DUNEDIN, Fla. — Just in time for Valentine's Day, the Dunedin History Museum is celebrating the romantic history of one of the Bay area's most popular beaches — Honeymoon Island.
- Contest brought over 200 couples to area between 1939-1941
- Decades later, land became state park
- History preserved in old film, photos
- More about the Dunedin History Museum
Inside, old black and white films capture the young love of newlyweds at the start of their happily ever after.
"Who expected to get a free trip to a tropical paradise?" Museum Executive Director Vinnie Luisi said.
The couples were enjoying a one-of-a-kind vacation on the little slice of paradise known as Honeymoon Island.
"It is really what I consider the first reality show in the late 1930's, early 40's because there was nothing like it," Luisi said.
Started as a publicity stunt
Back in the late 1930’s, a man named Clinton Washburn purchased the land and came up with a contest to try and promote it.
"Mrs. Washburn was the creator of the contest," Luisi explained. "She really felt that if people were going to deserve to come on a trip, they had to write a letter and say why they really felt like they wanted to be on Honeymoon Island."
What started as a publicity stunt turned into tradition. The owners developed a soft spot for the sweethearts.
"They would go out and they would have to do a traditional hula dance, and the couple who did the best hula dance became the king and queen, which got them a slightly larger bungalow," Luisi said.
'Honeymoon' ends
More than 200 couples from all over the country won the contest from 1939-1941.
Sadly, when World War II started, the honeymoon came to an end.
The Washburns eventually sold the island. Decades later, it became a state park.
The bungalows may be gone, but there’s still a lot of love in the air.
The history of Honeymoon Island is preserved at both the state park and the museum. Park managers think it may even be a bit magical.
"The one thing I find so unique is we heard that out of the two hundred and some odd couples out here, not one divorce," Park Manager Pete Krulder said.