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.