Sunshine glittered on the water’s surface like eight-carat diamonds, and every stroke of my paddle set off a chain reaction of sparkling ripples. Swamp laurel oaks and cabbage palms leaned inquisitively over the water’s edge, as if to see who was disturbing their peace. Everything else was still.
I was kayaking through Florida’s Rock Springs Run State Reserve, a 5,700-hectare semi-tropical wilderness that lies a 30-minute drive from Orlando - not that you’d know it. Just 150 years ago, this was what most of the region looked like, and it was a side to Florida I hadn’t expected to encounter when I set out to explore a newly expanded rail route across the state. But as I followed its tracks further, a remarkable history started to unravel.
Back in the 19th century, Henry Flagler was among the world’s most successful businessmen. He made his fortune launching the Standard Oil company in Cleveland alongside his business partner, John D Rockefeller, in 1870. It soon grew into one of the USA’s most powerful corporations and made them two of the wealthiest people on the planet.
It wasn’t until 1878, when Flagler was in his late 40s, that he first set foot in Florida, heading to Jacksonville under instruction from his doctor, who thought the balmy weather would boost the ailing health of his first wife, Mary. They didn’t stay long but it sowed a seed in him. Flagler saw the tourism potential of the
