A triceratops watches over the ferns at Dunlawton Sugar Mill Gardens in Port Orange, Florida — and that's not even the strangest part of the story. These 10 acres just outside Daytona Beach were once Bongoland, a short-lived 1940s dinosaur theme park, and today they're a free, volunteer-run garden where those same crumbling concrete giants still stand among the palms.

The land's history runs deep. Before it ever grew a dinosaur, it was a sugarcane and cotton plantation, later operating as the Dunlawton Sugar Mill before being destroyed by the Seminoles, and it even served as a Confederate military base for a time. The theme park era arrived in the 1940s, when dermatologist Dr. Perry Sperber — a man obsessed with prehistoric creatures — leased part of the site and built life-sized dinosaurs out of concrete and chicken wire. Bongoland also offered a recreation of a Seminole village, a miniature train, live animals including a baboon named Bongo, and a Tyrannosaurus more than 40 feet tall. The park lasted just five years before closing.

Since 1985, the grounds have operated as Dunlawton Sugar Mill Gardens, tended by volunteers and planted with magnolias, azaleas, ferns, succulents and palms. The dinosaurs cluster near the children's garden: you'll find a triceratops, a stegosaurus, a dimetrodon and more, weathered and charmingly ragged after decades outdoors. The big T. rex was toppled by a hurricane in 2019, but remnants remain for determined dino hunters to find. Entry is free.

Beyond the prehistoric cast, there's plenty to wander through. Walking paths lead past a tiny gnome village complete with miniature houses, mushrooms and woodland creatures, a cute stone footbridge, and quiet ponds dotted with colourful trinkets. You can also inspect the ruins of the old sugar mill itself — a genuinely historic structure hiding behind all the whimsy. Mostly, it's a shady, peaceful spot to enjoy Florida's outdoors without the theme-park price tag.

Plan on the gardens filling an hour or two rather than a whole day. Port Orange makes a good base, with budget chains like La Quinta and Country Inn & Suites inland from roughly $85 a night, or beachside stays along Daytona Shores from around $100. New Smyrna Beach — a favourite with surfers and one of the East Coast's better-known surf beaches — sits less than 20 minutes south, and historic St. Augustine is about an hour north, so the gardens slot neatly into a wider Florida road trip.

Pack sunscreen and bug spray; central Florida is warm, humid and lightly infested with insects most of the year. Anyone travelling with dinosaur-obsessed kids, or adults who secretly still are, will find this a much more interesting detour than the average roadside attraction — and the photo opportunities are unbeatable for the price.

Thanks to Explore for the original story.