OCALA, FL (352today.com) – During the mid-20th century, as Silver Springs grew into one of Florida’s most popular roadside attractions, one lesser-remembered exhibit brought visitors a sweeping view of transportation history: the Carriage Cavalcade.
Silver Springs, long known for its crystal-clear waters and pioneering glass-bottom boat tours, evolved far beyond its natural springs over several decades. After Ed Carmichael leased the springs in 1924 and turned it over to William Carl Ray and W.C. “Shorty” Davidson, the site expanded into a complex of entertainment offerings designed to rival other major tourist stops in the country. Ray and Davidson’s vision transformed the property with creative additions and bold marketing efforts that helped make Silver Springs a household name.
One of those attractions was the Carriage Cavalcade, which opened in 1953 as part of Ray and Davidson’s ongoing efforts to diversify the Silver Springs experience. Described at the time as a moving museum of early transportation, the Cavalcade displayed a variety of horse-drawn carriages and wagons, offering a glimpse at how people and goods traveled before automobiles became common.
The exhibit was a natural companion to other themed attractions at Silver Springs. Throughout the 20th century, park visitors could step inside replica Native American villages, enjoy jungle cruises and explore an array of novelty experiences alongside the springs’ natural wonders. The Carriage Cavalcade, located across the street from the park’s main entrance along State Road 40, became a stop where families could see sleighs, phaetons and historical vehicles once used in everyday life–artifacts of a bygone era of travel.
Local historian accounts recall that the Carriage Cavalcade later became known as the Early American Museum or History on Wheels during the 1960s, expanding its focus to include early automotive and mechanical innovations alongside equestrian transport. In the 1980s, the collection was sold back to the Silver Springs attraction and housed on its property. At that time, the museum’s building still stood several hundred feet east of the park’s entrance, though it already showed signs of neglect.
The gradual decline of the Carriage Cavalcade mirrored broader changes at Silver Springs and across Florida’s tourism landscape. After nearly four decades as a privately run attraction, Ray and Davidson sold Silver Springs to ABC-Paramount in 1962. While ABC attempted to maintain the park’s momentum, it could not replicate the founders’ deep local knowledge and promotional drive. The opening of Walt Disney World in 1972 reshaped tourism patterns in the state, drawing millions to Central Florida and away from older roadside attractions.
By 1975, most of Silver Springs’ ancillary attractions, including the Carriage Cavalcade, were closed or demolished. The property changed hands several more times before the State of Florida fully merged it into what is now Silver Springs State Park in 2013, preserving the springs and core legacy features even as the once-diverse amusement elements faded from memory.
Today, few visitors would identify the long-empty building near the entrance as former home of the Carriage Cavalcade. Unlike the glass-bottom boats that still travel the Silver River’s clear waters, the cavalcade’s relics remain mostly lost to time–preserved only in faded postcards, local lore and dusty archival photos.
Yet the Carriage Cavalcade stands as a testament to an earlier era of Florida tourism: when attractions at Silver Springs blended natural wonder with curated glimpses of history, offering roadside travelers both education and entertainment along their journeys.