The father of Florida winter residence?

Today was a fairly active day, at least fairly active for someone with only 7 weeks left to deliver. We learned a lot about this amazing town, much of which I'd love to share in a different format. Maybe through "face-talking." Also known simply as talking, or conversation. Someone actually called it that. Crazy.

But for now, I think I know who to 'blame' for the phenomenon of Florida winter residence. It is kind of a phenomenon really, even though animals do it. But they don't have the benefit of actual shelter, heating, grocery stores and the like.

Anyhow, Henry Flagler may be the father of this phenomenon, or behavior, if you want to call it that. In the late 1800's, Flagler, co-founder of the lucrative Standard Oil Company, erected the lavish, ahead of the times, colossal hotel Ponce de Leon.

If you were loaded, you could come down to this hotel. The catch? You had to stay from January through March. Even if it wasn't a leap year, that's a long time. Of course you didn't have to stay (it wasn't the Hotel California), but you had to pay for the whole three months up front with cash. So rich northerners often ended up staying the whole three months.

Eventually the Great Depression hit and the hotel lost its luster a bit. But then cold fronts hit too and people made their way farther south. Winter residence soon became a way of life for more than just the wealthy-although I'm still not exactly sure how people swing that. Anyhow, I just found it interesting that Flagler gets credit for a lot of stuff, but not this. He may deserve more credit for other things as well. Amy and I found it interesting since both of us grew up not really hearing much about 'winter residence.'