The Republican journal., 1905-12-28
IN THE LAND OF DIXIE.
Notes of Journey from Maine to Florida

| Correspondence of The Journal
MIAMI, FLORIDA, Dec. TO- 1905. In my
| first letter from the Sunny South I will tell
something of the trip and of things seen en-
route. / left Belfast on cool morning in
| November on the steamer Rockland for
| Camden, went from there to Rockland on
the eectrcs and left the same evening for
| Boston on the steamer City of Rockland.
/ The day l spent in Boston was a pleasant
! one, rather warm for the season, and visit
ed several points of interest, including the
big church the Christian Scientists are
, building, modern and magnificent piece
of architecture which will be one of
the largest places of worship in the city of
| Boston when completed. left Boston from
the South station in the evening, where
there was the usual big crowd of rushing
! humanity. At Fall River the steamer Ply
mouth was boarded and among the passen-
/ gers | encountered Mr.. Hollis NJ. Bean, the
Camden shpbuilder, who was en- route to
| New York. After little chat, enlivened by
the strains of the orchestra, we retired, to
awake the next morning in busy New York.
There was much shipping in the harbor
and the trip up the river was interesting
| We breakfasted on board the steamer and
i left soon after s in the morning on our
various ways. The morning was cool but a
| pleasant one and the city presented it's usual
hustle and scenes of interest
| l left New York on the Mallory line
| steamship Rio Grande, Captain Davidson.
Although the sailing day came on Friday
and the steamer, which is $500 tons, is the
smallest on the line, we had a good passen-
ger list and plenty of freight. | was the
only passenger booked for Miami. While
never really seasick | am often sick OF the
sea, and it was SO on this trip. The first
day out there was nothing in sight. The
second day butterflies were seen fitting
over the water and score or more of gulls
followed the ship, seemingly never stopping
to rest. Schools of porpoises were seen on
either side of the ship and one large school
swan directly in front, their tails almost
touching the bow. We passed the Diamond
Shoal lightship off Cape Hatteras and later
the ightship on Frying Pan Shoa), farther
down the coast, and late Monday afternoon
the Georgia coast was in sight, and we saw
quite fleet of vessels off Savannah.
| The heat was now great and we were
glad to get in the shade of the cabin. Show
| ers were frequent and the heat which fol
| lowed was almost uncomfortable. ! was glad
when we neared the big lighthouse at St.
Simons and knew that we were soon to
land. We did not take pilot, for the cap
| tain was familiar with the channel, and we
made quick time up the bay. The light
house at St. SmonS has been undermined
several times and the present structure is
! farther from the shore, ont of the reach of
the shifting sands and high tides. We
reached Brunswick too late to make con-
nections by steamer and had to remain on
board another night.
The ship was unloaded by the colored
men about the docks and the work was
watched with interest. This feature is
something which always interests those
who travel south, and although five winters
have been spent among them, each trip al
ways brings something new ard interesting
in the study of the black men of the south.
| 1t seems very hard for them to work I'M
| loading vessel without a song and as a
part Of the cargo of our ship was railroad
| iron, that was taken for the subject. With
every piece of iron taken out they sang i'm a
chorus, Railroad iron," with an intona-
| tion which must be heard to be appreciated.
| When the iron was loaded on the train you
heard them chant, "Seaboard Air Line
Brunswick is called the City by the Sea
and is situated on level PENN sular, with
| ri ~, 81 t.
Georgia and Florida terminus of the Nal
| lory line, and one of the greatest shipping
ports on the South Atlantic coast, with a
population OF about 10000 The principal
business on the water front seemed to be
| the shipping Of railroad ties. The big
docks were piled high with them and both
steam and sailing vessels were loading for
northern ports Cotton shipments from
Brunswick are declining
The streets and parks are handsomely
laid out and adorned with beautiful shade
trees-live oak, cedar, palmetto and holly.
the latter always green and just now made
bright by its red berries
We visited the Ogethorpe, one of the
| largest and best hotels in the South, stand
ing on the highest point and commanding a
fine view of the city and harbor; the post
office, which would be a credit to any city,
and other buildings and places of interest.
| We left Brunswick on b, light warm No
vember morning on the little steamer Doro-
thy, which is about the size of the Silver
Star, with large passenger list and freight
packed in all the available room, and had a
delightful sail down through the "sea
islands" of the coast
The trip was advertised as one of "four
hours through the sounds and islands, but
proved to be one of six. From Brunswick
we passed out through Oglethrope bay,
from which we had fine view of the city
thence into St. SimOns Sound, in full view
of St. Simons Island, one of the noted and
picturesque points Passing st. Andrews
Sound the steamer landed at the pier of the
Jekyl Island Club, on Jekyl Island, well
known as the millionaire resort of the
south. The cottages and club house here
are elegant in design and richly furnished.
The island is IA miles in length and about G
wide, and is one of the most magnificent
winter resorts in this country. 1t is owned
by the Jekyl Island Club, the members