The orange belt railroad came to Tarpon Springs in 1887. This was also when Tarpon Springs was…read moreincorporated and the lighthouse was built. It was a narrow gauge railroad for transporting goods including turpentine and sponges to the north. Those were some of the products of this part of the state. In fact, this county was so covered with pine trees (the sap is harvested to create turpentine), it was named by the Spanish explorers as "The Point of Pines" aka Pinellas in 1528! This name was later adopted when the county was formed in 1912. This was one of the many interesting facts I learned from Carol, who kindly gave me an excellent guided tour of the museum. The museum is the second version of the train station, built in 1909. Unfortunately the original building burned down but the current one was built and has lasted more than 100 years! Plant purchased the railroad in 1895, rebuilt it to standard from narrow gauge, and connected it to the rest of his railroad. CSX later acquired it and eventually closed down and turned over the track to the local cities in 2005. They donated the station with the stipulation that it be preserved. The railroad tracks were quickly removed and the long trail eventually became the Pinellas (bike and walking) Trail. As for the train station itself, it contains many interesting artifacts and a sad but important historical detail. Artifacts include original mechanical semaphore controls, a huge mechanical cash register that could do calculations and much more. Since the station was built before desegregation, there are two front doors and two ticket windows. Change is good. Life is good with a well-preserved, historic site and museum.

This was our first stop upon arriving in Tarpon Springs and this was because I found it on…read moreTripadvisor. This place was a very impressive and also very spacious with tons of exhibits and information. The ladies working here was super friendly and welcoming. Parking is in the street and free.

I visited on Saturday morning around 10:30am. It's free to check out and I was lucky enough have a…read moreguided tour. I donated of course because this museum exists on donations and grants. The museum itself is a restored house started in 1914 and finished in 1919. It's called the Hartley House. His great grandchild still lives nearby and visits the museum! The plans for the house were purchased from Sears! It's full of fascinating history and even has photographs of when all of Palm Harbor was orange groves. Back then, an entire box of oranges was 5 cents. The house owner ran a local ladder factory which constructed ladders for orange picking and other industries. I learned that Curlew Rd is named after another name for the beautiful Roseate Spoonbill bird! I had no idea! Life is good with a little history!

What a quaint, local museum! The house is a Sear Roebuck catalog home. The floors are original…read moreFlorida pine and recently refurbished - gorgeous! It's a self-guided tour and won't take too long. Don't miss the small home behind the museum that is also part of the tour. #MuseumDay

Really neat place. We came using a museum pass we check out from our local Pinellas County Public…read moreLibrary. They have a room with kids activities that was great for my daughter and a fun experience to take a picture in a car and honk a horn. Don't think I personally would come to pay as a mom with a younger daughter. But coming with the pass was worth it, just a neat thing to do and see. I would imagine if you were interested in cars or learning history this would be a really fascinating place. Everything is restored beautifully and the people are very friendly.

My son and I went here recently for the 1st time. They have a beautiful collection of antique…read morevehicles. There's a train ride and even classroom/homeschool activities with hands on displays about levers, pulleys, weights and such. You can see real working machinery here as well. This location also hosts events and weddings. A true diamond find in Clearwater. The staff were exceptional, friendly and caring. We had VIP experience here. We will be back. This is a great place for children and adults alike.

We visited the Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art at St. Petersburg College off Belcher at Klosterman,…read moresouth of Tarpon Springs FL. They have a one-of-a-kind full-size reproduction of Pablo Picasso's (1881-1973) Guernica, which is really cool to see. It was our first time here, so we wanted to see some works by the museum's namesakes, as an introduction. We saw amazing 1920s and 30s watercolors and a 1958 stained-glass mosaic by Abraham Rattner, known as a "colorist" for the vibrance of his works. and we saw a cool 1936 abstract by Allen Leepa, apparently painted while he was in high school! And we liked the small "fine crafts" Elemental collection, especially the kimono, somehow made of paper to look like seashells! Admission is by donation, suggested $10, and sometimes you can find free passes at a local library. Either way, it's worth a visit. The Leepa-Rattner Museum is a striking collection that really punches above its class.

