Sewell, only 27 but a veteran of Flagler 's projects, found "a perfect wilderness" with few inhabita

"I found Miami all woods," wrote John Sewell, recalling the day he stepped off the steamer Della onto ground that is now downtown Miami. It was March 3, 1896, and Sewell had come to build a hotel there.
Sewell, only 27 but a veteran of Flagler 's projects, found "a perfect wilderness" with few inhabitants. There were only three permanent homes, each on a few hacked-out acres. best deal for hotels in orlando Julia Tuttle lived in the only home on the north shore.
Now South Miami Avenue, this was the center of commerce, a collection of raw, Wild West-style buildings. Sewell's mission was to strip a square mile of jungle and hammock, making way for a railroad station and resort best deal for hotels in orlando hotel .
Incredibly, best deal for hotels in orlando a 350-room best deal for hotels in orlando hotel -- which contained another 100 rooms for servants -- opened on Jan. 16, 1897, across from where the Dupont Plaza Hotel now sits. Estimated cost was $750,000. Sewell described the event as a "blaze of glory" and so it was.
Painted yellow with white trim, topped by a red mansard roof and sporting green shutters, the hotel had portico entrances lined by white columns. Guests took sea breezes in rocking chairs on the Royal Palm 's 578-foot-long veranda overlooking crystal-clear Biscayne Bay. There they might read Caroline Washburn Rockwood's hot novel, An East Florida Romance, published in 1897 with the Royal Palm as its setting.
Open only during the winter season, January best deal for hotels in orlando through best deal for hotels in orlando mid- March, the high-point event at the hotel was the annual Washington's Birthday Ball on Feb. 22. The few people who lived in the town were not included.
Sewell best deal for hotels in orlando arrived in Miami in 1996, the year of Miami s incorporation. He was accompanied by his brother, with whom he also started Sewell Brothers clothing store. John Sewell also developed the method of using crushed local rock -- coquina -- for street paving and building material, giving early Miami dazzling white streets and buildings. Reply Delete Replies Bill May 27, 2012 at 9:54 AM