Desert Inn and Restaurant, historic site in Yeehaw Junction, Florida, US
Desert Inn and Restaurant is a historic hotel and dining establishment in Yeehaw Junction, central Florida, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The building dates to the early 20th century and stands as one of the few surviving rural roadside lodging stops from that era in the state.
The Desert Inn was built in the early 1900s, when Yeehaw Junction served as a stopping point for cattle traders and early car travelers crossing central Florida. Its addition to the National Register of Historic Places helped protect the building from the fate of many similar roadside stops that disappeared over the decades.
The Desert Inn sits in Yeehaw Junction, a small crossroads once used by cattle drivers and travelers crossing central Florida. The building still gives a sense of what a rural roadside stop looked like long before the state became a major travel destination.
The Desert Inn is located along US-17 in Yeehaw Junction and is easiest to reach by car, sitting at a rural crossroads in central Florida. It is worth checking ahead to confirm whether the restaurant and lodging are operating before making the trip out.
Despite its name, the Desert Inn sits in the middle of the wetlands and open prairies of central Florida, far from any desert landscape. The name was likely a marketing choice meant to catch the eye of travelers driving through the long, flat interior of the state.
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