Developed by Tampa attorney J. Wm. Dupree, Dupree Gardens opened to the public on December 1, 1940, as a 900-acre attraction of flowering trees and plants that included a lodge, a tearoom with gift shop, and electric powered glass-bottomed boats on Dupree Lake. Although gasoline rationing caused it to be closed for the duration in 1943, a New York City auction of its camellia blooms raised $250,000.00 for the War Bond effort in 1944. The gardens briefly reopened in 1946 for some civic events, and the site remained a beautiful garden spot. The tearoom burned in 1995, and the lodge, converted to a home by the Hendrix family, the gatehouse, now in ruins, and some scattered plantings are all that remain of this early Florida theme park. Beginning in 2003, Beazer Homes developed 468 acres as Dupree Lakes.