Well, I finally went to this wonderful museum and brought my friends along. They were having an…read moreexhibit from the Florida Craft Art Gallery in St. pete. The building is on the NW corner of the St. Pete college campus in Tarpon Springs. It is a beautiful gallery with many rooms. The visiting exhibit was in the front rooms of the museum. There were varied objects on display from sculptures to large petit point pictures to paintings to blown glass. The displays from the L-R permanant collection occupied rooms to the rear of the space. There was a whole room of art from Mr. Rattner, who was a prolific artist in many disciplines, painting, sculpture, fiber arts,and writing. He lived in France before WWII and was strongly influenced by the holocaust tragedies. The best part of this visit is that entry is free. There are clean rest rooms and a sitting area that is handicapped accessible.

The gardens are absolutely beautiful! I was thrilled to see that they support neurodiversity by…read moreoffering sensory aids. As a person with autism, this made me feel so seen and included. I can't wait for my next visit. The gardens are gorgeous and there's so much to do and see! Thrilling place!!!

This place is still so lovely especially at Christmas. We have been here countless times and…read moreChristmas every year. It never gets old. It's so beautiful and every step are colorful lights. They have music playing and right now I feel like I can fall asleep. It is dog friendly here so bring your pup to walk around and love on the lights and take lots of pics. This season is through Saturday, January 3rd, 2026 and closed at 9:30 PM. $10 suggested donation. Must stop for Xmas!

I'm a USF student and I've been on campus for two years now and never really explored what campus…read morelife has to offer. So I decided to actually see it and I found the museum and I loved it. The staff were super friendly and it was free, who doesn't love free stuff. So I was able to enjoy the art work that they brought in from NYC. They have couple of events throughout the year. I'm excited to see what else comes through the museum while I'm here.

Exhibits at this mid-sized museum may best be described as eclectic, edgy and evocative…read more Located on the sprawling main campus of the University of South Florida, the building can be tricky to locate, and parking may be an issue, but inside awaits intriguing displays of "significant and investigative" contemporary art from around the world. USF offers its Master of Fine Arts students a graduation exhibition yearly that seems to highly anticipated but whatever works by emerging and established artists are showcased here are sure to offer fascinating insights into current trends, directions and influences on contemporary art. Free admission makes it easy to return to view new exhibits throughout the year.

I went to Sunken Gardens on a Sunday and honestly just had a really chill time. It's a good spot to…read morespend an hour or 2 just walking around without feeling rushed. The place has been around forever so there's a bit of history to it and a ton of different plants throughout, which keeps it interesting as you go. They had a scavenger hunt going on which made it more fun than I expected, and my favorite part was easily the huge koi fish. I didn't realize how big they get until seeing them up close. Also got a nice discount on Groupon so that was a win. Definitely worth checking out if you're in the area and want something low key.

I heard a lot of great things about this place! I can see why. It's a relaxing garden stroll with a…read morenumber of unique paths. You can find a number of unique plant and animal species along the way. They had some seating areas scattered about and a place where it seemed like they hosted educational events and weddings. Overall, they take good care of the grounds. It was a bit warm in the summer time. Price is maybe a little steep for the magnate of the place. However I could see if local, totally might be worth a membership... especially if they do events.

I wasn't sure what to expect so my expectations were low. That's probably a good thing because I…read morewasn't impressed. There were story boards all over with interesting tid bits, but the lighting in the boards was lousy. A lot of the info was repetitive. The movie where you could sit in a life boat and watch what happened was well done. We did the VR experience and it was nice, but not earth shattering.

Really learned a lot of new information about the titanic! It was really cool that they hand out a…read morepassenger to you to learn about them through your the exhibit and at the end you learned if they were saved or not. The 360 screen room was fascinating and held my attention as it tells the story from the making of the ship to the aftermath. Really sad to hear about the ones who couldn't get help. Loved that original items were through the different rooms and that rooms were built up to make it feel like you stepped back in time.