Florida's Misadventure Digging in the Dirt- The Cross-Florida Barge Canal   

From 1567 when King Phillip II of Spain proposed digging a canal across Florida, many have taken up the reins to engineer and provide a water route through the state. It wasn't a good idea then and it remains a bad one today. Proposed by the US government as early as 1818, leaders including Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson championed Florida's "Misadventure Digging in the Dirt" until ended by Richard Nixon's executive order. Learn about the canal’s route, its intent, and the potential destruction its completion would have caused. Structures and visual signs of the project remain today including an intro to recreational opportunities.