The Cape Coral Rose Gardens: The City’s Lost Attraction

By Brenton Miebach, REALTOR® | Updated October 5, 2026

The Cape Coral Rose Gardens, also called Cape Coral Gardens, was a tourist attraction built by Gulf American. It opened in 1964 with about 40,000 rose bushes, a dancing fountain called the Waltzing Waters and dolphin shows. It closed around 1970. Some pieces survive. A replica of the Iwo Jima memorial that stood there is now in a city preserve. This page is part of our history of Cape Coral.

Photo: Graceful arches marked an entrance to the main rose garden. Restored and colorized from Lies That Came True by Eileen Bernard. Colors are added digitally.

What the Rose Gardens were

Gulf American built the gardens as an attraction. Florida Memory, the state archive, dates the attraction to about 1964. A Cape Coral Breeze story counts more than 40,000 rose bushes. The Florida heritage marker places the gardens at Tarpon Point on the Caloosahatchee River.

The book Lies That Came True calls it the largest rose garden in the world.

The Waltzing Waters and the dolphins

The fountain was the star. Local papers report that Otto Przystawik, a fountain builder, made it for the Rosen brothers. They named it Waltzing Waters after seeing one of his shows at a trade fair in Hanover, Germany. It debuted in 1964. The book compares it to a famous fountain at a world’s fair.

The gardens also had dolphin shows. A database that tracks old marine parks lists at least ten dolphins kept there between 1964 and 1970.

Bob Hope and the big names

Stars came through. The Cape Coral Breeze says Bob Hope appeared at the gardens in February 1966, along with a Miss USA-World winner. The book describes a Bob Hope dedication in November 1966.

The Iwo Jima statue

A replica of the Iwo Jima flag-raising memorial, by the sculptor Felix de Weldon, stood in the gardens. The Florida marker says it was commissioned in 1964 and dedicated in 1965. The Breeze says June 1965.

In 1980 it moved to a bank’s property in Cape Coral. In 1997 it moved again, to what is now the Four Mile Cove Ecological Preserve near the Midpoint Memorial Bridge. It was restored in 2011, and the marker calls it the only de Weldon original in civilian hands.

Why it closed

Sources disagree on the date. A database of old marine parks ends its record in September 1970, which fits the book’s account of a Labor Day 1970 closing. One Breeze article says 1969.

What is left today

Roses were replanted at the Cape Coral Museum of History, where the Lois E. Herbert Rose Garden added raised beds in 2007. The statue stands in the preserve.

To see how the city drew visitors in this era, read how Gulf American sold Cape Coral with free airplane rides, and the city’s first schools, banks and churches.

Cape Coral Rose Gardens FAQ

What were the Cape Coral Rose Gardens?

A tourist attraction built by Gulf American. It opened in 1964 and had about 40,000 rose bushes, a fountain show called Waltzing Waters and dolphin shows.

Where were the Cape Coral Rose Gardens?

The Florida heritage marker places them at Tarpon Point on the Caloosahatchee River.

When did the Rose Gardens close?

Around 1970. Sources differ. One Breeze article says 1969, and a marine park database ends in September 1970.

Where is the Iwo Jima statue now?

It stands in the Four Mile Cove Ecological Preserve near the Midpoint Memorial Bridge. It moved there in 1997 after a stop at a bank property in 1980.

What happened to the Waltzing Waters?

A separate Waltzing Waters show later ran at the Aquarama attraction on Pine Island Road from 1971 to 1982, according to Florida Memory.

Sources

• Florida Memory, Cape Coral Gardens photograph
• Cetabase, dolphin facility database entry
• Cape Coral Breeze, history of the Cape Coral Gardens
• Cape Coral Breeze, early history timeline
• Fort Myers Beach Talk, Waltzing Waters fountain builder
• Fort Myers Beach Talk, Iwo Jima statue anniversary
• Florida Heritage Marker, Iwo Jima replica
• Fort Myers Beach Talk, Cape Coral Museum rose garden
• Eileen Bernard, Lies That Came True (book)

Eileen Bernard worked in Gulf American’s publicity department, so her book is an insider’s account of Cape Coral’s early years. We use it alongside the other sources listed here.