Vacation: Tuesday

On Tuesday of this week, we drove to Palm Beach to view Whitehall, the home of Henry Flagler (1830 - 1913), and The Breakers which is a Flagler hotel.

Henry Morrison Flagler was born on January 2, 1830, the son of a poor minister.  By age 14, armed with an eighth grade education, he was on his own.  He worked in a grain company, saved his money, and eventually married the grain company's owner's daughter, Mary Harkness.

While working at the grain company, he met a commission agent who worked with the company.  Flagler was interested in getting into a new industry that had started to develop in the Cleveland area: oil refining.  He needed a partner, and the commission agent agreed to join him.  The agent's name?  John D. Rockefeller.  Together they and a third party started a new business which they named Standard Oil.  And that, of course, is how a young poor minister's son grew up to be a man who, when he died on May 20, 1913,, was worth the equivalent in today's standards of approximately 12 billion dollars.

Flagler married three times.  He and his first wife had three children, two daughters and a son.  The eldest daughter died in childbirth as did her child.  The second daughter only lived to age 3.  His son lived to adulthood, but an argument caused them not to communicate for the last 20 years of Flagler's life.  I guess money truly cannot buy happiness.

Flagler's first wife, Mary, was often ill.  The doctor's suggested that Flagler take her to Jacksonville, Florida, for the winter.  When they arrived, they found little that could be called suitable accommodations.  Mary did not recover from her illness, but this introduction to Florida spurred Flagler on to be one of the key developers of the east coast of Florida.  He built a railroad which eventually went all the way to Key West.  He built bridges, roads, hotels, colleges, churches, and schools as he worked his way south down the peninsula.  He is said to be one of the founders of the city of Miami.

Flagler's second wife, Ida, eventually suffered from mental illness.  Flagler divorced her and then married his third wife, Mary Lily Kenan.  He was 71 at the time; she was 34.  The biography of Flagler as presented by Whitehall staff says, "Built as a wedding present to Mary Lily in 1902 and designed by architects John Carrère and Thomas Hastings, Whitehall became the Flagler's winter home. With more than 100,000 square feet and 75-plus rooms, Whitehall was described in 1902 by the New York Herald as, '... more wonderful than any palace in Europe, grander and more magnificent than any other private dwelling in the world.'

Whitehall in Palm Beach, Florida.  This is SOME wedding present!

Whitehall was decorated for Christmas as the giant wreath
on the main gates shows.

Whitehall was magnificent. Think "Downton Abby" on steroids with an American accent.  This house is the epitome of the gilded age (1865-1929).  Actually, Downton is set in the same time period.  A docent took us through the first floor of the mansion, and then we were able to view the second floor bedrooms with a self-guided audio tour.

One of the most ornate parts of each  room was the ceiling.
This plastered ceiling is on the front veranda outside.

Once inside the foyer, a grand staircase leads up to the second of
three floors.  The second floor held bedrooms while the third floor
contained accommodations for the servants.

The docent told us that Whitehall had all of the modern conveniences: electric lights, indoor plumbing, and even a telephone (which Henry had installed not in his library, but rather in the master bathroom upstairs!).

The master bathroom at Whitehall, complete with a flush toilet,
a free-standing tub, and marble sinks.

The bathroom holds the only telephone in all of Whitehall.

Each room was decorated with a "theme" or period.  The public rooms downstairs were opulent in every respect.

Part of the music room at Whitehall shows
not only instruments and the magnificent organ
at the end, but also the paintings and wonderful
hardwood floors.

The bedrooms were literally decorated from floor to ceiling, each containing a fireplace, a private bathroom, and a large closet.  The master bedroom had a walk-through closet/ dressing room since women of the age changed clothes as many as seven times a day.

The corner master bedroom allowed breezes to flow into
the room from two directions. Large windows also bathed each
room in natural light.

After we toured Whitehall, we took a half-hour for lunch and were then on our way to The Breakers.  While Flagler originally built the first two Breakers, both of which burned to the ground, his heirs built the third Breakers in 1925. I'll detail more of the Breakers in my next blog.