The Everglades Is One of America's Most Overlooked National Parks—Why You Should Visit

"This vast subtropical wilderness is described as a place of elemental horizontals—'a world half-made, a place of base elements—land, water, and sky—arranged in sweeping horizontal bands'—and yet its apparent simplicity belies extraordinary complexity and biodiversity: plants that absorb nutrients from the air; trees that grow knee-deep in water; antediluvian alligators weighing up to a thousand pounds; elusive panthers; marine mammals once mistaken for mermaids; and fish that walk on land. The landscape’s hydrology is crucial: waters flow from the Kissimmee River into Lake Okeechobee and once spread southward in a sluggish sheet that created the singular ecosystem; 20th-century dams, dredging, canals and the 1920s construction of the Tamiami Trail disrupted that flow, and a federal-state partnership, the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, is now working to undo much of that intervention while still providing drinking water for 9 million Floridians. Its cultural history is also stark: Indigenous peoples such as the Calusa lived here for millennia before European contact reduced populations dramatically, and early government reports dismissed the region as 'Suitable only for the haunt of noxious vermin, or the resort of pestilential reptiles,' a view that persisted until the mid-20th century; in 1947 the park was established with President Harry Truman quoting Psalm 23: 'He leadeth me beside still waters. He restoreth my soul.' The greater ecosystem covers an area about the size of Connecticut, is prized as the largest subtropical wilderness in the United States, is the third-largest park in the Lower 48 behind Death Valley and Yellowstone, and holds UNESCO World Heritage, International Biosphere Reserve and Wetland of International Importance designations, drawing roughly a million visitors a year." - Stanley Stewart Stanley Stewart Stanley Stewart is a multi-award-winning travel writer and author of three acclaimed books. He is a regular contributor to The Sunday Times and The Daily Telegraph. His work has taken him to more than 50 countries. Travel + Leisure Editorial Guidelines