Cruise Through History - Itinerary 06 - Ports of the Atlantic Coast of North America

By Sherry Hutt

In Itinerary VI, Ports of the Atlantic Coast of North America, travel north from Miami to Montreal, porting in Cuba and Bermuda along the way. Stories are drawn from ancient to recent history, showcasing delightful sights to visit and insight to the characters leaving their legacy on the landscape. Presented from deep dives into annals of histor

• Language: English
• Publisher: Motumas Publishing
• Release date: Sep 6, 2021
• ISBN: 9781942153276

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

TRAVEL INTO THE NEW WORLD

In Itinerary VI, Ports of the Atlantic Coast of North America, travel north from Miami to Montreal, porting in Cuba and Bermuda along the way. Stories are drawn from ancient to recent history, showcasing delightful sights and insight to characters leaving a legacy on the landscape. Presented from deep dives into annals of history, stories debunk common myths and illuminate contributions of inspirational actors.

Begin in Florida, where Ponce de Leon searched for the Fountain of Youth, made a paradise by perennial youthful architects of South Beach and North Beach. In Key West, visit Hemingway and his haunts in the First Mile of Fun, made accessible by the Flagler railway. Then launch into Cape Canaveral for history of first inhabitants to space travelers.

In Cuba, learn the history of Cuba, the ascent of Castro, and the reason Cubans are not likely to change their resourceful regard for creativity with few resources. See Havana for the beauty that remains. Then join the Sister Cities of Havana-Miami-Key West for their long-term relationship, that defies embargo and politics.

In the Bahamas meet three unlikely governors, a pirate, an adventurer who rescued Selkirk, inspiration for Robinson Crusoe, and a former king of England. Then enter the world of slavery and freedom for the mutineers in the Creole Case of 1841, a case that complicated resolution of the Canada-US boundary.

Visit Bermuda, discovered in a tempest, that inspired Shakespeare to write a play. Then learn why Bermuda did not become the 14th Colony to join the young United States. In Charleston, find a city preserved as the stronghold of slavery and birthplace of the Civil War, which became a place that instigated historic preservation, of all history, with integrity, and honesty, that became a model for the US and the world.

In Washington go to lesser-visited museums, that tell stories of philanthropic collections, as well as non-collection dependent museums of Native American and African American History and Culture. Go to New York for its discovery by Henry Hudson, then walk Up Broadway from Battery Park to Central Park in pictures, to see city history along the original Dutch path to the reservoir, now Central Park.

Walk Independence Trail in Boston, where the American Revolution began. Then, wander serene Cliff Walk in Newport, home to mansions of the Gilded Age of American largess. Move further into serenity in Maine, as stories visit poets of Portland and the making of Acadia National Park.

Transition from the United States to maritime provinces of Canada, with three stories at sea. Search for the Northwest Passage, centuries of effort by captains from several countries. Enter the St. Lawrence River with Cartier and Champlain, in the battle with English rogues, who captured Quebec and sent Champlain to England as a prisoner. Champlain was not released until kings of England and France resolved the matter of dowery owed to the king of England by the father of the bride in France. Then learn of interests that stoked the French and Indian War.

It was the Timber War in New Brunswick, where the only fatalities were by bear, that resolved the eastern map of North America. In Nova Scotia learn the sad story of Acadians, exiled and resurfacing as Cajuns in Louisiana, and the disappointment for Black Loyalists, free, but not equal in Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia harbors launched the career of Cunard and the Bluenose, the best-in-class racing ship for years. In Newfoundland, harsh climate was a refuge for Vikings seeking lumber and the unforgiving landscape inspired innovation in Alexander Graham Bell and inventors of underwater cable, kerosene lamps and the first ship propeller.

Of the two great cities of eastern Canada, Quebec began as a Beaver Aristocracy and Montreal as Catholic and French. The history of each city is preserved in streets, architecture of the Chateau Frontenac, and hundreds of churches in French style. End the journey climbing hundreds of stairs to the Oratoire St. Joseph in Park Mont Royal.

As stories float through time and across ports, they leave the traveler with new insight to growth of the New World. Read and enjoy the trip!

