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''' I "'HE climate of the East Coast of Florida 
is nearer perfection than that of any 
other place on earth." 




SCENE IN Hotel grounds, Lake Worth. 

Showing Royal Poinciana Tree in Bloom. 



V 



FLORIDA: 

BEAUTIES OF THE EAST COAST 



A Collection of Photographs, 
With Text by Mrs. H. K. INGRAM. 



St. Augustine, 
1893. 



^1^ 



Copyright, 18113, by Juseph Richardson, General Passenger Agent, for the 
Jacksonville, St. Augustine & Indian River Railway. 







THE COMPLETE ART-PRINTING WORKS 

OF THE 

MATTHEWS-NORTHRUP CO., 

BUFFALO, N. V. 

149S0 i8q3. 



FLORIDA: 

BEAUTIES OF THE EAST COAST. 




Text by Mrs. H. K. Ingram. 



E who arrives for the first time in Florida has 
reason to be delighted with the fine portal through 
which he makes his entrance into the" land of sud- 
den revelations and rapturous surprises. The city 
which meets him at the threshold of the State 
gives cheering prophecy of the beauties that lie 
within. 

JACKSONVILLE, 

sitting like a queen on a graceful bend of the St. Johns, receives 
tribute from both river and ocean, as their waters contend before her 
for prominence in daily tides. As once to Rome, all roads lead to 
Jacksonville, and, with her 30,000 inhabitants, she welcomes all who 
enter her gates from any road. She is the metropolis of the State 
— a live, progressive business center, with an ideal social life that 
reaches the height of gayety when her winter visitors throng her 
gates. She is fair to look upon with her oak-shaded streets, where 
the mammoth boughs meet over-head, making long perspectives of 
evergreen arches. From their branches hang festoons of gray 
moss that wave in every breeze like banners draped from the ceil- 



ings of a lofty hall. Her private homes are most attractive, but 
her most conspicuous feature is the great number and high rank 
of her winter hotels. They are substantial, comfortable structures 
of the old regime, home-like and quiet, yet sociable and pro- 
gressive. The fame of their management is well known over both 
continents; for their guests come from all countries, and their 
registers, winter after winter, bear the most distinguished of living 
names. 

The years are not many since this tair city was the ultima Ihule 
of the tourist. He enjoyed her fine shell drives, the entrancing 
sails or rows on the peerless St. Johns, and the ideal social life of 
his hotel, without wish to explore Florida farther. If to these the 
old trip up the Ocklawaha to Silver Springs were added, he became 
forthwith a veteran traveler and an authority on Florida. But 
these days are past. The almost magical development of the 
State has converted Jacksonville into a gate-way through which 
one enters the real Florida. 

To-day the traveler pauses in Jacksonville, if he be leisurely 
and conservative, — but he only pauses. The magic of the modern 
Aladdin's lamp has dotted this summer land with palaces sur- 



passing the most marvelous of Scharazade's dreams. The same 
magical influence has spanned the country with parallel bars, by 
which the traveler glides from point to point with all the celer- 
ity, and without the awkwardness, of seven-league boots. In 
this new era 

ST. AUGUSTINE 

has become the tourists' Mecca. A line of rolling parlors, en 
suite, awaits his transportation, and he never learns a pilgrim's 
weariness. The train makes its exit from Jacksonville through 
the Riverside suburb, and crosses the magnificent St. Johns on the 
draw-bridge of the Jacksonville, St. Augustine & Indian River 
Railway. This is a splendid triumph of modern engineering and a 
costly piece of work. From it is afforded a fine view up and down 
the river, and midway is presented, on looking back, the city 
stretching along its banks, and the fine harbor, upon the improve- 
ment of which the National Government and the local authorities 
of Duval County are spending large sums of money. The train 
glides at last out on solid land on the east shore of the river, and 
rushes on between hedges of Cherokee roses, orange groves, bits 
of hammock stretches and pine forests, and in the short space of 
one hour the quaint old Spanish city is in sight. To him who is 
looking for a venerable, well-preserved ruin, the first glimpse of 
the town is disappointing. He is borne for some distance on the 
outskirts of the city and sees nothing but the new, fresh look of 
a rapidly growing American town. On all sides are the signs not 
only of progress and the crude beginning of things, but of wealth 
— wealth that finishes and perfects as it goes, and relieves the air 
of newness by giving it the settled look of permanency. As the 
train approaches the station there rises in the mid-ground a per- 
fectly proportioned but massive looking dome. It marks the site 



of the Memorial Church. Beyond it, through lofty trees and 
verdant openings, appear turrets and towers of various shapes and 
sizes. They whet the appetite of the sight-seer, for, whether 
ancient or modern, this little city in its glimpses promises some- 
thing unique. The traveler finds lu.xurious carriages, stylish 
Jehus and concrete pavement, smooth and clean. As he rolls 
along a street lined with oleanders twenty to thirty feet high, 
arbor vitae, hoary larches and cedars mingled with hedges of roses, 
he comes suddenly to the beautiful church he has half seen before. 
It is built of coquina, a material found on the shore and low-lying 
islands of Florida's eastern coast. It is light gray in color, and 
has a venerable look, even when first e.xcavated. The impulse is 
to call anything built of it an "old stone building." Here, again, 
is the suggestion of the ancient and modern — newness without 
crudity, age without decay. The design of the church is a Greek 
cross, and its fine dome, encircled by slender turrets, throws the 
spell of the East over the beholder. A distant view of this build- 
ing is seen in the background of " a view from the Loggia" on 
another page. Farther up the street — still over the floor-like 
pavement — as he turns a corner, the traveler easily perceives 
that he is approaching the far-famed 

HOTEL PONCE DE LEON. 

