The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1946-12-06

!
gate the entire house.
entrance a broad concrete walk
leads to the beach. Date palms
and rare cactus plants intrigue
the eyes. Gay-hued umbrellas
and comfortable chairs invite to
leisure while the North is buried
in snow. Robins, sometimes in
flocks, know the charm of Casa
Marina's foliage and the verdure
of her lawns. They may sing for
water, and they find it when the
great irrigation system that COW
ers the grounds is served with
water pumped from the storage
tanks.
Walks lead everywhere and in
season are bordered with low
hedgerows of pink and white pc
tunias-how sweetly they scent
the soft air in the fascinating
hours of summers evening in
mid-winter at Key Vest -.
Maybe with a full moon lighting
the scene with its tropical glow.
The Australian pine that grows
along the edges of the hotel
grounds, and especially that be-
side the ocean, loves the taste of
the salt spray!
Above the Waterside entrance
a great seal is worked in stucco--
a key pointing west under
streaming sun.
Schutt's Dream" Hotel"
Casa Marina was constructed
under the efficient direction of
Mr.. Schutt, who was its first and
only manager up to the time the
world was sunk in depression
following the first world war.
Then the hotel was temporarily
closed. Mr.. Schutt had been Mr..
Flagler'S right arm in the hand
ling of his hotel property on the
island of Nassau; he had directed
the commiSsary problem for the
thousands of workers along the
grade of the Extension for seven
years. And so Flagler sent him
to build his ideal at Key West.
Beside the hotel greenhouses
stands the building which quar-
tiers the hotels help. 1t is three
stories high, 40 by 100 feet on the
ground, and was erected some
years before Mr. Schutt died,
quite largely through the inter
est of Mrs. Schutt in the hos
telry's operating staff The first
story contains recreation room,
laundry and warehouse. The up
per floors afford homelike accom-
modations for an augmented hotel
force. At the rear is garage for
the hotels cars and trucks.
odd Rock" Still Wonderful
Whether now a tourists objec-
tive is Casa Marina, or some 9TH
er hotel downtown, or a private
| home, every visitor to the Island
City may we'll be reminded by its
citizens who have lived there
through the years-or by adopt
ed citizens" such as the writer
| that the beauties Lucie Vannevar
first sensed in 1891, are with '"The
Old Rock" today, and ever will
be. A steamship tripper whose
companions bespoke blight upon
the town, Miss Vannevar's recol-
lections were set down imperish-
ably for all who will read:
g. We know what others
first impressions of the city may
be; but as one. who loves the
quaint old place and all belong
| ing to it, we beg our readers not
! to believe what others tell them,
but to visit it for themselves; to
| dip into the sea; to let the eyes
rove over all it's Wonderous beau
ty; to mingle with the Islanders
and enjoy their hospitality
I and then we fear not the result,
but know that they with us would
be content TO watch forever
THE crisping ripples on the
beach.
And slender. curving lines oil
! creamy spray.
| Content to live as we would be
content
To live beneath that sunny
Southern sky.
Until the end should come. and
we should lie
! Heaped over with d mound OF
grass
Two handfuls of white dust. shut
in an urn of brass"
/ Determined To See Key West
When the writer first left the
Port Tampa boat at the Trumbc
dock, he asked a fellow traveller