' Class __£31^ Book_iiL4L__ COBfRIGUr DSPOSIC \ W% 0) tip B /oy\ ,7r/^y Copyright, i , by Joseph Richardson, General Passenger Agent for the Jacksonville, St. Augustine & Indian River Railway. F5\U7 .A / THS MATTHtwa-NOBTrtSUrCO., COMPltTt »(IT-MINTIN8 WCRHS, •Ufr»l.O, * ' 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 Pomciana Tree in Bloom. i 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 thj 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 lair city was the uliiiiia 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 luxurious carriages, stylish Jehus and concrete pavement, smooth and clean. As he rolls along a street lined with oleanders twenty to thirty leet high, arbor vitas, 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 excavated. 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 another 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 imposing 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 below with spurred and booted cavaliers, fiery of eye and haughty of mien. But our traveler crosses the marble threshold and steps over a tesselated floor, inlaid with rare mosaic patterns done by skilled Italian artisans. He finds himself in a lofty room whose ceilings are supported by groups of 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 mediaeval 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 off 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 he 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 Me.xican ony.x, 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 arrival. In one, "The Cordova," is the famous sun-parlor, a room made entirely of glass and lu.xuriously furnished, where invalids may enjoy all the vivifying effects of sunlight, without being e.xposed 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 January day. It is all under roof, and all most systematically and conveniently arranged for both se.xes 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 tf)wn. 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 pil- grimage. It is a massive structure, unscathed b)' 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 h,ith 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- diaeval town. He has been transported, in the short space of an hour, from the busy wharves of a growing Atnerican 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 Drake 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 descendant 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 in 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 e.xperimental 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 choicest selections. They remain open until spring is well advanced for 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 Halifa.x 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 jjroper. 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 fine 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 — thintc of it, ye Northern flower lovers — a wind-break of oleanders ! 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 glimp.ses 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, shecpshead, 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, the county seat and metropolis of Brevard 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 etlects, 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 Jacksonville, 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 RoCK ledge section. |ust below here the river bank changes into a coquina rock formation, and at ROCKLEDGE 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 '-he 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 drivewa)' 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 delightfully. 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 tw'o 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 bnjad 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 QALLIE, 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.\ 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 trum])Ct 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 1, 1S93. 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 L'nited 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 bL-autiful water birds and artisticallv 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 neighbffrs. Relow 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 fine 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 [upiter Inlet. Here is situated one of the largest light-houses on the Atlantic coast, j It is supplied with a large, first-class revolving Fresnal lantern. The United States Signal Station is connected with the North by 1 a government wire, and all south-bound shipping passes within a few miles of the inlet. It is situated 320 miles south of lackson- ville, and is an ideal resort for sportsmen. The climate is