E. Lynne Wright - It Happened in Florida: Remarkable Events That Shaped History

Copyright 2010 by Morris Book Publishing, LLC

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed to Globe Pequot Press, Attn: Rights and Permissions Department, P.O. Box 480, Guilford, CT 06437.

Project editor: David Legere

Map: Daniel Lloyd Morris Book Publishing, LLC

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

ISBN 978-0-7627-5411-3

Printed in the United States of America

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I owe so much to so many who helped me with the research of this book. I want to first thank the super-resourceful, extra-efficient reference librarians at the Indian River County Main Library in Vero Beach. Their help in locating sources was invaluable. Special thanks to Peg Wilson. I also thank the University of Florida College of Medicine for sharing Dr. Cades oral history interview. Thanks to the Indian River County Audubon Society for making their files on Marjorie Carr available to me. Barbara Ware, archivist and librarian, assisted me at the beautiful Tampa Bay History Center, then continued to supply me with information by e-mail. Although grieving the loss of her husband, Betty Skelton Frankman graciously took time to furnish me with a packet of material for which I am most grateful. Thanks to Dennis Wilhelm, archivist at Miamis Arquitectonica, for the excellent leads he offered for Barbara Capitmans story. I am indebted to the archivists at the Florida State Archives in Tallahassee for their assistance with the Roxcy Bolton files. Nicole Palovich was so cordial and informative at Give Kids the World, it was hard to leave the Village. Im grateful to the Sanford L. Ziff Jewish Museum for generously sharing their files on Ruby Diamond. I thank Kevin Quirk, general manager of the Bahia Mar Resort, who filled me in on slip F-18 and who stands guard over Travis McGees bottle of Plymouth Gin. Special thanks to my editor, David Legere, for his patience and guidance. Finally, I thank my husband and family, as fine a bunch of cheerleaders as can be found anywhere.

Like so many other people, I came to Florida from somewhere else, drawn here by the chance to escape northern winters, not anticipating anything other than sunny days, good boating, and lots of navel oranges. Florida history was the last thing on my mind, but I kept bumping into some of the same names over and over. Henry Flagler, for one. His name seemed to pop up everywhere. There was Flagler Beach, Flagler County, the railroad he built, and his hotels that rivaled the Taj Mahal. His private life, I discovered, was even more interesting.

What was so special about someone named Osceola? He was a Native American, obviously, but why did I run into his name every time I turned a corner?

Make a trip to the Everglades and inevitably the name Marjory Stoneman Douglas will come up. But she had so much more to her credit than simply being a champion of the Everglades (as if that werent enough). What a woman!

Slowly, I became hooked. So many fascinating things have happened in Florida. And why not? European history got started on this continent in 1513 in Florida, not on that big rock in Massachusetts in 1620. By that time, St. Augustine already had shops, a church, and a hospital. The Pilgrims were the new kids on the block.

The same climate and sunny days that brought me to Florida have brought other folks, too, from New York, Ontario, Havana, Russiayou name itsome for vacations, others as part-time snowbirds. Some lucky ones like me have made Florida their year-round home. Theres good and bad in that. Being home to so many people from somewhere else keeps things interesting in the Sunshine State, but it can lead to divided allegiances. Their bodies tan in this sunny paradise, but their hearts and their families reside somewhere else.

This might have something to do with the well-established Florida tradition: Take the money and run. Everyone, it seems, wants to take something from Florida. Whats taken these days might be happy memories and a pair of mouse ears, but in the past it included pinewood forests, egret feathers, Seminole tribal lands, turtle eggs, and alligator skins. As fast as the bolts of lightning that slash our summer skies, the word went out until the recent recession. Florida has been in the midst of recovering ever sinceto the benefit of our economy but to the detriment of our environment.

Generally speaking, people dont concern themselves much with Florida history. Instead they concentrate mainly on what has happened in recent years in the state: the presidential and gubernatorial elections, hurricanes, shark attacks, the economic recession, and games involving the Dolphins, Marlins, Gators, and other popular teams.

Reading Florida history can be comforting. It reminds us that people in the past survived the same things were facing today. Ads for in-home shelters to ensure safety from bioterrorists after the attacks of September 11, 2001, echoed the backyard bomb shelters hastily built during the Cuban missile crisis. Although they didnt manage to inflict much damage, Nazi saboteurs invaded our shores in 1942, long before the foreign terrorists of 2001. The election of 1876 was no more satisfying to half the nation than the election in 2000, but we survived them both. We made it before; well do it again.

Floridians will continue putting out the welcome mat, hoping snowbirds, transplants, and tourists, too, will come for the sunshine but also take time to check into the fascinating history of this lovely peninsula. As well as being comforting, finding out what happened in Florida can be funa day at the beach, you might say.

1513

From the beginning immigrants have sometimes received a lessthan-warm welcome in the New World. Juan Ponce de Len was no exception. In fact, the man who is credited with discovering Florida had such an ignominious debut in America, he spent very little actual time on our soil before fleeing for his life.

Floridas recorded history began with Ponce, a Spanish nobleman who, like other explorers of his day, was unquestionably motivated by a quest for power, riches, and natives to enslave.

The myth of the Fountain of Youth, so firmly attached to Ponces name, probably started with Indians repeating tales about healing waters told to them by other European explorers. The legend of such a fountain or spring existed in many parts of the world and could be traced to the fabled water of life in the Garden of Eden, supposedly located in the Far East. Early Spanish explorers thought America was the Far East, possibly convincing some that the fountain must be somewhere in the New World. Bearing in mind that neither Spaniards nor Indians were bilingual and Spanish explorers needed to periodically replenish their drinking water, it seems logical that requests for fresh or sweet water could be interpreted as rejuvenating water from a spring or fountain.

The only existing source containing firsthand details of Ponces journey is a monumental ten-volume work published about 1610. It contains no mention of a Fountain of Youth. The lures of finding gold and conquering new territories were the usual reasons for men to explore strange lands, and there is little reason to doubt these reasons were uppermost in Ponce de Lens mind as well.