CTH

Note on Historic Preservation and Sites: World Heritage Site is a designation of the cultural arm of the United Nations, which began in the 1970s. Impetus for international action arose from rescue of Abu Simbel from waters of the Aswan High Dam. See the story of Abu Simbel in Itinerary V of Cruise through History. World Heritage Sites are nominated to the UN commission by the host country, based on ten criteria for outstanding universal value, in portraying a unique stage in human history. Natural sites of exceptional beauty may also receive WHS status. From forty-four sessions of the WHS commission, there are over a thousand cultural and natural sites around the world. In the first group of designations in 1978, the United States nominated Yellowstone and Mesa Verde National Parks. Abu Simbel was listed in 1979. In 2015, Philadelphia became the first World Heritage City in the United States.

Historic preservation began by law in the United States in 1906, with the Antiquities Act, which allowed presidential designation of National Monuments. The law grew from efforts of a ladies group preserving sites related to George Washington and Mount Vernon. Although there were other preservation efforts, of critical impact were efforts of Susan Pringle Frost, which began in Charleston, and resulted in the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, setting criteria for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Criteria include significant events, prominent persons, scientific and/or archaeological interest. Higher levels of protection are available for National Historic Landmarks, designated by the Secretary of the Interior, made possible in 1935 legislation, operationalized in the 1966 Act. Historic places may be of local or state interest, while Landmarks (NHL) are of national interest.

The process of purchasing, restoring, and placing historic covenants on properties, pioneered by Susan Pringle Frost, is employed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a private, non-profit organization. The National Trust advocates for historic preservation zoning, where appropriate, using city and local zoning law to protect historic districts. The landmark case in the United States for historic preservation zoning, in the case of a single building as an historic district, was Penn Central Transportation Company v. New York, a decision of the US Supreme Court in 1978. The case began with efforts of Jaqueline Kennedy Onassis to preserve Grand Central Station and other historic New York City buildings from wrecking balls of high-rise progress in the name of Fifth Amendment property rights. From Ladies Preserving Old Houses to Susan Pringle Frost, to Jackie O, efforts to keep a local aesthetic and preserve historic structures and places, are models replicated around the world. This volume is in tribute to their success.

Miami

FLORIDA

MIAMI – FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH TO REAL PARADISE

Port of Miami

The word kitsch was invented in Miami. The city of plastic pink flamingoes and turquoise convertibles was founded as a haven for retirees on modest pensions. Today retirees share upscale beaches with vacationers and young bikini-clad men and women. Walking or driving through Miami and Miami Beach is like moving through a movie set. In this place, fantasies are realities.

Ponce de Leon came to Florida seeking a fabled fountain of youth. Through turbulent beggingings, Florida emerged as a haven for dreamers, adventurers, and land speculators. Mary Brickell and Julia Tuttle, savvy women, came to south Florida in the nineteenth century and enticed Standard Oil co-founder Henry Flagler to build a railroad transporting their dreams. Their vision was realized as twentieth century visionaries built a paradise for the perpetually youthful.

Miami and Miami Beach are riots of 1920s era Art Deco and 1950s Mid-Century Modern architecture. As cities inviting excess and bravado, restraint is out of place. Coco Channel urged restraint as a mark of good taste when she famously said, less is more. In Miami and Miami Beach, more is never too much.

This story is a walk through southern Florida from swampland to prime real estate. Pioneer entreprenuers were followed by developers with disparate visions. One group created Miami Beach, with the modest goal of affordable retirement homes for norteasterners, fleeing cold winters. The other group had glorious plans for a Mediterranean-style haven for wealthy second-home owners. Mid-Beach was a battle zone of competing warlords of opulent highrise condominiums.

The twentieth century automobile age replaced Flagler’s railroad and began new chapters in Miami. Mid-Century Modern subdivisions filled with newcomers from northeast United States, Cuba, and elsewhere. Motor lodges proliferated. Twenti-first century buildings and outdoor art add new heights to paradise.

This story is a romp through history of Miami and Miami Beach from vestiges of founding pioneers to present day in a multinational city and cruise ship hub. This is the place to enjoy Art Deco, Mediterranean Revival, and Miami Modern, Mid-Century architecture, with a cool drink on a long stroll along the beach.

From Swamp Land to Prime Real Estate: Beginning the Dream

Before conquistodors, missionaries, and pioneers arrived in Florida, it was swampland of formidable beauty, inhabitated by Tequesta people. Natives derived health drinking water from acquifers. Ponce de Leon is portrayed as a seeker of the mythical fountain of youth. More likely, after being tossed from his job as governor of Puerto Rico, he came to Florida in 1513, enticed by news of healthy natives.

