Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1885-02-16
LETTER FROM FLORIDA.

Florida that we will ask the MONITOR
to publish the following, thereby saw
inc the trouble of writing to all We
left home the 18th of Dec. and came
as far as Boston the first day, stopped
there one week, during which time the
cold wave struck us, and | think it
safe to say we had two of the cold
est days since the cold Friday. This
cold snap gave US a good send-off
and we started full of zeal for the
"Sunny South At New York we
took Pullman, buffet sleeping car
over the Atlantic Coast Line this
car runs through to Jacksonville
without change, and one could not
be more comfortable at home in his
own parlor than in one of these ele-
CANT cars. The "buffet part was
the conundrum with me, but we soon
found out that it entitled us to three
meals day at Is cents each; bill of
fare included oysters, ham sandwiches,
boiled eggs, bread and butter, tea,
coffee or chocolate and water out of q
bottle, (but the water in the bottle
was an extra charge, however,, we
took our bottle from home so they
got no extras out of us. We had
one conductor and two colored gentle
men walters the entire trip. We did
not run out of snow until we got south
of Richmond, but twelve hours more
ride made quite a change. At Charles
ton it was evident we had struck q
warm wave; here we laid aside our
winter wraps and overcoat and have
had no use for them since. Charles
ton has population of fifty thousand
and is over two hundred years old
it has many places of interest. Fort
Moultrie and Fort Sumpter are names
that will long be remembered. The
most beautiful buildings are the Gus
tom house, the citadel, city hall, court
house, orphans home, U. S. arsenal,
Hymns church, and many beautiful
private residences. Citadel Green
and the Battery are the great pleas
ure grounds of the city and the pride
of its people. But no one thing is so
dear to Charlestonians as st. Mich
ael's church and its chime of bells /;
they are tolled solemnly when the city
mourns, and rung out in merry chimes
and quaint old tunes on festal days ;
they are nearly as old as the city,
and were captured in the revolution
and carried to England, but were af-
forwards bought by public spirited
Charlestonian and brought back and
placed in the tower of the church
In this city you can drink water from
artesian wells $500 feet deep. But
l am writing too much of Charleston
and too little of Florida, / fear, sc
f on we 90 at the rate of 45 miles PEI
hour until we come to Savannah. VIZ
stopped here only thirty minutes an(
: learned but little of the place. 1t il
, called the Forest City, and is said t.
, be the prettiest city in the South
Its live oak, magnolia and sycamor
+ shade trees are very beautiful. 1t i
situated on the right bank of the Sa
vannah river, eighteen miles from tn
@ ocean, and has population of Al,
V 600 and is. the second largest cottol
o port in the United States. 1t ais
n ships large quantities of rice an
: lumber, and having a fine climate
!. many people stop here rather than g
n farther south. We journeyed II
r. miles more over q wet, fat countr
n covered with sea grass, ferns, pa
;. mettoes and pine trees, and we are i
O. Jacksonville, Florida, the Getty G
W Hotels, the Saratoga of the South,
;, and the s.Gate of Florida" 1t has
population of about 1000, and is
city with future. Almost ever
70 man keeps a boarding house or he
ID tel, or rooms to rent. The Everett
* Carleton, ST. James, Duval, Vino
sor, fremont, Bay View and 5
Marks are perhaps the leading hotels
The St. James alone can accommt
81 date five hundred guests, at rates fro
= So to 81 per day, according to Il
u be from three to four thousand vi
! itors in this city during the winte
nc and twenty thousand more through
E out the state. This is Florida, 'sth
o semi-tropical land of flowers di
10 covered by Ponce DeLeon over 2;
vi years ago; old in history but your
IN in development. Very little W
r. known Of Florida by the Americ;
ne people until since the late war. T
ey planters of the early days devot'
81 their energies to raising cotton, co
g and sugar cane, with a few orang
Ell and lemons for home consumption
u but since the war northern peoL
d- have ventured into Florida, some f
'e- health, others out of curiosity, al
hg realizing the possibilities. of the cou
ne try, they set out orange and lem
ne groves. Some experimental in CT
III tiyating pine apples, others banana
ao all proving success, and to-day
fy is conceded that there is no spot
re- earth the size of Florida that C
us equal her many productions, a
10 no country in the world can eqt
~ her oranges and lemons At t
III same time Florida can grow Sea
fia land cotton, rice, sugar cane, indls
ltii camphor, nutmegs, figs, coffee, g