In 1913, a Methodist minister and college professor was on his way to South Florida. Reverend Dr. John P. Morley of Indianola, Iowa, led a contingent who were searching for a site for a new Methodist liberal arts college in Florida. Morley taught several subjects at Simpson College in Indianola,… Continue reading
In the ten years since Byrd Spilman Dewey (https://www.byrdspilmandewey.com) was rediscovered as an important author and journalist in early South Florida, I have made it a quest to find the exact locations of all of her homes in Palm Beach County. There was the grand estate Ben Trovato, where the… Continue reading
My last blog (click here) chronicled the newly discovered photographs of the Lofthus wreck and how Thomas Moore Rickards removed and transported much of the wood from the shipwreck. But who was the photographer of the revealing photographs? John Henry Moore was born in 1860 in Macoupin County, Illinois, near… Continue reading
Author Note: This blog posting from 2011 has been expanded into a novel., The Crystal Ball Chronicles (available here – https://a.co/d/cmnpv8E). This historical fiction book tells the complete story of Lena Clarke through the eyes of a local reporter, Kate Brennan. If you plan on reading the book, the following… Continue reading
February 4, 1898 was a stormy evening on the Florida east coast. A large ship, a three-masted barque, is sailing from Pensacola to Buenos Aires with a load of Southern pine. The captain had ventured too close to shore in the feisty storm and the ship hit the reef, just… Continue reading
I love old pioneer homes, especially those with Victorian elements. West Palm Beach was once the “Cottage City,” and filled with these lovely homes with their towers, gingerbread, and shingle features. Very few of these homes have stood the forces of nature – whether it be hurricanes, termites, or worst… Continue reading
You have seen them, and perhaps wondered what they were. Purple oblong fruits, tucked away in hedges in mundane places – at the supermarket, drug store, church, school – wherever this popular hedge plant has made its home. The Cocoplum (Chrysobalanus icaco) has become a favorite landscape hedge of South… Continue reading
Note: This blog does not really pertain to Palm Beach County, but it is a fun story from afar. A penny postcard at the beginning of the twentieth century was the text message of its time. People sent them by the millions to friends and family near and far to… Continue reading
January 5, 2019 marks a century since the passing of Fred S. Dewey, one of the most important South Florida pioneers. Frederick Sidney Dewey was born October 10, 1837 in Bloomfield, Indiana. His family had moved west from Massachusetts, where father Lonson Nash Dewey was born. Fred was a descendent… Continue reading
Every month during the fall and winter, Janet DeVries Naughton and I conduct cemetery tours at Woodlawn Cemetery in West Palm Beach, Florida. At Woodlawn, many of Palm Beach County’s pioneer citizens forever rest in the paradise they helped tame more than a century ago. One of the citizens we… Continue reading
