History of the Tamiami Trail

The road was built about75 years ago across swamps in the Everglades and took over ten years to complete.  Dynamite was used…three million sticks of it!

Big Cypress and Everglades

To get from the western to the eastern side of the southern tip of Florida, you have to either take I-75 or the Tamiami Trail.  If you drive the Trail, expect to go as slow as 35 mph in some spots, and watch out for alligators.

There are not only alligators but also panthers, hogs, deer, and otters along the Tamiami Trial in the Everglades National Park.  Everglades animals are sometimes elusive but they do pop out once in a while so be careful driving.

You’ll drive right through the center of Big Cypress National Preserve when you take the Tamiami Trail.  It’s a forest of a million acres, with rare orchids and other Everglades plants.

Everglades National Park has three entrances from land and one main entrance area with facilities from the water. These are:

• Gulf Coast Visitor Center, on the northwest tip of the Park
• Shark Valley Visitor Center, on the northern central edge of the Park
• Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center, on the eastern edge of the Park
• Royal Palm Visitor Center, just a few miles inside the Homestead entrance to the Park, after Ernest Coe Visitor Center
• Big Cypress National Preserve Visitor Center, in Big Cypress National Preserve, next to Everglades National Park
• Flamingo Visitor Center, on the southern coast, accessible by water and via Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center

Each of these entrances and visitor centers offers a different angle on the Everglades, and depending on where you’re driving from, and what you plan to do, each one offers different activities as well.

The National Park itself offers all kinds of ways to enjoy the outdoors and explore the Park. Join a group or set out for a private excursion, and you’ll definitely have a wonderful, surprising day of adventure. Here is what you can do in the Park itself. Scroll down further for a short list of what there is to do just outside the boundaries of the Park.

• go cycling on park roads and trails
• go canoeing, the best way to see the Everglades because you’re practically right down in the water
• experience fantastic bird watching
• go freshwater fishing, but don’t eat the freshwater fish, because of high mercury levels
• go saltwater fishing. Charter a boat or take your own. If you fish on your own, you’ll need a State of Florida fishing license. These are available at bait shops or from the Florida Dept of Conservation.
• take an organized tram tour throughout the park led by a naturalist
• go camping, but not during bug season. Get a permit for the backcountry and the primitive camping spots

Here’s what you can do just outside Everglades National Park

• go for an airboat tour: these unique “boats” cut through the sawgrass and actually lift off the water to skim through the Everglades’ thick grass. They’re prohibited in the Park.
• visit the Everglades Alligator Farm
• take an Eco Tour
• Paddle along the Wilderness Waterway
• shop for handicrafts at the Miccosukee Indian Village, located on the road between Miami and one of the entrances to Everglades National Park