perpet- ', ual spring; the scenery beautiful; and the fishing, boating and hunting unequaled. j The view from the light-house, looking on the one side far out over 1 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, guava, 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 e.xacting visitors to be tenderly treated. Giant relatives, equally at home, are the rubber tree, mahogany, eucalyptus, cork tree and mimosa. All these, within forty hours' travel of New York, to be reached this winter b)' 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 by 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 bv Mr. McCormick will not be disturbed more than is neces- sary'. But in place of Mr. McCormick's dwelling, fine as it is. is rising an immense 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 Worth by November 1st. 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 Stales. For fuur 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 must be content, in resuming his travels, to take a well-equipped, covered stage coach. He continues his journey for about thirty-si.x 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 fullv enclosed. It is the natural home of the ■green turtle, and quantities of them are taken 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. ■h*vi. fe-v; L £- JACKSONVILLE BRIDGE. ST- JAMES HOTEL, JACKSONVILLE. VIEW FROM LOGGIA, HOTEL poNCE DE LEOH- HOTEL PONCE DE LEON, ST. AUGUSTIME. OUTER ENTRANO;, H3TEL PJ^Ci DELEOJ. IN THE POHCE D£ LEON CjORT, ST- AUGUSTINE- A CORNER IN PARLOR, HOTEL POHCE DE LEON- THE ALCAZAR, ST. AUGUSTINE. t fulfill :l|lllll!-^ !! !l 3&i ffi B I 1 I^Hii Hotel cordoVa, st. augustiNe. ST. GEORGE STREET. ST. AUGUSTINE. FORT MARION AND ANASTASIA ISi-AND, ST. AOaUSTiNE. ON THE T0M3KA RIVER, NEAR ORMOND. HOTEL ORMOND, ORMOND-ON-THE-HALIFAX. A DRIVE AT ORMONO-ON-THE-HALIFAX. HOTEL orwond-tHe Veranda ih jaNUarV. PHOTO-SKETCHES BY THE WAV. ridgewood avenoe, davtona. DAyTONA FROM THE ISLAND. RUlNS OF SUGAR MILL, HEW SIVIVRNA. IN THE Hammock, Hew smVrNa. LAKE HELEN. V'lEVv'S AT ORANGE CITV- FiOCKLEDGE, INDIAN RIVER. ORANQE grove, saH MATEO. Hotel INDIAN RIVER, ROCKLEDGE. GARDEN SCENE, Hotel indian river, roci^ledge. Lovers' RtiKtAi, muckledge. PiNE-APPLE PLANTATION, EDEN. LAKE Worth, from THe laWNs. CENTURA PLANT, LAKE WORTH- cocoaN'Jts, Lake v. ortH- RUBBER TREE, LAKE WORTH. cocoanut avenue, Lake worth. HoTcL rovaL poiMciaN'v - palm beach, Lake Wortm. SCENE Near biscaYNe baY. f-jf-c, BISCAyNE B/\Y. PICrURESUUE FLoHtD'V- pLAMyAJION LIFE. (D hy is Chocolate not more used in America? CHOCOLATMENIER I St. People do not know how to properly prepare Chocolate. A pamphlet gi'dna recipes, and samples of the Chocolate vrnde 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 Sug;ar 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=nenier except 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 qualities for a healthy and strength- ening liquid food, and contrary to the popu- lar supposition, founded on the use of impure matter sold as chocolate, it is the Remedy par excellence for DYSPEPSIA. A cup of the Chocolat=Menier immediately after eating will produce digestion in tliree hours. It is recommended to every brain worker in place of using tea and coffee. Chocolat=nenier offers what the most particular epicures seek and all medical men desire : a wholesome, agreeable food of a decided renovating power. ASK YOUR GROCER FOR CHOCOLAT MENIER Annual Satii Ez.„.l 33 MILLION LBS. SAMPLESSENTFREE. MENIER, N.Y Cocoa and Chocolate ARE NO MORE TO BE COMPARED WITH EACH O'^HER 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. GATHERING GRAPES Ar MOULTRIE, NEAR ST. AUGUSTINE. 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 Jacksonville, St. Augustine & Indian River Railway THIS, the most elegantly equipped road in the southern States, is now in course of extension, and is under ' contract for completion to \V| ^ \/7 LAKE WORTH, by November i, 1893. All tickets carry stop-over privil- „,_ . , , - -^,,1' eges within their limits. <<-m0^ )ijm\ y^W/ npOURlSTS are advised to purchase tickets to St. ^ 'V\X\\\ ■"v?^V7l * / / Augustine and make it their basing point. Excursion ^^>^ T%r-^^^^S,#ii//l/ I I ^k/ -7 tickets to all parts of Florida are on sale at the Hotel and 1^ \\/;^^|^)^,^i^m^ 1 '^l/l 1 /^ Depot Offices, and slseping and parlor-car lines centralize ^"^^^^7. ^,y\^ J'l !^\ at this, the great fashionable rendezvous i^^,_;*^^^ ^^__^^^^^^ % '~r*'HlS Company has large bodies of timber and farming ■v^^^^^I^t;^^^^^^^! ' A lands along the line of its railroad which it offers to ■^^^?^^^^vA\ ^^^'*°' actual settlers upon easy terms and at fair prices. V/ ^^'y^^^v^ ]f^ZI/l'f'f^t^^^^ J. R. PARROTT, W.L.CRAWFORD, ^ ^.^^y''^ / -^^ W / / / A /^ji^^^^^^'\\ t Vice-President. General Superintendent. V LA^^^^^—^f^ /r 0~t/t^iJ