Thursday, April 18. Life during the 19th Century Guilded Age

Andrea and the Victorian Dianne

Our always on-time trains transported us to our first exploration of the day, the Hotel Ponce de Leon.  The magnificent hotel was built in 1887 by Henry Flagler, the millionaire developer and Standard Oil co-founder.  Flagler is credited with opening up Florida to tourists, as he built hotels and extended the railroad all the way down the coast to Key West.  Thomas Edison, Flagler’s friend, built generators to provide electricity to the hotel, even before the White House was electrified.  In 1968, the hotel became part of the newly formed Flagler College, The college has restored and maintained the treasures of the original hotel, including Tiffany windows and chandeliers, painted domed ceilings, hand-carved dining chairs, and marble inlaid floors.  Our tour guide was a lively soon-to-graduate senior who pointed out the many priceless furniture items, light fixtures, and paintings in the building.  The former hotel currently houses the freshman women, who dine in what must be the world’s most elegant college dining hall. 

The historic hotel, built in the
Spanish Renaissance Style

The elegant dining hall, with handcarved
chairs and 79 Tiffany windows.

After our tour we crossed the street to the luxury Casa Monica Hotel.  The hotel concierge provided us a tour of the hotel, including two of the beautifully furnished rooms.  The hotel opened in 1888 and was bought a few months later by Henry Flagler.  Even Flagler could not escape the Great Depression and the hotel closed in 1932.  In 1999 the hotel reopened as one of the country’s 4-Star hotels. We enjoyed an excellent lunch at the hotel before returning to our lodgings.

After all the touring and sightseeing, it was nice to have an afternoon of free time.  Of course Andrea and I decided to continue our touring.  Because we had rented a car for the week, we decided to drive down the coast, enjoying the beach views and exploring the restored Fort Matanzas, a small block house fort that was constructed in the mid 1700’s at the mouth of the Matanzas inlet to ward off the British encroachments on St. Augustine.  We also stopped at another beautiful white sand beach where we let the waves wash over our feet.  

Tonight’s entertainment was another of the week’s highlights, as we were treated to a performance at our hotel of “The Three Mrs. Flagler’s.”  Dianne has created this one-woman show in which she portrays, in full costume of course, the three very different wives of Henry Flagler.  As written in the advertisement for a performance of the play at the dinner theatre at the Casa Monica Hotel later this spring, the play “tells the story of empire builder Henry Morrison Flagler. His tremendous accomplishments during the glorious Gilded Age are seen through the eyes of his three captivating wives. As each tells her own story, the true Henry Flagler comes alive.”   As I wrote earlier, Dianne’s talents provide this program with so many special moments, and this evening was definitely one of those moments.