I know, I know. I gotta shorten these posts and work on getting them posted much earlier in the day. Excuses simply come across as lame at this stage of the game, so I'll just skip them in favor of moving to the real deal.
To quote my errant daughter when working back into my good graces: "You know you still love me."
Yes? Maybe? Sometimes?
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Jimmy was doing the driving; I was doing my homework. There’s lots of that, now that I’ve become a world traveler and history buff.
Key West was behind us (but you can check out my reasons for loving the Conch Republic here), as was mile marker 0;
To quote my errant daughter when working back into my good graces: "You know you still love me."
Yes? Maybe? Sometimes?
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Jimmy was doing the driving; I was doing my homework. There’s lots of that, now that I’ve become a world traveler and history buff.
Key West was behind us (but you can check out my reasons for loving the Conch Republic here), as was mile marker 0;
Are these two looking to get a hair wrap or braids?
the thin ribbon of highway called U.S. 1 provided glimpses regularly of both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, beautiful vistas of water that attract 40,000 visitors annually; well, 40,002 as of our three day visit to this island paradise that sits precariously on the edge of the world (okay, on the edge of our world as we know it, North America).
Can I order up that blue or green for my eyes?
Precarious is the operative word every year during hurricane season. After my little flood in our basement almost a month ago, and the seemingly never-ending saga surrounding our restoration efforts, I’m not sure how Floridians survive year after year. My hearts go out to the victims of Hurricane Sandy. My sister Lynda lost her home to Hurricane Andrew in 1992. She’s obviously got more stamina than me.
Almost forty percent of all U.S. hurricanes hit Florida. Our January visit earlier this year offered nothing but clear skies and balmy temperatures (adios freezing temps in Chicago!). That was not the case in 1935 when the first ever Category Five Hurricane on record hit the United States.
Undoubtedly the most iconic image of that devastating storm that barreled into the Florida Keys on Labor Day is the demolished rescue train filled with more than two-hundred World War I veterans and their families who lost their lives.
Almost forty percent of all U.S. hurricanes hit Florida. Our January visit earlier this year offered nothing but clear skies and balmy temperatures (adios freezing temps in Chicago!). That was not the case in 1935 when the first ever Category Five Hurricane on record hit the United States.
Undoubtedly the most iconic image of that devastating storm that barreled into the Florida Keys on Labor Day is the demolished rescue train filled with more than two-hundred World War I veterans and their families who lost their lives.
CORRECTION: It was brought to my attention after posting this story that the aforementioned train never actually reached the veterans awaiting evacuation in Lower Matecumbe Key. The rescue train was washed off the tracks at the Islamorada Station north of Matecumbe Key. Thanks, Loralea Carrera, for setting the record straight.
Photo courtesy of Florida State Archives; and Labor Day hurricane.
According to reports, the tracks themselves heaved under the force of the 200 mph winds.
Photo courtesy of Florida State Archives.
The veterans were in the Florida Keys through the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), working on government projects that included repairing Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas and working on the new Overseas Highway to Key West. President Hoover’s FERA was an attempt to provide construction jobs throughout the country as hundreds of thousands of vets returned home from the war to deal with yet another battle, finding a job in the middle of the Great Depression.
That Labor Day hurricane (the Weather Service had not yet established the practice of naming hurricanes in 1935) made landfall near Islamorada in the Upper Keys.
The area looked idyllic the day Jimmy and I stopped for lunch at the Bass Pro Shop near mile-marker 82 in the heart of Islamorada.
That Labor Day hurricane (the Weather Service had not yet established the practice of naming hurricanes in 1935) made landfall near Islamorada in the Upper Keys.
The area looked idyllic the day Jimmy and I stopped for lunch at the Bass Pro Shop near mile-marker 82 in the heart of Islamorada.
Nope; this is my photo at Islamorada, not part of the Florida State Archives.
The sea and sun and time seemed to stretch to infinity. It wasn’t difficult to understand why the rich and the famous and the eccentric come here to play.
We ordered up a long pier for our short walk.
Oh, you didn’t realize Jimmy and I were eccentric?
Guess who is taking the picture?
Jimmy looked every bit the sea captain (I think it’s the beard and hat) while playing at being rich and famous at the wheel of Ernest Hemingway’s 32-footer, the Pilar.
This Halloween we're dressing up as Captain and Tennille.
It wasn’t the real deal any more than Jimmy was a real captain, but as a full scale replica of the Pilar, it certainly looked authentic, right down to the typewriter in the cabin below deck.
I tried to take the typewriter, but it was nailed down. I think it would bring me luck.
Ninety miles south of Key West the real deal is on display in Cuba at the Museo Ernest Hemingway at Finca Vigia, Hemingway’s former home near Havana; maybe next trip.
Hemingway came under considerable government scrutiny following his very public outrage when he wrote a scathing article entitled, “Who Murdered the Vets?” that was published in New Masses two weeks after the storm. He implied that the workers and families who were unfamiliar with the risks associated with Florida’s hurricane season, unwittingly became victims of a system that appeared totally unconcerned about their welfare.
Hemingway came under considerable government scrutiny following his very public outrage when he wrote a scathing article entitled, “Who Murdered the Vets?” that was published in New Masses two weeks after the storm. He implied that the workers and families who were unfamiliar with the risks associated with Florida’s hurricane season, unwittingly became victims of a system that appeared totally unconcerned about their welfare.
