Around Florida, they know Clewiston as “America’s Sweetest Town.” And once you complete the 3-hour heritage and agriculture tour on the Sugarland Express, you’ll believe it. On this informative trip, you’ll watch sugar cane fields harvested up close, chop and chew actual sugar cane, visit the Clewiston sugar mill and tour a local citrus juice plant.
Planning a visit? Stay at Clewiston/Lake Okeechobee RV Park.
Your admission to the Sugarland Express includes a stop at the Clewiston Museum that operates out of the former offices of the Clewiston News, built in 1928 and one of the oldest buildings in the city. The settlement on the southwest shore of Lake Okeechobee, America’s second largest freshwater lake, wasn’t even a decade old at that point. The founders, Philadelphian John O’Brien and Alonzo Clewis of Tampa, gobbled up large swaths of undeveloped land in 1920 for their Moore Haven & Clewiston Railroad. Before this time, the region was the province of the Seminole Tribe of Florida, whose culture lives on in the community and at the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum that houses more than 30,000 artifacts, including priceless oral histories.
With Florida’s great “inland sea” at its back door, Clewiston became famous for its largemouth bass trophy fishing. Hikers will want to consider the Big O Hike that circles the 109-mile perimeter of Lake Okeechobee in nine days under the auspices of the Florida Trail Association. The walking on the Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail (LOST) begins at dawn and wraps up by noon to give participants time to explore the unique lakeshore towns.
For those who prefer their recreation on the adventurous side, Skydive Spaceland-Clewiston has been dropping novice skydivers from its facilities at Airglades Airport since the 1980s. Over at the Devils Garden Mud Park, tons of oozing Lake Okeechobee mud are put to use for obstacle courses and truck trails.
The US Sugar Corporation arrived in the 1950s and Clewiston has been a company town ever since. When the sugar cane crop is brought in each spring, the town starts “raising cane” in the Clewiston Sugar Festival that breathes life to a tradition started back in the 1930s. The multi-day festivities include a rodeo, bass tournament and the crowning of Miss Sugar, the sweetest lass in “America’s Sweetest Town.”
