"The Shell Factory is an old-school roadside attraction that has been tucked away on the outskirts of North Fort Myers, Florida, for about 80 years. While it has a lake with bumper boats, a couple of restaurants, a nature park, botanical gardens, and a zipline, its two big claims to fame are being the largest seashell retailer in the world and having the largest taxidermy collection in North America," the Atlas Obscura reports.

"Despite its location away from the beaten path of tourist attractions along the beaches, the Shell Factory has a certain charm and a surprising number of attractions. The Nature Park has hundreds of exotic and domestic animals (many are rescues), restaurants and bars, a dog park, and mini golf, all squeezed together around their massive shell store and year-round Christmas shop.

"What is truly odd is the collection of taxidermy, with examples from all over the world, which got grafted onto a shell retailer."

"Vast seashell and souvenir shop: 5 million shells, and its own post office. Opened in 1938. Claims to have the largest collection of stuffed animals in the world. Live animal park behind the building has a diving cat," the Roadside America reports.

"With three restaurants, live music, a pirates' den, taxidermy museum, Christmas store, fossil museum and you can stand in one spot and get fresh fudge, ice cream (including doggie ice cream in two flavors), mail a letter, play the Lotto and order a sandwich. Don't miss the kite park, putt-putt golf and zip line over the turtle pond.

"Interesting way to blow an hour or two. You can feed a lot of the animals in there, camels, zebra. All of the staff were very nice and helpful offering up info about the animals. Worth the few bucks to get in. Didn't much care for the shop, but lots of tourist gifts galore if that's your thing."

"If you're coming here to shop for souvenirs then you'll probably find a bunch of stuff that you'll like including lots of hard to find items. The store is HUGE. It must be one of the largest tourist attraction gift shops in the country. This place overall resembles an old-time amusement park from decades gone by - the type that existed in the 1950s and 1960s. You can easily spend more than an hour in the gift shop itself - even longer if you take the time for Lunch at the on-site Subway. How about some homemade ice cream ? They've got that too !

The Nature Park (outside) is fun as well. If you're looking for a large zoo with thousands of animals then look elsewhere. Nevertheless there are plenty of photo opportunities all around. The Dinosaur / Prehistoric walk is quite unique. Imagine if you were transported to a zoo of the stone age.

The Shell Factory & Nature Park is located in North Fort Myers in-between U.S. 41 & U.S. 41 Business - almost where they meet up with each other. Enjoy a fun half-day there !"

"The shell factory was fun to look around, with literally every touristy thing you could think of. Ladies serving ice cream were nice, at jewelry counter."

"This place is unique. The giant gift shop is great for anyone looking to buy shells or other Florida memorabilia. The ice cream and fudge stand is fun. The outside restaurant was way better than we expected. And we thoroughly enjoyed the zoo part. It was much bigger than we expected. We’ll definitely be back."

"Inexpensive and quick day trip for families or individuals. Overall, a cute place to visit and interact with animals that is not over crowded."