The oleander trees have given place to massive stone pillars, 
rising from a substantial stone base and connected by long loops 
of heavy iron chains of unique patterns. At short intervals, by 
graceful sweeps, concave niches are formed that furnish places for 
growing palmettos, or other and rarer tropical growth. Just as 
this begins to grow monotonous, and he wonders at the extent of 
grounds thus lavishly carved from the very heart of a populous 



city, the turning of anotlier corner brings him upon a scene 
unparalleled in all his former travels at home or abroad. On one 
side the park-like grounds, sparkling fountains, tropical verdure 
and blooming plants mark the entrance grounds of one hotel. 
Before him the round tower, the kneeling balconies, the wide para- 
pets of a mediaeval castle, give a mere intimation of the dimensions 
of another. At his left a gate-way, lofty, arched and grand in pro- 
portions, as rich in its finishing and as iinposing in its entirety as 
any of the triumphal arches of foreign cities. With delighted 
bewilderment he recognizes that he is in the midst of that won- 
drous architectural group, the St. Augustine hotels. 

Through the arched gate-way he enters an enclosed court, 
blooming at all times of the year with fragrance and beauty. On 
stone walks he winds his way around a central fountain and basin. 
Ascending successive terraces of broad stone steps, he stands 
before the elegant front of the Ponce de Leon. As he gazes 
upward, before him is the grand doorway, surmounted by a far- 
reaching arch — an arch composed of Spanish shields in terra 
cotta. Each shield bears Spanish devices and one large letter; 
the letters, combined, spell the name of the hotel and of the old 
Spanish cavalier for whom it is christened — Ponce de Leon. On 
either side of the new arrival, stretching into far distances, rise 
the walls of the hotel. He is surrounded, shut into a small earthly 
paradise, by them. All around his horizon are broad galleries and 
wide windows with terra cotta cappings of beautiful designs. 
Massive pillars support the galleries and make shaded nooks 
and quiet corners that suggest the deep recesses of old castle 
towers. On every side are mediaeval emblems and suggestions of 
sunny Spain. It takes but little imagination to people the 
balconies above with dark-eyed senoritas, and the verandas bel<jw 
with spurred and booted cavaliers, fiery of eye and haughty of mien. 



But our traveler crosses the marble threshold and steps ever a 
tesselated floor, inlaid with rare mosaic patterns done by skilled 
Italian artisans. He finds himself in a lofty room whose ceilings are 
supported bygroupsof caryatides of classic design, and life size. He 
finds all the latest and most magical accessories of modern times 
up to the present hour, and everything so perfectly adjusted that he 
is almost saved the trouble of wishing ere his wishes are realized. 

He wanders about in a daze of Oriental magnificence, but always 
medieval in suggestion. He gazes through a vista of no less than 
five salons. He sits on luxurious divans, leans his elbow on tables 
of onyx, gazes on paintings which are themselves whole stories of 
luxury and Eastern magnificence. He stands before a mantel 
made of large slabs of onyx. He catches the perfume of fresh 
roses that nod to him from porphyry vases and majolica bowls, fit 
for a princess' boudoir. He looks at the ceiling over his head to 
see the story of the old cavalier, the fabled fountain of youth, the 
caravels that boldly crossed the seas, all wrought in fresco and 
painting, till the very air about him breathes of vine-clad Castile 
and royal Arragon. 

He ascends an inner terrace, and at his feet, in letters of cunning 
mosaic, he reads in quaint rhyming couplets his " welcome to an 
inn." He dines ofl silver and porcelain of antique and costly pat- 
terns. Over his head, on painted ceilings, he reads the same story of 
knight and cavalier in detail, done by artists whose renown is world- 
wide. He may have 700, or if need be. nearly 1,000 fellow-guests 
to dine with him in the same room, for it is amply spacious for all. 

He reclines on an ivory bedstead, or a brass one, or one of satin 
wood, upholstered in silk brocade with a fringe of heavy silken 
tassels. His warm bath comes from an artesian well, bored to 
such a depth that its waters issue forth at a high temperature, 
heated by the internal fires of the earth. 



He examines this building, asks questions of the informed and 
finds that lie is abiding in a monolith — that this palace is one 
single stone. It has been erected, like Solomon's temple, without 
hammer or saw. It has been molded from the concrete of which 
it is built. It is almost time-proof, entirely fire-proof, and so firm 
and solid that it would nonplus an earthquake. From turret to 
foundation stone there is no sham, no imitation. All is solid mas- 
sive stone, genuine terra cotta, real Italian marble, and the finest 
selections of Mexican onyx, and but little of other materials is 
employed in its structure. This is equally true of the other two 
hotels which had surprised our traveler on his arriv'al. 

In one, "The Cordova," is the famous sun-parlor, a room made 
entirely of glass and luxuriously furnished, where invalids may 
enjoy all the vivifying effects of sunlight, without being exposed 
to the lightest touch of outside air. In the other, " The Alcazar." 
are the same Moorish designs and furnishings, but he finds here 
an in-door swimming pool. It is deep and wide, and through it 
runs a large stream of pure warm water. It is warm enough for 
the most delicate invalid in the coldest |anuary day. It is all 
under roof, and all most systematically and conveniently arranged 
for both sexes and all ages. 

But the acme is reached when all three of this unequaled group 
is seen at night, ablaze from roof to base with thousands of elec- 
tric lights. It is worth coming far to see. 

Having duly inspected the modern wonders in ancient settings, 
our traveler may extend his strolls and will soon find himself in 
the narrow streets and peculiar structures of a foreign sea-port 
town. He has scarcely ceased to wonder at the queer jostling of 
the centuries, when he comes suddenly to the old city gates and 
the remains of the wall which once encompassed the original city. 
Sharply outlined against the sky, on the east, rises Fort Marion, 



the oldest fortification in the United States, built at an enormous 
expense by the King of Spain for the protection of his young 
colony. It IS the Mecca to which all tourists make an early p:".- 
grimage. It is a massive structure, unscathed by time, and even 
now is seemingly impregnable. It is built of coquina. that peculiar 
cement found exclusively in Florida, and overlooks the bay. It 
bears over the entrance the Spanish coat-of-arms and a Spanish 
legend. It has commanding watch-towers, from whose dizzy 
heights may be seen vessels far out on the Atlantic. Nor is it 
lacking in gloomy, sunless dungeons, with their traditions of skele- 
ton remains and other debris of blood-curdling suggestiveness. 