Franciscan missionaries followed Spanish soldiers, converting Tequesta souls. Through debilitation of native people by European disease, war, and slavery in the Caribbean, Tequesta people were extinquished. Tequesta are remembered in Miami Circle, an archaeological site in a tiny preserved area abuting Miami River.

Fountain of Youth Ponce de Leon Park

Two hundred years after Ponce de Leon died, felled by a poison arrow, English settlers moved southward expanding American colonies. In 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht resolved hostilities between the English and Spanish, whereby Spain ceded Florida to Britian and Britain ceded Havana to Spain. Natives in Florida were removed to Cuba. Thus began everlasting connection of Florida and Cuba.¹

Into Florida came Semiole people from Alabama and Georgia. Seminole were stalwart in protecting new territory from French, on behalf of Britain, in what is known as French and Indian Wars of the 1760s. Britain focused upon East Florida, with a capital at St. Augustine, not on uninhabited West Florida.

After American independence in 1783, British decamped Florida for British held islands of the Caribbean. Spain regained Florida. Unimpeded by Spain, American general Andrew Jackson led troops against the Seminole, protecting southward moving settlers, and punishing Indians for harboring runnaway slaves.

In 1821, Spain ceded Florida to the United States. US recognized Seminole tribe in 1823, and removed them from Florida to Oklahoma, in a forced march on the Trail of Tears. Several hundred Seminole escaped to the Everglades.²

Barnacle Pier

By 1870, Florida was home to twelve adventurous families, with big dreams, and some Seminoles. Among settlers were the Sturtevants, Brickells, and Tuttles. Ralph Middleton Munroe escaped memories of loss of his family to disease by relocating from New York to Florida, where he built the oldest home in Miami, the Barnacle.

Barnacle estate was home to Biscyane Bay Yacht Club in 1887, in a coconut grove worked by former slaves. Today Coconut Grove exemplifies Munroe’s dream of an upscale Florida. His home in Coconut Grove, Miami is now Barnacle Historic Site.

Ephraim Sturtevant searched for new opportunities in exotic south Florida in 1870. He settled near Fort Dallas, the future center of Miami. Merchants Hewitt and Tuttle of Cleveland employed a young clerk named J.D. Rockefeller. The Cleveland connection turned dreams of a future for south Florida into reality, after Rockefeller’s partner, Henry Flagler, met Julia, Ephraim’s daughter.

Fort Dallas

American William Brickell met Englishwoman Mary, in Austraila, where they married. At home in Cleveland, William established a grocery business. One of his customers, J. D. Rockefeller, held contracts to sell food to the US government during the Civil War. Brickells of Cleveland went to church with the Flaglers.³

The Brickells followed Empraim to Florida, establishing a trading post. They bought 2,500 acres along the Miami River, at Biscayne Bay.⁴ In the 1880s, Mary added 4,000 acres, and another 4,000 acres in what is now Ft. Lauderdale.

Julia Tuttle was widowed in 1891, when she came to her father’s land in Florida. She shrewdly purchased 640 acres on the north banks of the Miami River, including land of the former military post at Fort Dallas. It was Julia’s dream to subdivide land holdings and attract residents, creating a city in south Florida.

Julia Tuttle and Mary Brickell were neighbors across the Miami River, with a shared dream of land growing valuable as the foundation of a new city. They knew residents of Cleveland would enjoy warm Florida climate, with tropical fruit. Land rich and cash poor, neither had means to promote their vision. They needed an entreprenuer sharing their dream of residences along the Miami River.

Tuttle reached into Cleveland connections, requesting Rockefeller to introduce her to Flagler. Flagler retired from Standard Oil to build railroads. When he received a call from Tuttle, Flager’s Florida East Coast Railroad was sixty-six miles north of Miami, a place he called Palm Beach. In 1894, Flagler opened the Royal Poinciana, Palm Beach, advertised to northeasterners as the perfect place to spend the winter. That winter set records for a bitter freeze. Flagler needed options further south.

