The New England of the South
About 40 minutes northwest of Orlando, Mount Dora is a mid-1800s citrus town that somehow kept its brick-paved streets, Victorian buildings, and rolling hills — actual hills, among the highest ground in peninsular Florida, sloping down to Lake Dora. The ten-best list on this page calls it the 'New England of the South,' and the lifelong resident's case here calls it simply 'someplace special.'
The stops that make the day
- The Grantham Point lighthouse — 35 feet tall, opened 1988, and the only inland freshwater lighthouse in Florida still used to aid navigation
- The Museum of Modernism — a space-age design trove where the star-marked pieces were actually owned by David Bowie
- Downtown itself — quirky art galleries, antique shops, and boutiques on brick streets
- The lake — cruises on Lake Dora and a sunset over the water to close the day
How the guides build it
Chrissa's day on this page strings her favorite stops into one unhurried loop — hidden boardwalks, local eats, the lighthouse at golden hour. The full-day visit from the Persistent Travellers starts with the name joke (the 'Mount' is Florida-relative) and walks the historic town end to end as a model itinerary.
Worth knowing
A July 2026 visit on this page documents the town through an accessibility lens — useful if your party includes a wheelchair user, in a town whose brick streets deserve a heads-up either way.
Sources: the eight videos on this page — two full day-trip builds, a ten-best list, a resident's case, a first-timers' wander, and an accessibility visit — summarized from their entries in our catalog.