U.S. Sugar Corp.

Instead of Gulf sands and coconuts, vast farm fields surround this Hendry County town. And while there's plenty of waterfront, it's neither sand-fringed nor salty; it's tucked away behind the high walls of the Herbert Hoover Dike.

You can even see snow (of a sort) here, although it drifts down in wispy black flakes.

Lots of surprises are in store for a visitor to Clewiston (population 6,500 or so), chief among them just how much land and infrastructure are required to produce sugar, the town's agricultural mainstay, though citrus is a vigorous second.

"A trip out here is a real eye-opener for most folks," says Hunter Latham, who leads Sugarland Tours' half-day treks through America's Sweetest Town.

A close-up look at Lake Okeechobee, another major drawing card in a town with more than 60 licensed fishing guides. There's always something biting, says Mary Ann Martin, owner of Roland & Mary Ann Martin's Marina & Resort, which bills itself the No. 1 bass fishing destination in the world.
A close-up look at Clewiston's agricultural heart, including a tour of a citrus processing plant (and a taste of the orange juice produced there) and a drive through cane fields, followed by a taste of fresh-cut cane. Florida is the No. 1 cane sugar-producing state in the nation, supplying about half of the nation's annual demand, says Judy Sanchez, a U.S. Sugar spokeswoman. (Louisiana and Hawaii are numbers 2 and 3.) Almost all of Florida's sugar is grown in the fertile black soil around Lake Okeechobee, in fields that stretch from horizon to horizon in some places. Harvest time runs from fall to spring. Once cut, stalks are crushed to extract the juice, which is boiled into raw sugar crystals. The light brown raw sugar crystals (sometimes called turbinado sugar) are then washed, melted, recrystallized, dried and packed. The trip also includes a look around a U.S. Sugar processing plant and it's on this portion of the tour that visitors learn that what the locals call "black snow" really is the drifting ash of recently burned cane fields and that "bagasse" is the fibrous residue left after the cane is processed. It's burned to power the plants, and any leftover electricity is sold to Florida Power and Light.
Lunch at the historic Clewiston Inn, an old Florida-style classic, built in 1938, with a spacious dining room featuring Southern and Continental food and, most famously, the Everglades Lounge, which boasts a vintage wrap-around mural, featuring local flora and fauna.
The Clewiston Museum, with a collection of Hendry County artifacts — cowboy whips, fishing tackle, settlers' clothes and more. There's an exhibit about Clewiston's role in the World War II effort, when the town had a training field for British and American Air Force Cadets. Less well-known is that Clewiston also housed German POWs at a detention camp outside of town. The prisoners worked hard at — what else? — cutting cane.