employeee!!! I also wonder what part of Jacksonville the farm was located at. I'm gonna try and do a little research on the place. You are definitely correct about the current day alligator population. You are liable to see one just about anywhere these days. I currently live in North Carolina (30+) years, but I still have family on the Northside of Jacksonville. Thanks for sharing your postcards !
Thrifty Gypsy
I love the first comment. LoL