" In its decay 
It hath a beauty to live away." 

From the Fort runs the Sea Wall, passing the Old Slave Mar- 
ket and the cool, delightful Plaza. Here one may find rest be- 
neath the shade of orange and oak, in the center of an old, me- 
di<eval town. He has been transported, in the short space of an 
hour, from the busy wharves of a growing American city to a 
walled town typical of continental Europe in the Middle Ages. 
Before him, as he sits beside the gushing waters of the artesian 
wells, are the hoary walls of the old cathedral — the oldest place 
of worship in the United States — crowned with its ancient belfry 
and chime of bells over two hundred years old. Within is the 
heavy silver lamp, containing the never-dying fire, which was 
brought from Spain by early worshippers, when Menendez and 
De Gourges vied in the cruelty of their revenges. 

Radiating westward are the narrow streets, lined with over- 
hanging balconies ; and on the east the smooth waters of Matan- 
zas Bay dance in the sunlight. Across its glancing wavelets lies 
Anastasia Island, and on its northern point, near the spot where 



Sir Francis Dralce once landed, stands the light-house. A short 
distance north of it are to be seen the ruins of the old Spanish 
light-house. A pleasant sail or an invigorating row lands the 
tourist on the island beach, on which beats a surf unsurpassed 
for bathing and beauty on the entire length of the Atlantic coast. 
On the North Beach every retiring tide leaves a fine deposit of 
ocean treasures — shells of rare loveliness and memorials from the 
Gulf Stream and the tropics, and the refreshing ocean breeze car- 
ries strength and healing on its wings, while an atmosphere 
charged with legend and story broods suggestively over all. 

An occasional black-robed nun from the convent, or the pass- 
ing by of a dark-eyed descendent of some Spanish cavalier, with 
an unmistakably marked nationality in face and form, helps the 
delusion. 

While weeks might be spent in the quaint old city, with each 
day a new interest, a day's drive or walk to its chief attractions, 
will give one at least an idea of its historical interest. 

Nor is there less of interest to be found in the surrounding 
country. A short distance out from St. Augustine at the little 
place, Moultrie, is the Carmona Vineyard — seventy-five acres of 
grapes! This vineyard was set with White Niagaras in March, 
and shipments of grapes were made \n June of the following year. 
The second year the yield was two and a half tons per acre. The 
profusion of leaves peculiar to this variety gives to the broad 
acres the look of a billowy sea of green. There are now 175 acres 
of White Niagara grapes in the vicinity of Moultrie, which bid fair 
to become one of the most profitable investments in the State- 
The industry has passed the experimental stage, and with the 
present facilities for reaching New York and Eastern markets, 
grape culture in Florida will in a few years lead the world. The 
land lying between Jacksonville and St. Augustine is peculiarly 



adapted for grape culture, and in a few years will probably be con- 
verted into vineyards. 

Unwearied with St. Augustine and its surroundings, but feeling 
an added desire to explore farther, the delighted and wondering 
tourist resumes the journey, and a few miles south of the old city 
he finds the little town of Hastings, by no means the least of his 
surprises. Here he comes upon cucumbers in December, tomatoes 
in January, strawberries in February and other luxuries at equally 
unaccustomed seasons. If he should come in summer he would find 
waving fields of green stretching seemingly for miles in the greatest 
luxuriance, and a McCormick reaper and binder in full motion, 
cutting the heavy rice that yields from 75 to 100 bushels per acre. 
All this on low pine-woods land that a few vears ago was covered 
with native growth. This is the result of intelligent agriculture and 
artesian irrigation. The farm plant is 20,000 acres, and every acre 
under this treatment has become available and valuable. An 
avenue six miles long at once divides and displays this model farm. 
Three artesian wells supply it with moisture. The preeminent suc- 
cess of the owner has proved him a wise man in his generation. 

A little farther on the railroad leaves the ocean and curving in- 
ward sweeps again toward the broad St. Johns, on whose banks is 
situated the city of Palatka. " The Gem City," as its inhabitants 
delight to have it called. It stands on the western bank, and is a 
tidy city with a population of 5,000, and of considerable impor- 
tance as a railroad center. If our traveler desires to tarry here, he 
will easily find pleasant hotels, well managed and comfortable. If 
he be wise, he will not diverge from his course here, but will con- 
tinue to inspect the East Coast Line. This will bring him in a few 
miles to a charming little town, fairly nestling in orange groves, 
a most romantic and poetic spot — San Mateo. It looks out cheer- 
ily upon the river, and is all alive with beauty and bloom. 



Farther on the journey reveals to our traveler the process by 
which the eastern portion of the peninsula has been built up by 
successive ranges of sand dunes, behind which are caught, or shut 
in, bodies of salt water — misnamed rivers — connected by inlets 
with the ocean, of which they are really arms. The strips of land 
between them are sometimes narrow, sometimes several miles 
wide. They are delightfully situated for winter or summer habita- 
tions, offering by their peculiar positions the very perfection of 
climate, without isolation or inaccessibility. 

Fifty miles south of St. Augustine is such a peninsula, bounded 
on one side by the so-called river Halifax — a body of water broad, 
shallow and salt — and on the other by the ocean. On the penin- 
sula stands 

ORMOND-BY=THE=SEA. 

