Marineland of Florida opened on June 23, 1938, south of St. Augustine as “Marine Studios,” a seaside complex built by Douglas Burden, Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, and Ilya Tolstoy. The founders designed its tanks with glass portholes so Hollywood film crews could shoot underwater footage, and the bottlenose dolphins that swam inside them made Marineland the world’s first oceanarium, a facility built specifically to exhibit and study marine life in captivity.
The park drew more than 900,000 visitors a year at its peak in the mid-1970s before competition from SeaWorld and a string of hurricanes forced major rebuilding, including a modern dolphin habitat that reopened in 2006 holding about 1.3 million gallons of seawater. Georgia Aquarium acquired the property in 2011 and renamed it Marineland Dolphin Adventure, and after its most recent owner, The Dolphin Company, filed for bankruptcy in 2025, a local couple backed a last-minute nonprofit bid that kept the park from being sold off for development. It now operates as a nonprofit, continuing to showcase dolphins just steps from the Atlantic.
Stats at a Glance
- Location: Marineland, Florida, about 20 miles south of St. Augustine
- Opened: June 23, 1938 (as Marine Studios)
- Size: About 1.3 million gallons of seawater across its current dolphin habitats
- Species: Bottlenose dolphins, sea turtles, sharks, and rays
- Annual Visitors: Over 900,000 at its 1970s peak
- Famous For: World’s first oceanarium; longtime home of Nellie the dolphin, who lived there 61 years
Built for the Movies, Not Just the Public
Marineland’s original circular and rectangular tanks weren’t designed with everyday visitors in mind first, they were built for filmmakers. The portholes that let cameras capture underwater footage also gave paying guests a rare, eye-level view of dolphins and sharks, a novelty in 1938 that helped the park become a must-see Florida attraction for decades.
Surviving Storms, Bankruptcy, and a Changing Industry
Hurricanes battering Florida’s coast forced Marineland to close for extensive renovations in the early 2000s, reopening in 2006 with a new 1.3-million-gallon dolphin facility, and ownership changed hands several times afterward, from Georgia Aquarium to The Dolphin Company. When that company’s bankruptcy put the park up for sale in 2025, a nonprofit buyout backed by a local couple preserved it as a marine education facility rather than letting it become waterfront development.
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Marineland of Florida FAQs
Is Marineland of Florida still open?
Yes. After a 2025 bankruptcy and ownership sale, the park transitioned to new nonprofit ownership in 2026 and continues operating as Marineland Dolphin Adventure.
Why is Marineland considered the first oceanarium?
When it opened in 1938 as Marine Studios, it was the first facility in the world built to exhibit dolphins and other marine life in large viewing tanks, a format later copied by parks like SeaWorld.
Who was Nellie the dolphin?
Nellie was a bottlenose dolphin born at Marineland in 1953 who lived there for 61 years until her death in 2014, making her one of the longest-lived dolphins in human care and a symbol of the park’s history.
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Photo: Ebyabe / CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons.