Punta Gorda, FL
Originally Punta Gorda Army Air Field, a WWII fighter training base for P-40 and P-51 pilots. The long runways (7,000ft+) are a legacy of military use. Today it's an Allegiant Air hub and busy GA field. The Peace River, one of the last undammed rivers in Florida, winds through the area — you can see manatees from low altitude in winter.
Adjacent winter homes of Thomas Edison (built 1885, "Seminole Lodge") and Henry Ford (purchased 1916, "The Mangoes"). The Edison Botanical Research Laboratory — where Edison researched alternative rubber sources for the war effort — still stands. 20+ acres of historic gardens; the Edison museum holds prototypes and inventions. Two miles from Page Field (KFMY); pilots can lunch in Fort Myers, tour both estates, and be back at the airport for a 4 PM departure.
Fly into Fort Myers (KFMY) and Sanibel is the barrier island just offshore; the Ding Darling refuge is the eastern two-thirds of it, 6,400 acres of mangrove that read clearly from the air. Jay "Ding" Darling was a Pulitzer-winning political cartoonist who drew the first federal Duck Stamp and founded the National Wildlife Federation, and he talked Truman into protecting this land in 1945 when developers wanted to drain it. The four-mile Wildlife Drive runs through the mangrove flats; over 245 bird species have been logged here, including the roseate spoonbill, the pink one with the spatula bill. Hurricane Ian hit Sanibel head-on in 2022 and tore up the causeway and much of the refuge; recovery construction runs through 2027, so check current status before you go.
Sarasota (KSRQ) has the Ringling on the bayfront, a 36-acre estate that's clear from the air. John Ringling, of the circus, was one of the richest men in America by the 1920s, and he poured it into Sarasota: he bought up barrier-island land, built the causeway, moved the circus's winter quarters here, and put up Ca' d'Zan ("House of John"), a Venetian Gothic palazzo on the bay, in 1925. Next to it he built an art museum and filled it with European Old Masters, Rubens and Velazquez and Titian, bought during a 1920s market collapse and meant for the public from the start; Florida State runs it now. There's also a circus museum, with a 3,800-square-foot miniature of a 1930s circus. John and Mable both died before it was finished, and the estate went to the state of Florida in 1946.
The Sebring International Raceway is built directly on the bones of Hendricks Army Airfield, a WWII B-17 training base. From the air, the connection is unmistakable: the main straightaway is the old primary runway, and the tight turns trace taxiway intersections. At its WWII peak, over 6,000 personnel trained here to fly Flying Fortresses in formation bombing runs over Europe. Today it hosts the 12 Hours of Sebring, one of the most prestigious endurance races in motorsport, running since 1952. The WWII control tower still stands trackside.