The peninsula is here quite wide. Along its eastern shore are 
orange groves whose fruit is famous ; dense forests of pine and 
stretches of rich hammock. Here, most picturesquely situated. 
is the Hotel Ormond. As a hotel, it is sufficient to say that to 
this neck of land civilization has pushed her latest and fullest 
improvements ; and here is a perfectly appointed hotel with all 
the usual accessories and under the best of management. No 
other place combines in a higher degree all the distinctive 
Florida attractions, fine fruit, good fishing, safe boating, pleasant 
walks, the curious treasures of the beach, sea-bathing and driving; 
the latter, Ormond's great specialty. The roads are smooth and 
hard, and the drives full of interest. There are long drives and 
short drives ; drives of from two to twenty miles on the smooth, 
hard sea beach ; drives through groves of the golden orange ; 
drives through dense tropical forests to Spanish ruins ; drives to 
ancient causeways built by the slaves of planters long ago, and 



drives to the plantations of hospitable settlers, whose places are 
replete with the beauty and interest of Southern fruits and flowers. 
The hotels at Ormond open early for the accommodation of those 
who wish to enjoy the fruits before the shipping season has carried 
away the choice?! selections. They remain open until spring is 
well advanced lor those to whom the more northern portions of 
the country are still too chilly. A newspaper correspondent for a 
Boston paper, who has been making special inquiry into the health 
of travelers in all parts of the country during the past season, 
says of the Hotel Ormond : '• It is exceptionally favored as to 
health and comfort, as it certainly is in patronage ; for it stands 
well up on a ridge, is light, airy and sunny, and being between the 
Halifax and the ocean, gets the breeze from every quarter, as it 
also gets the sun first on one side and then on the other ; and all 
the guests are loud in their praises of it as a resort." 

Farther south, on the opposite side of the river, is Daytona, 
standing on a high hammock. It. of course, has a river front. Its 
clean shore, hard river bottom, free from sand and grass, and with 
ample depth of water; its beautiful shady driveway, extending under 
oaks and other forest trees for nine miles, with Holly Hill and 
Ormond for termini, are among the attractions of Daytona proper. 
On the ocean shore of the peninsula across the river, which is here 
spanned by two graceful bridges, is Silver Beach. Here 

" The bridegroom, Sea, 

Is toying with his wedded bride, — the shore. 
He decorates her shining brow with shells, 
And then retires to see how tine she looks. 
Then, proud, runs up to kiss her." 

Here are the sea-side cottages of several wealthy families, whose 
homes would do credit to Cape May or Newport. They are sur- 
rounded by massive oaks, graceful palmettos, orange groves and 



rose gardens, and protected from the rougher Atlantic winds by 
. — think of it, ye Northern fiower lovers — a wind-break of 
oleanders I 

The next point of interest is New Smyrna, three miles farther 
south, on another lagoon, known as the Hillsborough River. It is 
an old historical settlement, ranking next in age to St. Augustine. 
It was here that Turnbull's celebrated Minorcan settlement was 
located. Most interesting remains of their old indigo and sugar 
plantations are still to be seen. 

At this point another diversion may for a moment tempt the 
traveler to leave the main track for a short detour. It is a short 
road that at this point connects the coast with the St. Johns 
River. The river has been left thirty miles to the west and 
this road connects the two high-ways. It is part of the Jack- 
sonville, St. Augustine & Indian River Railway System, and leaves 
the main line at New Smyrna, penetrating a thriving country of 
orange groves and general products. The ride is diversified by 
glimpses of pretty little towns as Glencoe, Orange City — a real 
New England town, settled principally by Eastern Presbyterians — 
Indian Springs, Lake Helen and others, and terminating at Blue 
Springs on the St. Johns. 

This road was built some years ago, as a sort of local necessity, 
because Ormond, Daytona and New Smyrna have been for many 
years the favorite summer resorts of South Florida residents and 
orange growers from the interior. Many prefer during the heated 
term these fine beaches and the cool sea-breezes of this coast to 
Northern resorts. 

Indian River. — The largest and fairest of these enclosed bodies 
of water is the far-famed Indian River. It bursts upon the view 
fourteen miles south of New Smyrna. What is true of the other 
rivers is preeminently true of this. Here the yachtsman, angler 



and hunter find glorious sport. From the first fall frosts of 
Northern winter, this river is the retreat of clouds of ducks, and 
is the home of the heron, bittern, crane, snipe and pelican. On 
its shores are still seen the turkey, bear, deer and endless covies 
of quail. No fisherman comes home empty-handed, for channel 
bass, jew fish, sheepshead, drum, sea trout and a hundred other 
game fish are found the whole length of the river. At night, the 
phosphorescent flashings from myriads of mullet make a weird 
pyrotechnic display. These attractions it has in common with 
the other bodies of water along the East Coast. But this length 
of tranquil, lake-like water, with no vexing eddy or current to 
disturb its majestic repose, its banks lost in dense and deepest 
green, and the ocean's lullaby ever sounding, is alone in its peer- 
less beauty. Only the graceful heron, floating like a fragment of 
fleecy cloud against the gloriously blue arch, and the strong- 
winged hawk, sweeping above the mangrove-shaded waters, have 
fully explored the loveliness of this river. It attains its greatest 
width at 

TITUSVILLE, 

thecounty seat and metropolisof Brev-ard County — a thriving town 
with an ice plant, water works, electric lights and good stores. 

Here both banks of the river are lined with orange groves, and the 
tourist realizes that he is invading the home of the Indian River 
orange, the fruit of world-wide fame. As he goes southward the 
scenery becomes more tropical and the scent of pineapples and 
bananas is borne upon the air. He rides through long stretches 
of palmetto groves and hammocks. The feathery palms, the 
sandy soil, the openings that give wide views of the quiet glisten- 
ing waters, give Oriental eflfects, and he involuntarily looks for the 
camel to complete the picture. 



Below Titusville is City Point, an Eden-like settlement, com- 
posed largely of winter homes of wealthy Northerners. In this 
vicinity it is possible to ride along the bank of the river through 
a continuous succession of orange groves for a distance of more 
than six miles without emerging from under their branches. The 
beauty of this section in early spring when the orange trees are in 
bloom is almost oppressive. 

