by | October 15, 2025
The Dark Sky Destiny of Florida’s Kissimmee River Valley
What was once the planned city of Destiny in Kissimmee River Valley is now protected land for one of our last Dark Sky regions.
As you approach Yeehaw Junction—yes, that is a real place in Central Florida where State Road 60 and U.S. 441 meet—you’ll notice a ramp for the Florida Turnpike, a couple of gas stations and the burned-out shell of the historic Desert Inn. Otherwise, this remote crossroad, 25 miles inland from Interstate 95, is surrounded by wide-open space near the Kissimmee River Valley. Take in the breathtaking views of cow pastures and native prairies—but don’t take them for granted: it could have looked a lot different.
For the traveler going from Vero Beach to Tampa, the long stretch of open woods and prairies west of Yeehaw Junction might pass by unnoticed during the time of one song playing on your car stereo. However, the 27,000-acre tract at the southwest corner of the junction was once the future site of a new city called Destiny. Developers envisioned this unrealized town about the size of Orlando. But in 2020, thanks to the generosity of the most recent owner, Elisabeth DeLuca, the entire property was gifted to the University of Florida, which worked with Ducks Unlimited to save it with a conservation easement.
I had flown over the property in a small plane back in 2008 to show the scale of the native land that was slated for development, and I was thankful to return in 2021 to celebrate the beauty and size of what was being protected.
The Kissimmee River Valley is one of the last official Dark Sky regions in Florida—where the land is far enough from city lights to clearly see stars at night. My purpose in this composition was to show the unique view that had been preserved by framing mature longleaf pines against the night sky. The faint lights on the horizon from the Florida Turnpike are amplified by a long exposure, hinting of the different future that could have been.
Creating the city of Destiny would have been like a can opener prying open the heart of the Everglades Headwaters, which is a western scale conservation landscape surrounding the Kissimmee River between Lake Kissimmee and Lake Okeechobee. Places like Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park, Lake Kissimmee State Park, Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area, Avon Park Air Force Range and tens of thousands of acres of cattle ranches are already protected by conservation easements. The combined landscape forms a vast, untamed place that is central to the Florida Wildlife Corridor and critical to the survival of species like the Florida grasshopper sparrow and the eventual return of the Florida panther.