Flagler realized Miami was below the freeze line. Julia Tuttle offered him half her land holdings, in a checkerboard, for extending his venture. Mary Bricknell forgave Flagler for his part in the Cleveland Masacre, in which Flagler and Rockefeller undercut competition, putting her husband and others out of business in 1870, when they formed Standard Oil. In 1895, Bricknell deeded half her land to Flagler for a township. The agreement required Flagler to build a river bridge.⁵ The two women became mothers of Miami. Like many mothers, without due credit.

Fort Dallas, now owned by Flagler, became Miami. Tuttle borrowed to improve lots for sale. When sales were slow, she sold her lots to Flagler to pay debts. Brickell was stranded across the river, by the crude structure Flagler considered a bridge. She sold residential lots for larger homes. In 1911, she paved Brickell Avenue from the Miami River to Coconut Grove. When the streetscape fullfilled her dreams, Brickell gave landscaped improvements to the city.

Villa Vizcaya

Mary Brickell sold bay-front lots to Louis Comfort Tiffany, William Jennings Bryan, and James Deering, Vice-President of International Harvester. Deering built Villa Vizcaya, a Mediterranean confection. Brickell Avenue was Millionaire’s Row.

On Miami’s centennial in 1996, the city opened Brickell Avenue Bridge. In 1998, Brickell’s warehouse site was discovered with 2,00 year old Tequesta Indian ruins. Known as the Miami Circle, for the post holes anchoring the first native dwelling, the site was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2009. Brickell Point on the Miami River remains open space in a forest of highrise buildings. If the city condemns the park for construction, it triggers a reversion clause to the Brickells.

Creating Miami Beach: Dredge and Delight

Miami South Beach and Lummus Park

Across the bay from Miami, Miami Beach was incorporated in 1915, as a purpose-built city for fun. Two founders built lavish hotels in mid-beach and north-beach Miami Beach. In contrast, two bankers, the Lummus brothers, planned South Beach as a densely populated playground for everyone. Today Miami Beach retains original configurations, although all real estate is pricey.

Miami Beach is a historic preservation success story. The Lummus brothers would be pleased with Ocean Drive, the main South Beach artery. The 1930s era hotels are colorful jewel boxes facing the beach. Joggers run along the sea at Lummus Park, while sidewalk tables of hotels are continually filled with locals and visitors.

South Beach is the epicenter of Art Deco Miami. A classic hotel is the Winter Haven on Ocean Drive. Built in 1939, and recently renovated to original glory, Winter Haven is a specimen of Miami Modern architecture with a checkerboard terrazzo floor, Art Deco ceiling fixtures, and a sculptured staircase floating above the bar. Desk staff wear pink coats, welcoming guests into the 1930s.

Art Deco Miami

John Collins left a farm in New Jersey in 1907 for Miami Beach. When he arrived, the area was a thin, windswept, barrier island. Australian Pines he planted still thrive in the road median. Collins, with another relocated farmer, Carl Fisher of Indiana, and Lummus brothers, founded Miami Beach. Collins and Fisher focused on Mid-Beach and North Beach, envisioning large home-sites and opulent hotels.⁶

Today Miami Beach runs from the tip of land north to 87th Street. Mid-beach begins at 23rd Street and becomes North Beach at 63rd Street. The Army Corps of Engineers dredged the inland bay, creating the Miami Canal in 1909. Dredging created wider landmass on the Miami Beach side of the bay. During World War II, fortunate soldiers trained on the beach. In the post-war era, the beach was filled with high-rise condominiums and hotels, fulfilling dreams of Collins and Fisher.

Warlords of Mid-Beach: Remaking Millionaires Row

Miami Beach from Eden Roc to Fontainebleau Towers

John Collins died in 1928, ending the era of mansions on Millionaire’s Row. Large lots were replaced in the 1950s with luxury hotels in Miami Modern style. Emblematic is the Fontainebleau Hotel, built in 1953, on grounds of the Harvey Firestone estate, by development partners Ben Novack and Harry Mufson.

Architect Morris Lapidus learned of his commission for the Fontainebleau when he read his name in the newspaper. It was his first solo work, catapulting him to architectural fame. In the commission for a theatrical, entertainment venue, with a shopping arcade, anchoring a luxury hotel, Lapidus created a new genre of hotel.

