Florida
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Gonzalez-Alvarez House
This photograph brings back memories of a family visit to St. Augustine, Florida, where our daughters posed beside the marker for the González-Alvarez House, commonly known as “The Oldest House.” Although the title has been debated over the years, the site has been occupied continuously for more than three centuries and offers an important connection […]
Truman’s Little White House
I have always enjoyed visiting places connected with our nation’s presidents. While in Key West, we toured Harry S. Truman’s Little White House, a site I knew very little about before our visit. Originally built in 1890 as officers’ quarters for the nearby naval station, the house became President Truman’s winter retreat beginning in 1946, […]
Ford’s The Mangoes
During our visit to the Edison and Ford Winter Estates in Fort Myers, we toured The Mangoes, the winter home of Henry and Clara Ford. In 1916, Ford purchased the property next to Thomas Edison’s Seminole Lodge so that he and his wife could spend their winters close to their dear friends. Although Ford had become […]
Edison’s Seminole Lodge
Visiting the Edison House in Fort Myers was a highlight of our short winter vacation last December. Set along the Caloosahatchee River and shaded by towering royal palms, the estate served as the winter home of Thomas Edison and his wife Mina from 1886 until Edison’s death in 1931. Edison called the property Seminole Lodge, and over the […]
Ernest Hemingway House
A trip to the Florida Keys would not be complete without visiting the Ernest Hemingway Home in Key West. During our family vacation, we made our way to this famous house where one of America’s most celebrated writers lived and worked during some of the most productive years of his career. Built in 1851, the house is […]
Ringling’s Ca’d’Zan
Another part of the country, yet still another extraordinary express of wealth and ambition: The Ringley home in Sarasota, Florida. Here the grandeur of America’s Gilded Age is captured as vividly as the mansions of Newport, R.I. Known as Ca’dZen, the waterfront mansion was built in the 1920s for circus magnate John Ringley and his […]
