Wish You Were Here: Tourism in the Palm Beaches

This season, the Richard and Pat Johnson Palm Beach County History Museum invites visitors to dive into the evolution of our 150-year-old tourism industry. In 1875, this region was a pristine paradise, and the first visitors ventured south for the thrill of the hunt. Though Palm Beach County still attracts tourists for its natural beauty, its offerings have blossomed and diversified to include nearly every recreational opportunity under the sun.

Wish You Were Here explores this development and how the business of fun and games and R&R still shapes and enriches the lives of tourists and residents today.

Wish You Were Here will transport you with celebrities, artifacts, and stories about experiences that residents enjoy year-round. Every day in paradise is an opportunity to be a tourist at home. Play tennis after work or attend a golf tournament. Feel pampered at a resort spa. Take a weekend cruise. Enjoy cuisine from every corner of the world. Chill on the beach. Take in a museum exhibit! 

Using new technologies, Wish You Were Here will allow visitors to get up close and personal with history. Flip through the pages of a 140-year-old diary on your phone. Listen to the jazz music that emanated from the Sunset Lounge nearly a century ago. View never-before-exhibited paintings by the Highwaymen. Learn the evolution of America’s national pastime, baseball, in Palm Beach County and see memorabilia from the region’s most prominent players of golf, tennis, and polo.