Cocoa, a thriving town a few miles farther south, where the 
Jaclcsonville, St. Augustine & Indian River Railway over its 
wharf receives freight and passengers from Merritt's Island and 
the peninsula, is the introduction to the beautiful Rockledge 
section. Just below here the river bank changes into a coquina 
rock formation, and at 

ROCKLEDQE 

the channel is under the rugged perpendicular bank. The coquina 
ledges are worn away by the waves, and the roughness of the 
shore is softened by the oak. magnolia and palmetto trees which 
overhang the water. These trees have been left along the river 
front as a wind-break for the magnificent orange groves that have 
made the Rockledge hammock famous. Under their spreading 
boughs a sturdy pedestrian can easily walk from Cocoa to Rockledge 
on a coquina pathway that resembles a pavement through a city 
park. A carriage driveway is contemplated along this river bank, 
connecting City Point, Cocoa and Rockledge. This will skirt close 
to the water; Indian River on one hand, elegant homes and orange 
groves on the other. If it should be built, it will, for sixteen miles, 
be such a ride as can be taken nowhere else on the continent. 

The tourist is now in the very heart of the orange country. If 
he be wise, he will tarry here awhile and feast on the nectar of the 
gods. Nowhere can he spend a few weeks more delightfijlly. 



From this point as a base he can make excursions, the memory of 
which will be a joy to him forever. If he take a sail across the 
river, and land on the opposite shore a little south of Rockledge, 
he will come to Fairyland, on Merritt's Island. A long dock runs 
far out into the river, as a landing for steamboats. From this 
dock a narrow canal about loo feet long gives space to the 
small sail or row boats, and suddenly terminates in a small, clear 
lake, as round as if marked out by Nature's compass, and half a 
mile in width. Crossing this lake and disembarking, our explor- 
ing tourist has a novel experience for Florida — he has a hill to 
climb. The land rises in a long slope to a high elevation. The 
entire walk up the hill-side is beneath the shade of orange trees, 
magnolias, pawpaws and palms. 

Arrived at the top a new surprise awaits the traveler. He finds 
what he thinks to be the Indian River before him. Bewildered, 
he looks, for he knows he has left it behind him. He is gazing at 
its twin, the Banana River, a beautiful dark-blue sheet of water 
running for miles parallel with the Indian River, the two lovingly 
holding in their embrace the strip of paradise known as Merritt's 
Island. On the summit of this eminence is the owner's residence. 
From its portico, far across the Banana, another shore is seen, the 
hither coast of another long low strip of land. On its outer edge 
beats the Atlantic, the roar of the surf coming distinctly to the 
ear. Standing in his door, the resident here may see vessels ply- 
ing upon three bodies of water ; the steamboats puffing along 
Indian River; the graceful sail-boats dotting the Banana, and far 
out at sea the smoke-stacks of ocean steamers. Around him are 
pineapples by the acre — by the tens of thousands ; just beyond rise 
the dark green tops of orange trees, and broad banana leaves wave 
between. Over the cottage lofty pawpaws rear their feathery 
crests, and in front an India rubber tree has wound its clinging 



roots in a deadly embrace around an oak which once protected it. 
A winding path leads to a sylvan park, where Nature is gardener- 
in-chief, and gnarled oaks, festooned with moss and decked with 
green orchids, shadow the scrub palmetto and grassy carpet. 
What wonder that, in appreciative mood, the owner has named his 
broad domain Fairyland I 

Farther down the river, in regions more intensely tropical, are 
Georgiana, Tropic and 

EAU GALLIE, 

One of the loveliest places on Indian River, at the time of this 
writing the temporary southern terminus of the Jacksonville, 
St. Augustine & Indian River Railway. Its natural advantages 
are very considerable. Deep water laves the coquina rock which 
forms the banks, while the town site rises with a gradual elevation 
to a height of 45 feet. Churches, stores, hotels, a bank, telegraph 
office, ice plant, over thirty artesian wells, steam launches, all 
contribute to make the town a good business center. The rail- 
way has here a dock at which freight is delivered to and received 
from the boats which ply between the main-land and the pen- 
insula. The Eau Gallie River, which flows in a westerly direction 
from .the Indian River, opens out into a spacious bay which 
sparkles like a lustrous jewel in its matri.N; of emerald hued 
banks. On its placid bosom all the steamers and sailing craft 
plying on Indian River can rest secure from wind and storm. 

Since this is the present terminus of the railway, it will be 
necessary that our tour of observation be continued by water. 
Continue we must, for even better things are promised farther 
south. Attractions are so numerous beyond, that capital has 
recognized the trumpet call, and the road is being pushed as 



rapidly as possible to Lake Worth, to which place it is under con- 
tract for completion by November i, 1893. 
Four miles farther south is 

MELBOURNE, 

where the river is separated from the Atlantic by only one-half 
a mile of sand dunes. These two points — Eau Gallie and Mel- 
bourne — are so ambitious, and so watchful of each other's im- 
provements and progress, that the fierce rivalries of St. Louis and 
Chicago, or St. Paul and Minneapolis, are not more sincere or 
e.xciting. Both are beautiful, energetic and thriving towns. 
Not far south of this are the 

INDIAN RIVER NARROWS, 

The paradise of the epicure, for here are miles of oyster beds, the 
largest, finest oysters on the continent, in quality unsurpassed, and 
in quantity sufficient to feed a generation. The vegetable farms 
and lemon groves of this section are remarkably productive. 

Here is primeval Nature, and here are Nature's children, for we 
have reached the home of the Seminoles. the only Indian tribe in the 
United States which has successfully defied all efforts of the govern- 
ment to remove them from their native hunting grounds. They still 
roam the marshes and forests of the impenetrable Everglades, living 
on game, fish and the wild rice of the lakes. Their chief village is 
back of Fort Pierce landing, at the end of the Narrows. They are 
often seen emerging from the woods in their picturesque costumes 
and peculiar turbans, coming to the Fort for ammunition and other 
supplies. They give in exchange alligator hides, deer skins, plumes 
of the beautiful water birds and artistically dressed deer skins. 



Other points of interest, but little farther on, are Ankona, Eden. 
Jensen, Waveland. etc.. where hundreds of acres of pineapples are 
silently changing sunlight, ozone and ether into the juices and 
fragrance of this peerless fruit, and into dollars for Captain Rich- 
ards and his neighbors. 

Below Eden the river expands into St. Lucie Sound, into which 
flows the St. Lucie River, a broad placid stream, navigable for 
twenty miles inland, and on whose banks are numerous tine pine- 
apple plantations and vegetable farms. 

