The Republican journal., 1908-04-16
SEA BREEZE, FLORIDA.
Letter From the Land of Sunshine and
Flowers.

Flowers.
CORRESPONDENCE of The Journal
SEA BREEZE, FLA, March 81, 1908.
Fifty hours travel brought us from
snow and ice at home to land of
fruits and flowers, birds and sunshine.
Reaching Jacksonville, we decided to
90 farther down the east coast, and
chance brought us to Sea Breeze, a
most delightful resort on the peninsula
which extends from St. Augustine to
the southern part of the State. Sea
Breeze is bounded by the Atlantic on
the east and the Halifax river on the
west, and it is connected with the
mainland by number of bridges. The
Halifax river is one of the numerous
semi-salt lagoons, that separates the
peninsula from the mainland. These
rivers are nearly mile wide, and they
abound in the most delicious fish. crabs,
shrimp, oysters, etc. Numbers of
amateur fishermen are seen every day
Grabbing, trolling for trout, Or throw
ing their lines farther out for bigger
fish. Schools of porpoises sometimes
come tumbling down the river; but no.
body cares for them. Sharks and por.
poises are often washed ashore on the
ocean beach. These are killed and
buried, as the tide will not carry them
out again. The sharks here are harm
less.
Oranges, grape fruit, kumquats,
guavas, and other tropical fruits thrive
here. There are many private groves
in Sea Breeze, and SO strict are the
laws in regard to trespassing that no
one dares to even pick up the fruit that
falls under the trees.
Tine birds, too, are protected by law.
Mocking birds, jays, wrens, woodpeck-
ers, cardinals and others, too numerous
to mention, are within stones throw
of us. Sea birds are plentiful, and wild
ducks dip and dive and float unmo.
Tested on the river.
The beach is one of the most beauti-
full in the world. For IS miles north
and south of here it is as smooth as a
floor. On this beach are held the great
international automobile races.
The hotels and boarding houses have
been full all winter. The town is open.
ing up new streets and boulevards and
many handsome homes and hotels will
be built before the next season.
The peninsula is formed by numerous
sand deposits from the ocean, so that
it is twenty feet higher than the main
land and ten degrees warmer in winter.
The gulf stream and the breeZes from
the ocean and the river, make it de-
lightful in summer. The people from
the interior of the State make this
their summer home. Surf bathing is
possible from January to January, but
in February the crowds begin to 60 in.
Some claim that the bathing cures
rheumatism and other ailments; makes
thin people fat, and fat people thin;
and some old people declare that it re-
news their youth every time they take
dip in the ocean. Be this as it may,
the bathers seem to get world of fun
out of it.
The crowds are coming up from
Miami, Palm Beach and other points
lower down to escape the heat. When
these are gone the people from the in
terror will fill their places, SO that Sea
Breeze is full of health and happiness
seekers all the year around.
Mr.. M. R. Knowlton, Belfast man,
has fine business here. He has also
developed talent for amateur theat-
ricals. In a recent production..of the
''Deestrick Skule" he appeared as Lit
tie Buddy" and was pronounced the
best character in the play of fifty
actors. He will always be known as
Buddy" to the small boys, who appre-
cisted the realism Of his work in the
''skule." s. C.. B.