Carillon concerts
Live carillon recitals are played daily in the early afternoon, with shorter clock selections on the half hour. Sit on the north lawn across the reflection pool — the bells carry best over water.
§ Polk County landmark
Bok Tower Gardens.
Sixty bells on top of the highest sand ridge in peninsular Florida, wrapped in an Olmsted garden. Lake Wales' defining landmark — and the reason most first-time visitors turn off US 27.
The short version
A magazine editor's thank-you note to America.
Edward Bok wintered on the Lake Wales Ridge and decided the sand hill behind his house should be given away. He hired Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. to turn scrub and citrus into a shaded garden, Milton Medary to build a bell tower at the top of it, and then handed the whole thing to the public in 1929.
What you get today is unusually intact: the same reflection pool, the same pink-marble-and-coquina tower with its brass door and tile herons, the same live-oak paths built to funnel breeze uphill. The carillon is one of the finest in the world, and it is played every day.
- Address
- 1151 Tower Blvd, Lake Wales, FL 33853
- Opened
- February 1, 1929 — dedicated by President Calvin Coolidge
- Founder
- Edward W. Bok, Dutch-born editor of the Ladies' Home Journal
- Architect
- Milton B. Medary; gardens by Frederick Law Olmsted Jr.
- Tower
- 205 ft of pink Etowah marble and coquina; 60-bell carillon
- Elevation
- Iron Mountain, ~295 ft — among the highest points in peninsular Florida
- Status
- National Historic Landmark (1993)
Visiting
How locals do it.
Best light
Come in the first hour after opening. The east face of the tower catches full sun, the crowds are thin, and the marsh boardwalk is loud with birds.
Pinewood Estate
The 1930s Mediterranean-Revival winter home of Charles Austin Buck sits inside the property. Interior tours are seasonal, and the Christmas dressing in December is the single most popular week of the year.
Window by the Pond
A small blind at the end of a shaded path that looks over a wildlife pond. It's the quietest ten minutes on the property.
Tickets
Paid daily admission with member and Polk County resident options; Pinewood tours and the Hammock Hollow children's garden are ticketed separately in some seasons. Check the official site before driving out.
Pair it with
Spook Hill is six minutes away, and downtown Park Avenue lunch is ten. A morning at the tower plus an afternoon downtown is the classic Lake Wales day.
1151 Tower Blvd, Lake Wales, FL 33853 — 8 minutes from downtown Park Avenue.
Open daily, year-round. Gates close mid-afternoon for last entry — verify current hours before a long drive.
Hours & tickets at boktowergardens.org →