For some distance before the St. Lucie reaches the Indian 
River it runs nearly parallel with it, but gradually approaches it 
until their waters mingle. In this way a long, narrow-pointed 
peninsula is formed. It is known as Sewall's Point. But neither 
this geographical description, nor its matter-of-fact name, gives 
hint of its picturesque loveliness. It is one of the most beautiful 
spots on the river, and it is but a matter of time for its charms to 
be enhanced and brought out by the expenditure of money and 
taste, until its fame shall become world-wide, as it deserves. 

A little farther on. and the slight wall that has kept back the 
Atlantic is broken and the sea receives its own again through 
Santa Lucia Inlet. The quiet, amber-colored waters, hiding coral 
beds and all beautiful mysteries and quaint forms of life in its 
witching depths, have attractions that neither land-locked lake nor 
deep sea stretches can give. It is here that that strange, unwieldy 
creature — that link which binds the gigantic antediluvian animal 
life with the present — the manatee or sea-cow. makes its home. 
The fishing in the St. Lucie River and at Santa Lucia inlet is justly 
celebrated for its excellence. 

Farther on, the river again contracts to the Jupiter Narrows. 
Here the stream is so narrow that only the green walls formed by 
the thick-growmg mangrove trees can be seen on either side. The 



water is perfectly transparent, and fish and oysters can be seen 
distinctly in the clear depths. From the Narrows the steamer 
emerges into Hobe Sound, a noble sheet of water, and the Jupiter 
Light-house booms up red and tall ahead. The main-land shore 
swells into a range of high hills (Las Lomas) whose slopes are cov- 
ered with pineapples, and from whose summits are to be had 
superb views of the ocean. At Palmer's Point, on the island side, 
is the first cocoanut grove, of 2.000 young trees. Their spreading 
feathery tops make a fine show. The cocoanut tree is majestic, 
and one learns to love the tall straight emblem of the tropics, even 
after the first novelty wears off. Often in the younger groves the 
overhanging leaves, perfect as giant fern fronds, arch the pathway 
in a single sweep of 20 feet — perhaps no other plant of all the 
earth has such Titanic grace. 

A short distance south of this point Indian River makes its 
escape into the ocean. It flows out through Jupiter Inlet. Here 
is situated one of the largest light-houses on the Atlantic coast. 
It is supplied with a large, first-class revolving Fresnal lantern. 
The United States Signal Station is connected with the North by 
a government wire, and all south-bound shipping passes within a 
few miles of the inlet. It is situated 320 miles south of Jackson- 
ville, and is an ideal resort for sportsmen. The climate is perpet- 
ual spring; the scenery beautiful; and the fishing, boating and 
hunting unequaled. 

The view from the light-house, lookingon the one side far out over 
the ocean, with the unique sight of the Gulf Stream; and on the 
other spreading out over the cocoanut groves, the inlets and the 
forests, with the Everglades and Lake Worth in the distance, may 
well be counted an event of a life-time. 

Content for the present with a short railway trip, we come to 
the most novel and most beautiful region of all this novel and 



beautiful Slate. It is a long, comparatively narrow, lake, running 
parallel to the ocean and separated from it by a strip of ideal sea 
beach less than a mile, in some places less than one fourth of a 
mile, in width. This is fair 

LAKE WORTH. 

This lake — most beautiful sheet of water, broken only by 
Pitts Island, which is located at the northern end of the lake — 
might be called the altar before which the torrid and temperate 
zones have joined in wedlock indissoluble. The most useful 
and desirable products of the Northern States have here a con- 
genial home in daily touch with those loved of the equator. 
A New Englander may find his potatoes, sweet corn, tomatoes 
and other garden favorites, and can pluck, with scarcely a change 
in his position, products that are usually claimed as Brazilian. He 
finds in his surroundings, as plentiful and as free as the water 
sparkling before him, such strange neighbors as coffee, the tama- 
rind, mango, pawpaw, guav'a, banana, sapadillo, almond, custard 
apple, maumee apple, grape fruit, shaddock, Avacado pear and 
other equally new acquaintances. 

And these are all neighbors, actual residents, natives of the 
soil, not imported immigrants or exacting visitors to be tenderly 
treated. Giant relatives, equally at home, are the rubber tree, 
mahogany, eucalyptus, cork tree and mimosa. All these, within 
fort)' hours' travel of New York, to be reached this winter 
by an all-rail trip, and to be enjoyed in a climate that is a per- 
petual May. It was but a few years ago (less than a dozen) 
that the beauties of Lake Worth were at first dimly reported 
ty venturesome sportsmen who had gazed upon its unspeakable 
loveliness. 



To-day the taste and labor of wealthy capitalists from East and 
from West have lined its fair shores with elegant homes. One of 
these, the McCormick Place, has for the past few years been 
famous for its wondrous beauty. It is situated at Palm Beach, on 
the eastern shore of the lake, and faces westward or inland. It thus 
receives the cool air from the lake and the breezes from the At- 
lantic, which is but a stroll distant. The entire estate comprises 
one hundred (loo) acres, all under high cultivation. It has a water 
front on both lake and ocean of 1.200 feet. In this lovely spot Mr. 
McCormick built a castle, so handsomely finished inside and out, 
so tastefully designed and so elegantly furnished that one would 
suppose that he expected to entertain royalty within its walls. 
Perhaps nowhere on the continent is so great a variety of vege- 
table growth presented in one locality as is here to be seen in full 
perfection of lusty growth. The great variety, uncommon beauty 
and prolific growth of the cacti alone is a marvel. The fruits are 
not a collection of trees, but a collection of groves, from the 
gigantic cocoanut twenty years old to the dwarf guava bushes of 
two summers' growth. A complete list of the different kinds 
would make a catalogue. 

