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Florida: Description
The Sun-Porch of America1930
Florida, the very name entices and draws people from every section of the country. The tinge of romance which enwraps the name carries back memories to the days of the gallant Spaniard, Ponce de Leon, who came seeking the Fountain of Youth; Sire John Hawkins, Sir Martin Frobisher, Hernando de Soto, and other names made famous as discoverers of a Land of Enchantment. The first house built in America is still standing in St. Augustine, and many forts used for protection against the Indians remain as a further indication of the struggle of the white man to make a new home for himself. Over Florida have flown five National Flags, Spain, France, England, the Stars and Bars of the Southern Confederacy, and now the Stars and Stripes of the United States of America.
Florida was admitted as the twenty-seventh State in the Union in 1845, with a population of some 60,000, which number has grown until there are now 1,253,600 people who are permanent residents.
During the winter months this is about doubled, and each year sees a greater number of winter visitors pouring into the State by rail and automobile.
Florida furnishes an all-year climate, ideal in winter and pleasant in summer. The balmy breezes and bright sunshine of Florida in the winter months have made this State the Nation's playground. The summer months in Florida are pleasant ones. Temperatures are even, the heat is tempered by constant breezes, and the nights invariably comfortable. No part of the state is far from the sea. Every section is swept by mild zephyrs from the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.
Florida has a coast line of 1,100 miles with a shore line, including islands and bays, of approximately 3,000 miles. More than 30,000 lakes of varying size glisten in the bright sunshine; and the combined length of navigable rivers is more than 2,500 miles.
Florida offers exceptional recreational advantages every day in the year. There are more than one hundred golf courses in the State, where links are green and inviting all the time. Motoring is a favorable pastime on the more than 10,000 miles of highways which wind through orange groves, pine forests, along rivers, lakes and ocean. Surf bathing may be enjoyed every day in the year, as well as horseback riding, tennis, polo, aviation and other sports which are outdoor features of this great land.
Within thirty-six hours of two-thirds of the population of the nation, Florida is ideally situated as a winter playground. There is but one Florida and it calls to all nature-loving people. Not only is it a playground for the leisure class and a winter home for the wealthy, but it is a year-round place in which to live, to transact business on a large or a small scale as befits your ability; a place where you may grow your own vegetables every day in the year.
Life, love and laughter-that is Florida. Brightness of sunny skies, dazzling blue of sparkling lakes and tropic seas; forests of lofty pine, widespreading sturdy oaks, hung with picturesque grey moss; spicy bamboo trees, eerie cypresses, camphors, magnolias, palm, palmettos; songs of birds and scent of flowers; orange and grapefruit groves, thousands of acres of them, the fruit hanging in golden glory—all of these are Florida.
Health, happiness and opportunity await you in Florida. Nowhere else in America is there greater reward for energy, enthusiasm or capital than in this wonder State at the nation's door. Nowhere else may one find the joy of relaxation, rest or recreation so fully satisfied as in Florida.
Source:
Excerpt from "Souvenir Folder of Tropical Florida: The Sun Porch of America" published by J.N. Chamberlain, Miami, Florida. Postmarked March 22, 1930 at 2:30pm.
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