All along the Atlantic shore of Florida south of St. Augustine are
popular winter resorts, their broad and attractive beaches, fine
climate and prolific tropical vegetation being among the charms that
bring visitors. Ormond is between the ocean front and the pleasant
Halifax River, its picturesque tributary, the Tomoka, being a favorite
resort for picnic parties. A few miles south on the Halifax River is
Daytona, known as the "Fountain City," and having its suburb, "the
City Beautiful," on the opposite bank. New Smyrna, settled by
Minorcan indigo planters in the eighteenth century, is on the northern
arm of Indian River. Here are found some of the ancient Indian shell
mounds that are frequent in Florida, and also the orange groves that
make this region famous. Inland about thirty miles are a group of
pretty lakes, and in the pines at Lake Helen is located the "Southern
Cassadaga," or Spiritualists' Assembly. For more than a hundred and
fifty miles the noted Indian River stretches down the coast of
Florida. It is a long and narrow lagoon, parallel with the ocean, and
is part of the series of lagoons found on the eastern coast almost
continuously for more than three hundred miles from St. Augustine
south to Biscayne Bay, and varying in width from about fifty yards to
six or more miles. They are shallow waters, rarely over twelve feet
deep, and are entered by very shallow inlets from the sea. The Indian
River shores, stretching down to Jupiter Inlet, are lined with
luxuriant vegetation, and the water is at times highly phosphorescent.
Upon the western shore are most of the celebrated Indian River orange
groves whose product is so highly prized. At Titusville, the head of
navigation, where there are about a thousand people, the river is
about, at its widest part, six miles. Twenty miles below, at
Rockledge, it narrows to about a mile in width, washing against the
perpendicular sides of a continuous enclosing ledge of coquina rock,
with pleasant overhanging trees. Here comes in, around an island, its
eastern arm, the Banana River, and to the many orange groves are added
plantations of the luscious pineapple. Various limpid streams flow out
from the everglade region at the westward, and Fort Pierce is the
trading station for that district, to which the remnant of the
Seminoles come to exchange alligator hides, bird plumage and snake
skins for various supplies, not forgetting "fire-water." Below this is
the wide estuary of St. Lucie River and the Jupiter River, with the
lighthouse on the ocean's edge at Jupiter Inlet, the mouth of Indian
River.
Seventeen miles below this Inlet is Palm Beach, a noted resort,
situated upon the narrow strip of land between the long and narrow
lagoon of Lake Worth and the Atlantic Ocean. Here are the vast Hotel
Royal Poinciana and the Palm Beach Inn, with their cocoanut groves,
which also fringe for miles the pleasant shores of Lake Worth.
Prolific vegetation and every charm that can add to this American
Riviera bring a crowded winter population. The Poinciana is a tree
bearing gorgeous flowers, and the two magnificent hotels, surrounded
by an extensive tropical paradise, are connected by a wide avenue of
palms a half-mile long, one house facing the lake and the other the
ocean. There is not a horse in the settlement, and only one mule,
whose duty is to haul a light summer car between the houses. The
vehicles of Palm Beach are said to be confined to "bicycles,
wheel-chairs and jinrickshas." Off to the westward the distant horizon
is bounded by the mysterious region of the everglades. Far down the
coast the railway terminates at Miami, the southernmost railway
station in the United States, a little town on Miami River, where it
enters the broad expanse of Biscayne Bay, which is separated from the
Atlantic by the first of the long chain of Florida keys. Here are many
fruit and vegetable plantations, and the town, which is a railway
terminal and steamship port for lines to Nassau, Key West and Havana,
is growing. Nassau is but one hundred and seventy-five miles distant
in the Bahamas, off the Southern Florida coast, and has become a
favorite American winter tourist resort.