The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1888-01-06
A NEW WINTER RESORT.

cember 25.-Perhaps to the average New
Yorker, Ormond-on-the-Halifa is about
as familiar Dy name as the capital of
ever, that this place has not only been
discovered. but settled and civilized;
and on New Years Day is to open out
into the full bloom of winter-resort-
hood by giving to the use of the public a
well equipped hotel. But if the average
New Yorker is ignorant of Ormond and
has Of the South of Florida only dim idea
in which are mingled visions of stag
nant lagoons, ailigaIors and damp mo-
rasses, there IS one well known New
Yorker who has for some time known
much more. He has explored the wind
ing rivers and warm, fragrant orange
groves, the coralstrewn beaches and the
sweet depths of the pine woods. This
New Yorker is no other than Mr.. S. v.
White. He not only came and saw, but
he concluded that there was here a para
disc for the city-worn and frozen North
erner to come and deposit his votive Of
fering to nature. In other words. he
saw that there was money in the place,
IL people could only be got TO realize 1t.
He accordingly set himself to open up
the region, and the whole region rose as
one man to assist him in this laudable
attempt. The deacon first girded up his
loins and built railroad. This railroad,
the st. Johns and Halifax Railway, runs
from Palatka to Ormond and thence to
Daytona. the Fountain City" of Flor
ida. Ormond is forty miles from Pa
latka, in southeasterly direction by
this road. 1t is estimated that Deacon
White put about $50, 900 into this road
and other improvements in the vicinity.
nvn,nnI tho mainland a
foot bridge was built across the Halifax
River to the long, low-lying peninsula
which separates the river from the ocean,
and thence to the beach, where a semi
tropical Coney Island has been laid out.
Next MIR. White got him up and built
or caused to be built the '-Ormond," a
hotel which, in the eyes of old settlers
in this region, is thing of beauty and
Joy forever. AT the opening of this hO-
tel, which is to be managed by S. E.
Churchill, the well known host of the
CatskiIls, Deacon White will actually
be present and deliver an address, and
the occasion is to be made one of gen.
eral rejoicing for miles around. A ring
tourney" will be held in the forenoon
and ball will be danced in the evening.
A colony of tourists from among the
wealthiest people IN New York and
Brooklyn Will at once take possession of
the hotel, and revel in the beauties of
Southeastern Florida's climate.
One curious feature about the bleach
settlement" is the revival. by Mr.. White,
of the nomadic customs of ancient
Asia, on this wise. A branch of rail-
road track has been built along the
beach for some distance. Upon this will
be run and left for season at a
time, during the hot summer, a row
of ventilated fruit cars. But that is not
all. 1t il a well known fact that all
through the pine woods in the interior
of Florida it Is hot in the summer, and
many of the regular residents ''desire a
change" either to the North or to the
sea coast. But the greater proportion
of them cannot afford to go North, and
again cannot afford the expense of a
cottage by the sea-" But ventilated
fruit cars, not in use, are plenty during
the summer. These it is proposed to fit
up as private cars, or rather to allow any
one so disposed to fit them up with their
own furniture, putting in all their goods
provisions, children, cats, dogs, etc, they
may require. These cars will then be
hauled without change to the Ormond
Beach. charging only the regular fare
and q nominal rent per month. The car
will then be set off on the beach track
and left for the family to live in as long
as 1t may see fit to stay The cars are
perfectly tight from rain and can be
thrown open by wide doors in front.
They are we'll ventilated, and an awning
can be spread in front, and really the
dweller will be more comfortable than
the ordinary cottager. This plan con-
mends itself not only on account of its
cheapnsss but from its absolute avoid
ance of all the petty annoyances of travel.
When the tenant is ready to leave the
breezes of the beach all he has
to do is to furl his awning, call in
the children, the dogs, ard chickens, no
tify the agent of the railroad, and next
morning he will be switched out and at
night landed with all his possessions,
with no trouble about checks or transfers
at his home in the interior.
The Marsh system of sub-irrigation is
being extensively introduced at Ormond.
The ground is laid off in beds and under
each bed is a concrete basin with about
four inches of oyster shells in the bot
tom, then a layer of grass and trash is
laid on and next a foot of garden loan.
Through the shells is kept running a
constant stream of warm artesian well
water. Capillary attraction keeps the
earth moist and the warm, even tenn
perature makes the vegetation flourish
wonderfully.
Ormond will be the regular stop-over
section. A special train will leave the
hotel station each morning, cross the
800 foot bridge, run six miles to Day
tOna, and there connect Immediately
with a steamer which will take passen-
gers seventy five miles down the coast by
the inside river passage as far as Rock
Ledge on the Indian River. This trip
will go through the most picturesque
part of Florida. One of our writers
here speaks of the scenery thus: There
are broad and peaceful lagoons with sill
yer strips of beach and SUNNY slopes,
green hanks shaded by spreading oaks
or clustering palms, noble forests of
giant live oaks, towering hickories and
magnolias that bloom with small noun
tains of snow, and in the depths, hidden
like the clustering wigwams of the ma
tive red man, are the groevs of wild or
ange, richly fruiting in their native
home. There are winding rivers with
high and densely-wooded banks, and
waters alive with fish; there are bays
and straits among the islands, rich with
oysters and noisy with wild fowl; there
are great ocean beaches upon which the
pure waters of the Gulf Stream never
tire of casting gifts of shell and coral
and where the mild soft air comes fresh
from the oceans breast.