Lapidus Designed Swimming Pool

The 500-room hotel, widely reported in the press, attracted star-studded clientele. Eventually, there were 1200 rooms. The 18,000 square foot swimming pool was the largest of any hotel. Radio personalities broadcast from a studio in the hotel lobby. Frank Sinatra started a food fight with scrambled eggs in the coffee shop. The dining room accomodated 3,000, for a ball hosted by John F. Kennedy.

When Novak and Mufson parted company, they played one-up-manship in hotel construction along Mid-beach. Lapidus was hired by both men. He was obliging in designs, which had no equal, until the second iteration of the Las Vegas Strip.⁷

Novack was so enamoured with the Fontainebleau, he took credit for its design. He refused payment to Lapidus, which made the architect angry. Novack claimed Lapidus tried to kill him.⁸

In 1955, Mufson hired Lapidus to design Eden Roc Hotel, next to Fontainebleau. Eden Roc is in line with quiet sophistication of earlier eras of Miami Beach hotels frequented by notable and noble. It was an instant success.

Novack retaliated in 1959 with a hotel tower between Fontainebleau and Eden Roc, casting shadows on the pool of Eden Roc during summer. To make certain Mufson knew the slight was intentional, Novack filled the space between hotels with the Fontainebleau Convention Hall, dubbed cheese-hole wall, for rows of circles.⁹

Mufson sued Novack to block construction of the offending tower. Their dispute went to the United States Supreme Court. The high court held Novack had rights to build a tower blocking the sun, in a landmark decision denying a right to a view.

Mediterranean Miami

Merrick’s Coral Gables Biltmore Hotel

In the 1920s, developer George Merrick created a subdivision, where all homes had a Mediterranean theme. He called the residential city Coral Gables. In 1924, lots sold out, netting Merrick $12.5million. Characteristic three-arched windows, are found throughout neighborhoods along Biscayne Boulevard.

Iconic of Mediterranean Revival architecture is found in James Deering’s fantasy home on Biscayne Bay. Villa Vizcaya was constructed between 1914 and 1917, amidst ten acres of garden. The formal entry garden is studded with classical statues in Venetian style. The house is built around a central courtyard, taking advantage of breezes in days prior to airconditioning. The swimming pool juts out from the side of the lower house, creating a grotto effect.

Villa Vizcaya Stone Ship with Miami Backdrop

Villa Vizcaya is a favorite venue for wedding photography. Just off the pier is a Venetian ship in stone, eternally moored, covered in statues. Beyond the ship is a vista of modern Miami.

In the Auto-Zone of MiMo

MiMo Motels

In the post-World War II boom of the 1950s and 1960s in Miami, Biscayne Boulevard, between 6200 and 7800, was the liveliest place in town. Proliferation of automobiles, annual vacations allowing car trips, and air-conditioned motel rooms, resulted in a popularity explosion for Miami.

Miami acclimated to automobile culture. A string of motor hotels, called motels, to distinguish from classy hotels, grew along Biscayne strip, now US Route 1. Known as Motel Row, Miami Modern, or MiMo, is Biscayne Boulevard Historic District.

Motel Row is a drive back in time. MiMo defines kitsch. Vagabond Motel and New Yorker, built in 1953, have outside-access rooms surrounding a parking lot. Architecture is Mid-Century Modern.

When MiMo declined in the late 1970s, motels became marginal residences. Today the area is reclaimed by Mid-Century enthusiasts and by chefs fleeing high rent Miami. Expect casual Cuban and trendy French restaurants in former shopping strips. Locals outnumber out-of-towners in restaurants, not yet discovered by tourists. Vagabond Motel has valet parking for the coffee shop.

New Heights of Paradise

Miami Modern Today

Today in Miami, historic beginnings as Fort Dallas are preserved in Lummus Park. Miami Beach hotels offer glimspes into eras of elegance, when nothing was too much for Miami. Cuba’s relationship to Miami, integral to modern history, is seen in the 1925 Mediterranean Revival Freedom Tower. The Freedom Tower began as a newpaper publishing house until it was a resettlement venue for thousands of Cubans in the 1960s. Miami and Havana relations has its own story.

Miami architects continue the tradition of creating outragous structures, that push genres of design. One Ocean is a condo building that quickly sold pricey units. Miami Noir television and movies have buildings of last decades as stage sets.

Today Miami is a popular cruise port. Eight or more large cruise ships are seen daily departing or arriving in port. Most