There is about this region, whether from the balminess of the 
air, warm but invigorating, soft but bracing, or from the marvel- 
ous clearness of the water, the wondrous cloud effects, the tropical 
vegetation, or all combined — it is impossible to tell — but there is 
a sort of spell about this locality. It holds and enthralls one with 
a constantly growing fascination. It is. as it were, a mental quick- 
sand. The longer one remains, the more deeply and hopelessly 
does he become fixed in his attachment, and the less becomes the 
possibility of ever withdrawing from its influences. 

In this ravishing locality the same clear-sighted business in- 
stinct that gave the wondering public the Ponce de Leon is 



erecting another architectural triumph. The grounds, as laid 
out, and the rare trees, shrubs and vines gathered and grouped 
by Mr. McCormicl< will not be disturbed more than is neces- 
sary. But in place of Mr. McCormick's dwelling, fine as it is, 
is rising an irrimense palatial hotel, capable of accommodating 
from 500 to 600 guests. Workmen are now busy, and in the 
winter of '93 -'94 the 

HOTEL ROYAL POINCIANA 

will open its doors for the reception of visitors. The hotel will 
face the west. The grounds will be lighted with electricity ; pavil- 
ions and bathing houses will appear on the ocean beach ; a club 
house, yacht club quarters and dancing and music pavilions on the 
lake shore. In short, before February', everything that money can 
secure for the health, comfort and pleasure of all visitors will be 
completed and in perfect readiness. 

The hotel derives its name from the Poinciana Regia, a magnifi- 
cent tropical tree growing in abundance all about the grounds and 
in surrounding country. It is at all times an object of exceeding 
grace and beauty, but when blooming it is a blaze of splendor. It 
has been said that when in bloom this tree can be likened only to 
a house on fire. Unfortunately, it blooms in midsummer, so that 
winter tourists will not enjoy the sight. 

The Jacksonville, St. Augustine & Indian River Railway will 
be finished to Lake Wortli by November ist, next. It will skirt 
the western shore of the lake until opposite Palm Beach. It will 
be one of the most beautiful and picturesque routes in the United 
States. For four miles, the lake, covered with yachts, sail-boats 
and small steam craft, will form the foreground, while across its 
blue waters will be seen on the opposite shore, villas and beautiful 



residences half hidden amid their surroundings of verdure and 
blossom. It will be a ride with surroundings that cannot be dupli- 
cated in America. 

Thus, much is promised for the next season. In the years that 
are coming it is to be hoped that the East Coast Line will be, 
indeed, a line bounding the eastern coast until the coast curves to 
the west. Until its happy consummation, the traveler mast be 
content, in resuming his travels, to take a well-equipped, covered 
stage coach. He continues his journey for about thirty-six hours 
and finds himself at 

BISCAYNE BAY. 

On the way he will break the monotony of his trip by a night's 
rest at New River, one of the favorite haunts of the tarpon. Here 
he will enjoy, perforce, the novelty of camping for the night in 
true Adirondack fashion. Arrived at Biscayne Bay, he has 
reached, so to speak, the terminus of the peninsula of Florida, 
and the most southern approachable portion of the main-land of 
the United States. He stands on the end of the great projecting 
toe of the Union. There is nothing left but the scattered frag- 
ments, or keys, that seem to have been disdainfully kicked from 
the main-land. They seem the neglected debris, left after the 
building of the peninsula. But, as of a broken mirror, each 
fragment holds a picture, so in these islets are repeated the 
bloom and fruitage and fragrance of the flowery land from which 
they have strayed. Many of them could be made ideal homes 
or popular resorts. 

Biscayne Bay is another of the shut-in bodies of water, but in 
this case the closing has not yet been accomplished. It sets into 
the coast but is not fully enclosed. It is the natural home of the 



green turtle, and quantities of them are talcen here every year. 
The genuine tortoise shell is abundant. It is the finest body of 
water for cruising in the United States. It is from five to ten 
miles wide, forty miles long, and is not fed from old ocean by one 
narrow inlet, but by a score or more, one alone opposite Cocoanut 
Grove, at Cape Florida, being ten miles wide. The water of the 
bay is blue and clear, with an average depth of from six to ten feet 
a short distance from the shore. Its bottom is dotted here and 
there with sponges, coral and queer marine growths. 

When Araby's daughter inspired Tom Moore's graceful pen he 
never dreamed of clearer depths in Oman's green waters. Nor 
is the yachtsman confined to this beautiful bay. If he seeks a 
wider range he can turn his sails and stand out of one of the 
inlets for the Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica or wherever fancy may 
take him. 



Along the shores of this beautiful bay are little settlements that 
are beginning to feel the thrill of life, progress and enterprise 
having touched them with magic wand. They have, even now, 
not only local habitations, but names — Old Fort Dallas, Cutler, 
Ervanton, Miami, Cocoanut Grove and others. One of the first 
inhabitants was Kirk Munroe, the great canoeist and well-known 
author. He lived here when transportation was so difficult that 
he received all his mail from passing steamers en route for the 
West Indies, going ten miles out to sea in a sail-boat and inter- 
cepting the mail boats twice each week. 

Over all, the incomparable climate of Florida's east coast bends 
like a benediction. Surely, when the final verdict of creation, " It 
is good " was pronounced, the climate of the East Coast of Florida 
was especially included — for it is nearer perfection than that of 
any other place on earth. 



'ttim^-^.' 




JACKSONVILLE BRIDGE. 




ST. JAMES HOTEL, JACKSONVILLE. 




v/iEW FROM LOGGIA, Hotel poNCE de LeoN- 




HOTEL poNCE DE LEON, ST. AUGUSTINE. 




OUTER ENTRANCE, Hotel poNce de LeoN. 




IN THE PONCE DE LEON COURT, ST- AUGUSTINE. 




A CORNER IN PARLOR, HOTEL POHCE DE lEON- 




THE ALCAZAR, ST. AUGUsTiNE. 



i 4^ 




Iff %m^ 

I \ ^M mm rtl*ij!; 



c,'il M ' ' 






/ 



ii 





.jtMMMm"'^'''''' 








i 




HOTEL CORDOVA, ST- AUGUSTINE. 




ST. GEORQE STREET, ST- AOgUsTINE. 




