If you’re looking for a fun road trip, consider adding Crescent City in Putnam County Florida to your list.
It’s nestled in the rural area between Jacksonville and Orlando, east of Gainesville.
It’s just two-square-miles but has plenty to recommend it for an outing, including an electric semi-submarine glass-bottom boat that tours Lake Stella.
The sub is at Hallie’s Landing, which is a delightful open air burger shack along Lake Stella that also rents pedal-boats and stand-up paddleboards.
The semi-sub is a smaller replica of the S-44, which was a class of subs commissioned by the Navy in the 1920s and we’re commonly referred to as S-boats.
The replica at Hallie’s Landing was built by owner Lloyd Reeves. Because it’s a semi-sub it doesn’t fully submerge but it does have view ports down below.
“I got the actual building plans. We scaled it down. I had the frame spacing every two feet and then every other frame was removed. Once I got the halt built. So it was and I had a naval architect actually do the bottom part of the hull for me as far as the drawings,” said Reeves, adding, “This initially was built as a 1928 S class submarine replica, third scale and beam quarter scale length. I got the actual plans from the National Archives. And from the water line up, we made it accurate to the water line down. We actually did a glass bottom boat style with portals.”
The real S-44s were used during World War II and Lloyd says it was the first U.S. sub to sink a Japanese heavy cruiser. His replica includes photos of the original S-44 and some crew members. After years of research and building, he finally completed his electric-powered scale replica in 2003.
“It’s a Torqeedo electric outboard, it’s 48 volts. It’s got 5 kWs worth of batteries in it. It’ll run at full speed. It’s burning 4000 watts so it can run almost an hour and something at full speed. But at the speed we cruise at, which is about two to three miles an hour, it only burns 400 to 500 watts, which translates to almost 10 hours of operating range for a Taurus, which works great. Then I just plug it into 110 [regular household power outlet] when I get here at the dock and I don’t have to go fuel up,” he said.
Lloyd built his semi-sub from the waterline up with history in mind, and from the waterline down, with underwater viewing in mind.
Lloyd serves as the sub’s captain and provides daily tours, which a young fan named Kade and his family clearly enjoyed on the day I visited Hallie’s Landing.
“They’re coming. Wow. Yea, they’re coming around in circles,” said the youngster.
Lloyd also owns a Zero SR motorcycle. When he moved into town after relocating from California he was surprised to find there weren’t any charging stations in the area.
“I was looking on Plugshare on where I could plug in on the way home from some place. There was nothing within 20 miles so when we opened the shop I thought let’s have the only charging station in town and we get a lot of business that way. I’m really surprised none of the other businesses have picked up on that,” Lloyd said.
He’s right. That’s how I first became aware of Hallie’s Landing and why Crescent City is making my list of Florida road trips. Thanks to Lloyd, the lakefront town is no longer a charging desert.
While Hallie’s Landing is certainly worth a visit, the largest attraction in Crescent City is Crescent Lake, which spans almost 16-thousand acres and is known for its bluegill, shellcracker and largemouth bass fishing.
Three Bananas is Crescent City’s go-to lakefront restaurant, while just up the street in the center of town is the historic Sprague House, which was built in 1892. Up until recently is served as a bed and breakfast, although it was closed at the time of this video’s posting.
Crescent City was settled in 1852 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.
If you do treat yourself to a ride out to Crescent City you’ll definitely want to stop at Fletcher Park. It’s right on the way into town, assuming you’re coming from Jacksonville and it has got a wonderful pier.
Crescent City’s lakes – and people like Lloyd – make it a fun destination for anyone interested in meandering through Florida’s less traveled areas. There’s a Crescent Lake boat launch right on Central Avenue across from 3 Bananas and a public beach on Lake Stella.
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