[Archive]: Massachusetts Woman's Diary Documenting Four Annual Trips to Florida

Bertha G.

Editore: Massachusetts, Florida, 1939

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Octavo. Measuring 5" x 8". 186pp. Black textured cloth with "Record" stamped on the front board. Slight cocked spine, edgewear, and worn corners else very good. A manuscript diary kept by a Massachusetts woman, Bretha G., documenting four different annual trips from Massachusetts to Florida and back between 1936 and 1939. The details of her daily experiences portray the growth of Florida, from the state's agricultural production to the rise of tourism. Additionally included are several short stay and one-day trips around New England in 1936, 1937 and 1948. The Florida trips begin in Marblehead and end in the Sanford / Mt. Dora region of central Florida written over 114 pages. The diarist writes in great detail about the experiences en route, particularly heading south, and her impressions of what she sees along the way and during her stay. She makes observations about train travel, accommodations, country-side trips, the people she meets or sees, her interest in the flora of the South, and other experiences. In one passage from Jacksonville she discusses seeing African Americans working in fields from the train writing; "Boarded the train in the station by the Atlantic Coast Line for Sanford… As we moved along, we pass the fine trees with moss hanging from them and the cabins of the colored folks with both doors wide open and hens strutting through them. The colored women are doing the washing under the trees. Some of them have shelters (made of corrugated tin) out in the yard and nearly all of the cabins are roofed over with it… ." Bretha keeps a full schedule after her arrival. She toured the Winter Gardens; visited the lake country and Mont Verde Industrial School, as well as Bok Tower. She also attended events at the Mt. Dora Tourist Club; passed by fields of peas, strawberries, beets and cabbage; visited a fruit packing house; enjoyed the food she was served; saw speed boat races; and remarked on the variety and beauty of plants growing everywhere. In one entry she writes that she went for a ride "to a hospital for children who have had infantile paralysis. There are 35 children here. The hospital is sponsored by the Elks of Florida." Another entry reads "Winter Park is a beautiful place, with beautiful houses and grounds. Rolling College is situated there. It has a number of lakes and fine parks all laid out with shrubbery and flowers. It is a town of wealthy people." She writes about the wintertime visitors to Florida. "On our way from Mt. Dora we passed the Carolina Moon camp (trailer). Here were hundreds of trailers packed in rows like houses in a street. Some of the women were washing out doors." On this trip they also visited St. Augustine and saw the old slave quarters and the Ponce de Leon monument. An interesting travel diary documenting an intelligent and curious woman tourist's perspective of Florida in the 1930s.

Codice articolo 457880

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• Titolo: [Archive]: Massachusetts Woman's Diary Documenting Four Annual Trips to Florida
• Editore: Massachusetts, Florida
• Data di pubblicazione: 1939
• Rilegatura: Hardcover
• Condizione: Very Good