Pasco County (p0p. 464,697) is on the Gulf of Mexico, south of Hernando County. It’s the only Pasco County in the U.S.
The county was named for Samuel Pasco (1834-1917), U.S. senator from Florida.
Pasco, Washington, was not named for him.
Pasco County has been known since the 1940s for its nudist and clothing-optional resorts.
The county seat of Pasco County is Dade City (pop. 6,437).
Pasco County Courthouse (1909)
Dade City has an annual Kumquat Festival, celebrating the fruit – which looks like a very small orange – that is grown in the area.
Dade City has a statue of a Paul Bunyan-style Muffler Man.
Just outside Dade City, the town of Saint Leo (pop. 1,340) is the home of St. Leo University, a small, Roman Catholic, liberal arts school.
Racially integrated since 1889
The largest city in Pasco County is New Port Richey (pop. 14,907).
On the Pithlachascotee River
The actress Gloria Swanson (1899-1983) lived in New Port Richey in the 1920s.
The unincorporated community of Hudson has an ice-cream stand shaped like an ice-cream cone.
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