In 1946, a former U.S. Navy frogman named Newton Perry walked into a remote spring in Hernando County and decided that this was the place to build an underwater theater. The two-lane U.S. 19 ran past dirt roads. There were more alligators and black bears than people. There were no gas stations, no groceries, no movie theaters. A year later, the first show opened. Today, Weeki Wachee is one of the oldest continuously operating roadside attractions in the country, and the only place in the world where mermaids still perform underwater every day. The America250 initiative is a wonderful moment to revisit how the most American of American attractions came to be. At Weeki Wachee Springs, a proud part of the Adventures Unbound family, we like to say the show has been going on since 1947.

The History

Weeki Wachee Springs State Park is in Hernando County, Florida, and protects a natural freshwater spring that feeds the Weeki Wachee River. The spring is one of the deepest natural springs in the United States, and the cold, clear water that pushes up from beneath the limestone is what made the underwater theater possible.

The attraction was founded in 1947 by Newton Perry, a former U.S. Navy man who had trained Navy frogmen to swim underwater during World War II. He brought the air-hose breathing technique he had developed for the military and used it to design an underwater performance system, allowing performers to breathe from hidden hoses while smiling at audiences through a thick glass wall. The first show opened on October 13, 1947, and the famous Weeki Wachee Mermaids quickly became a defining icon of mid-century Florida tourism.

Weeki Wachee’s heyday began in 1959, when the spring was purchased by the American Broadcasting Company and the attraction was heavily promoted on national television. ABC built the current theater, which seats 400 people and is embedded in the side of the spring 16 feet below the surface. ABC also developed elaborate underwater shows with props, lifts, music, and storylines, including productions of Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, Snow White, and Peter Pan, alongside originals like Underwater Circus and The Mermaids and the Pirates.

In 2008, the State of Florida acquired the property and reopened it as Weeki Wachee Springs State Park, preserving the historic mermaid theater and the spring ecosystem. In 1997, the popular Former Mermaid shows began, bringing earlier generations of performers back to the spring to swim in Mermaids of Yesteryear productions that still play to standing-room-only crowds.

The Connection

The name Weeki Wachee comes from the Seminole language, translating roughly to “little spring” or “winding river.” The area was used by Indigenous peoples for thousands of years, including the Safety Harbor culture from around A.D. 1300 to 1725, who fished, camped, and traveled the river to the Gulf of Mexico. A significant Indigenous burial mound was discovered near the spring in 1969, confirming the area’s importance as a settlement long before any roadside attraction took shape.

A visit to Weeki Wachee is a uniquely American afternoon: a 1947 dream of underwater theater, a 1959 national television deal, a 21st-century state park, and centuries of Indigenous presence all wrapped into a single spring. The mermaids are still smiling at the audience through that thick glass wall, and the water is still 72 degrees.

For more America250 stories from across our properties, visit Adventures Unbound’s America250 page.