1964 Highway 27 Association Double-Sided Pictorial Tourist Map of Florida

This is a c. 1964 Highway 27 Association of Florida double-sided pictorial tourist map of Florida. This highway booster map promotes hotels, restaurants, and other businesses found along the famous route.

A Closer Look

An orange line highlights Highway 27 from Bainbridge, Georgia, to Miami, Florida. Cities and towns are identified. Twenty-six photographs highlight attractions: Florida State Capitol, Dog Land, Silver Springs, the Bok Singing Tower, Cypress Gardens, Everglades Gatorland, the Miami Seaquarium, etc. A list of 'Sponsoring Contributors' appears on the bottom panel.

A similar map occupies the verso with an orange line highlighting Highway 27 from Battle Creek, Michigan south to Bainbridge and the Florida border through Florida to Miami, before continuing south as Highway 1 to Key West. Tourist attractions are identified and highlighted, and an index of motels, museums, restaurants, and other locations appears along the left edge.

Highway Associations

The movement promoting the construction of 'good quality' roads did not begin with the invention of the automobile, but rather with the bicycle. At the time, most interurban roads were unpaved and impractical for cycling. The 'Good Roads Movement' was inaugurated in May 1880 to advocate for bicycle enthusiasts, riding clubs, and manufacturers. By 1910, the American Automobile Association (AAA) jumped onboard, along with over one hundred other local and national organizations. 'Road booster' organizations emerged to promote specific, often branded, highways. By the 1920s, about 250 'named' highways, each with their own boosters, crossed the United States. 'Road boosters' still exist, but most disbanded in the 1950s and 60s with the emergence federally funded Interstate Highway System.

Dating This Piece

We arrived at the c. 1964 date for this piece using the opening and closing dates for Passion Play outside Lake Placid. The Passion Play closed on April 19, 1964, so the map must predate that event. Six Gun Territory, a theme park in Ocala, opened in 1963, making an earlier publication date before then unlikely.

Publication History and Census

This map was created and published by the Highway 27 Association of Florida c. 1964. This is the only known cataloged example.