Hemingway wrote, ...wealthy people, yachtsmen, fishermen such as President Hoover and Presidents Roosevelt, do not come to the Florida Keys in hurricane months.... There is a known danger to property. But veterans, especially the bonus-marching variety of veterans, are not property. They are only human beings; unsuccessful human beings, and all they have to lose is their lives. They are doing coolie labor for a top wage of $45 a month and they have been put down on the Florida Keys where they can't make trouble. It is hurricane months, sure, but if anything comes up, you can always evacuate them, can't you?.....It is not necessary to go into the deaths of the civilians and their families since they were on the Keys of their own free will; They made their living there, had property and knew the hazards involved. But the veterans had been sent there; they had no opportunity to leave, nor any protection against hurricanes; and they never had a chance for their lives. Who sent nearly a thousand war veterans, many of them husky, hard-working and simply out of luck, but many of them close to the border of pathological cases, to live in frame shacks on the Florida Keys in hurricane
months?
I've always liked his style - sparse and bold; I envy his free spirit. For years Hemingway was on the FBI watch list following his outspoken response to this disaster; his ties to Cuba didn't help either. Who knew the notorious life-styles of famous authors/war correspondents could be so threatening to national security.
It’s been said Hemingway did some of his best work (including that scathing article) while living in his Key West home from 1931 to 1939 (yes, we did visit!),
months?
I've always liked his style - sparse and bold; I envy his free spirit. For years Hemingway was on the FBI watch list following his outspoken response to this disaster; his ties to Cuba didn't help either. Who knew the notorious life-styles of famous authors/war correspondents could be so threatening to national security.
It’s been said Hemingway did some of his best work (including that scathing article) while living in his Key West home from 1931 to 1939 (yes, we did visit!),
Hemingway had it made in the shade.
including the short story classics The Snows of Kilimanjaro and The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber. Two books, The Old Man and the Sea and Islands in the Stream, were undoubtedly legacies influenced by his years sailing in the Key West area aboard his boat, Pilar.
Maybe after my first best seller, Jimmy and I can afford a beautiful home in Key West. That would certainly make those Chicago winters bearable. Meanwhile, keep that guest room in Miami available, Lynda. We'll be back!
Conditions were pretty unbearable for the veterans and their families that Labor Day when it came to battling a Category Five hurricane, not to mention the scorching sun and the mosquito infested swampland that constituted much of the area before civilization could reach the Keys.
The government housing provided, according to Hemingway, was little more than “frame shacks”, a death trap for the veterans given the government’s decision to schedule the work during Florida’s hurricane season.
Maybe after my first best seller, Jimmy and I can afford a beautiful home in Key West. That would certainly make those Chicago winters bearable. Meanwhile, keep that guest room in Miami available, Lynda. We'll be back!
Conditions were pretty unbearable for the veterans and their families that Labor Day when it came to battling a Category Five hurricane, not to mention the scorching sun and the mosquito infested swampland that constituted much of the area before civilization could reach the Keys.
The government housing provided, according to Hemingway, was little more than “frame shacks”, a death trap for the veterans given the government’s decision to schedule the work during Florida’s hurricane season.
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
The railroad structures the veterans were responsible for constructing, however, were built to withstand the harshest of the Keys' tropical climates. Whadda ya know? Maybe the veterans should have had Flagler built their housing.
Ironically, many of the railway trestles and bridge structures left standing after the Labor Day hurricane were used in the completion of U.S. Highway 1 when Flagler’s Florida East Coast Railway Company went into receivership following the disaster that had incurred a $6 million price tag. The government stepped in, abandoned Flagler’s Folly, and began efforts to extend Highway 1 all the way to Key West. By 1938, they were successful. Most of U.S. 1 was rebuilt in the 1980’s, the former viaducts and bridges now fishing piers and/or part of the Florida Overseas Highway Trail.
Ironically, many of the railway trestles and bridge structures left standing after the Labor Day hurricane were used in the completion of U.S. Highway 1 when Flagler’s Florida East Coast Railway Company went into receivership following the disaster that had incurred a $6 million price tag. The government stepped in, abandoned Flagler’s Folly, and began efforts to extend Highway 1 all the way to Key West. By 1938, they were successful. Most of U.S. 1 was rebuilt in the 1980’s, the former viaducts and bridges now fishing piers and/or part of the Florida Overseas Highway Trail.
Portions of the old bridge were destroyed to prevent people from driving on bridge. Who would do that?
Today, the new Seven Mile Bridge constructed over a four year period beginning in 1978, runs alongside portions of the old bridge that connected Knight’s Key (part of the city of Marathon Key in the Middle Keys) to Little Duck Key in the Lower Keys.
I remember speeding past (actually, Jimmy never speeds; it just felt like we were going fast given we were on a two-lane highway) the Memorial to the 408 victims of that disastrous hurricane on our way to Key West. Heading north on our way back to Miami, we missed the Memorial entirely. But I do have a picture courtesy of Wikipedia.
Cold comfort for so many families.
More than 4,000 people attended the unveiling of the monument in 1937. The ceramic-tile mural of the Florida Keys in front of the sculpture covers a stone crypt which holds the cremated remains of approximately 300 victims from the makeshift funeral pyres that were used to dispose of the bodies. The memorial was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on March 15, 1995.
Of course, we did manage to make one last stop while on our way out of Dodge/Florida Keys, at Pigeon Key Railroad Museum. You know Jimmy! He loves his trains.
Of course, we did manage to make one last stop while on our way out of Dodge/Florida Keys, at Pigeon Key Railroad Museum. You know Jimmy! He loves his trains.
I rather liked the little express that belonged to Henry.
I love all the travel; and the history/people behind all those destinations.
We owe a debt of gratitude to the thousands of workers, government and private, that are part of the Key's history and attraction.
Next visit (sometime outside hurricane season), I plan to stop to see the Memorial in person.
We owe a debt of gratitude to the thousands of workers, government and private, that are part of the Key's history and attraction.
Next visit (sometime outside hurricane season), I plan to stop to see the Memorial in person.
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