Turns out I quite like being a tourist in my own city. As I wrote last week, Julie, my British bestie has been “dragging” me around the state of Florida which she never visited before.
So, we’ve been to South Beach, Key West, and finally ended back in Palm Beach. First we caught the Downton Abbey Exhibition, in CityPlace, then, staying firmly in the Gilded Age, we visited the Flagler Museum and the historic sections of Worth Avenue.
The Flagler Museum was originally built in 1902 as a winter retreat, called Whitehall, for Henry Flagler, a founding partner of the Standard Oil Company. It was a wedding present for his third wife, Mary. It had 75 rooms. On the second floor, in addition to the Master Suite, there were 14 guest chambers, twelve servants’ rooms, seventeen bathrooms and Mrs. Flagler’s Morning Room (which was nowhere near the master suite!)
Flagler, Flagler Everywhere
As Julie commented: “Now I see why everything around here is named Flagler.” She’s right. I live on North Flagler Drive. Several hundred yards away is the Flagler Memorial Bridge that takes us into Palm Beach. The iconic late-night spot at The Breakers is named HMF Bar. Yes, you guessed it. Stands for Henry Morrison Flagler.
Henry Flagler, by the way, is the guy whose bright idea it was to open up the swamps of Florida to the rich and famous of the day. It was his vision that established the Florida East Coast Railway from Jacksonsville to Key West while building luxury hotels along the way. His descendants still run the famous Breakers Resort.
A rail car, preserved in all its wood, leather and brass glory is part of the Museum exhibits (Julie pictured in the sleeper car above)
But the real treasures are on exhibit in the main house. Here are some photos that, like images from the Downton Abbey exhibition last week, show the difference in lifestyles between the family and its servants. (Click on the thumbnails below to get a fuller picture.)
Mrs. Flagler’s morning room (on the left) contrasts with a servant’s room– equipped with ironing board and sewing machine!– on the right In the middle is the one set of china I lusted over. I assumed it was for coffee. It could be for tea. Who cares? I want it in my china cabinet!
We thought the bathrooms were pretty spacious. Oh, and now I know where Restoration Hardware gets its ideas from (see photo left.) Then, we took a quick stroll through the courtyard (see photo right of salivating satyrs. “Plus ca change” and all that!!!!) And, then it was onto :
Worth Avenue
It’s the famous shopping street in Palm Beach — Florida’s answer to Hollywood’s Rodeo Drive. Before we got to shop in its famous boutiques, we let legendary tour guide, Rick Rose (pictured) fill us in on some fun facts about the Everglades Club (very exclusive!!! So exclusive in fact that Trump, if you can imagine this, used its exclusion of minorities as an argument for establishing Mar-A-Lago as a private club — which would be open to all, he said!!!!)
It was around this point that I decided that one gets to see a lot of fun things when you’re playing the tourist in your own town. In all the times, I’ve parked on Worth Avenue (mainly to join my hubby for lunch at Ta-boo) I’ve never explored the alleys and courtyards off the main strip/drag. So European! So pretty! Made me feel quite nostalgic.
Thanks Julie!
Photo Credits, Worth Avenue: Julie Johnstone