FORT MARION AND ANASTASIA ISLAND, ST. AUGUSTINE. 




ON THE T0|Vl0K,/\ RIVER, NEAR uRMONti. 




HOTEL ormoNd, ornioND-oS-THE-HALifax. 




A DRIVE AT ORMuND-ON-THE-HALlFAX. 




Hotel ormond-tHe veranda iN jaNUarV. 




PHoto-sKetcHes by the WaV. 







( L'!/'*\ 







RIDGEWOOD AVENUE, daVtoNA- 




daVtona from the island. 




RUlNS OF SUGAR MILL, NEW SMYRNA. 




IN THE Hammock, new smyrna 




Lake Helen. 




VIEWS AT 0RANC3E cijy. 




S 'J 



ROCKLtDCiE, IHDIAN river. 




ORANGE GROVE, SAN MATEO. 




Hotel indiaN river, rockledge. 




GARDEN SCENE, Hotel indiaN river, rocKLedge 




Lovers' retkeat, rocKLedge. 




PiNE-APPLE PLANTATION, EDEN- 




Lake Worth, from the LawNs. 




CENTURY PLANT, LAKE WORTH. 



"^. 




^%^' 



cocoANUTs, Lake worth. 




RUBBER TREE, LAKE WORTH. 




cocoaNUt avenue, Lake worth. 




HOTEL RO/AL POINCIANa — PALM BEACH, LAKE WORTH. 




SCENE Near biscaVNe baY. 




t 





bisca/Ne baV. 



k 




PICTURESQUE FLORIDA — PLANTATION LIFE. 



Jacksonville, St. Augustine & Indian River Railway 




' I ''HIS, the most elegantly equipped road in the southern 

-I- States, is now in course of extension, and is under 

contract for completion to 

LAKE WORTH, 

by November i, 1893. All tickets carry stop-over privil- 
eges within their limits 



' I ""OURISTS are advised to purchase tickets to St. 
■*- Augustine and make it their basing point. Excursion 
tickets to all parts of Florida are on sale at the Hotel and 
Depot Offices, and sleeping and parlor-car lines centralize 
at this, the great fashionable rendezvous 

'' I ""HIS Company has large bodies of timber and farming 

A lands along the line of its railroad which it offers to 

actual settlers upon easy terms and at fair prices. . . 

J. R. PARROTT, W. L. CRAWFORD, 

Vice-President. General Superintendent. 

JOSEPH RICHARDSON, 

General Passenger Agent. 

General Offices, - ST. AUGUSTINE. 



(I) 



hy is Chocolate 

not more used in America? 



CHOCOLATMENIER 



cWOCOZ^rMEN/ER, 



I St. People do not know how 
to properly prepare Chocolate. 

A pamphlet giving recipes, ami samples 
of the Chocolate made by Menier, Paris, 
(Noisiel,) — Chocolat-Menier, — will be sent 
free to any address. 

Menier raises the berry on his own plan- 
tations in Nicaragua. 

Menier has his own Sugar Refineries. 

Menier owns the Steamers transporting 
the raw products to his factories in 
France and England. 

Menier owns over 2000 Employees' 
Houses, comprising the entire town 
of Noisiel, near Paris. 

Menier does his own printing; in fact, 
everything pertaining to the manufac- 
ture of Chocolat-rienier e.xcept 
wood for cases, nails and foil, is 
produced on his own property. 



2d. Americans are still bound 
by the inveterate habit of using 
Tea, Coffee and Cocoa, which cre- 
ate stomachic debilities and are 
not in the true sense stimulants. 

Pure Chocolate unites in a perfect form 
all the quaHties for a healthy and strength- 
ening liquid food, and contrary to the popu- 
lar supposition, founded on tlie use of impiu'e 
matter sold as chocolate, it is the Remedy 
par excellence for Dyspepsia. A cup of 
the Chocolat=Atenier immediately after 
eating will produce digestion in three hours. 
It is recommended to every brain worker 
in place of using tea and cofl'ee. 




Chocolat=nenier offers what the most particukir epicures seek and all medical 
men desire : a wholesome, agreeable food of a decided renovating power. 



ASK YOUR CROCER FOR 

CHOCOLAT 
MENIER 

Annml &,l„ F.i.'<d 33 MILLION LBS. 
SAMPLES SENTFREE. MENIER, N.Y 



Cocoa and Chocolate 

ARE NO MORE TO DE COMPARED WITH 
EACH OTHER THAN 

Skimmed Milk 

to Pure Cream. 



If your Grocer has not Chocolat=Menier 
to supply, kindly send name and address. 
Sample free. Mention this pamphlet. 
Address Director American Branch, 

Chocolat=Menier, 
86 West Broadway, cor. Leonard St. 
New York City. 



A LBERT W. ROBERT, Agent in Real Estate, of Palm Beach, 
"*- Florida, will sell for Mr. Flagler the lots for dwelling and 
business purposes now offered in the new town 

WEST PALM BEACH. 

Mr. Robert has for sale a good list of Lake Worth properties, 
offered by individual owners; he is also the sole agent in Dade 
County for the lands of 

The Florida Coast Line Canal & Transportation Company, 
The Boston & Florida Atlantic Coast Land Company, 
The Lake Worth Land Trust, 
The New River Land Trust. 



These lands extend the length of the County, from the St. 
Lucie River to Bay Biscayne, and are adapted, in their variety, to 
the cultivation of all the valuable crops peculiar to the East Coast 
of Florida 

Mr. Robert will furnish especial information, maps, lists, etc., 
of the properties in his charge, upon application 



The people who made this book throughout, including the engravings for it, would 
like to do some work for you. They have pleased a great many of the most fastidious 
customers in the United States, and hope that they could please you. 

They endeavor to furnish the very best art and workmanship al prices which 
always make their work a good investment for the purchaser. It may pay you to 
correspond with them, for there is nothing in the way of printing or engraving which 
is outside of their line. 

The address is The Matthews-Northrup Co., Buffalo, N. Y., "Complete Art-Printing 
Works."