The next adventure begins

Today, Easter Sunday is our last day at Alafia River State Park.  It has been a fun and interesting 5 months.  Once again, we have met some wonderful people and look forward to staying in touch with them and who knows, maybe one day seeing them again.

The volunteer boys of Alafia
Rick, Dennis, Dave and Deane

 



Vincent Ybors cigar factory

We finished the month by touring Ybor City, which is now a district within Tampa.  This area is where Vincent Ybor settled and brought cigar manufacturing from Cuba to the United States. When he arrived the population of Tampa was around 700.  By the time cigar production reached its peak in 1929,  500,000,000 cigars were being hand rolled in the factories yearly, the population had reached around 20,000.  Ybor City became a very ethnically diverse community with Cubans, Spanish, Italians and Germans and later Chinese and Jews.

There is great history here.   Most notably a little park in Ybor City where the house of Pauline Pedroso once stood.  She is famous for her support of Jose Marti  who is considered by the Cubans as the Apostle of Cuban Freedom due to his efforts to overthrow the Spanish rule in Cuba.  The park grounds are actually owned by the country of Cuba,  making it the only ground in the United States owned by Cuba and on which all legal rights are granted, as if you were in a foreign country.  Even the plants in the park, are planted in soil brought from Cuba. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ybor_City



One other piece of Tampa history we visited was also responsible for the the growth of Tampa at the same time the cigar industry was thriving.  Henry B. Plant brought the railroad and steamships to Tampa.  He had a vision since the weather was so wonderful here in the winter months, that many northerners would want to come and get out of the wicked cold.  He actually started the "snow bird" effect.

View of the hotel when it was first built in 1891

Original light fixture

In 1891 the Tampa Bay Hotel opened with 551 rooms and was advertised as being fireproof due to its steel rails and concrete construction.  The hotel had every accommodation a guest could want, from beautiful park like grounds with exotic animals, to golf course, indoor swimming pool under the dance floor in the large ballroom and was the only building in Tampa that was actually lit inside by electricity.  The building was grandiose, ornate and decorated with furnishings and art works he and his wife purchased in their world travels.  

After Plant died, his family wanted nothing to do with the hotel and it was sold to the City of Tampa which ran it as a hotel for a number of years.  The hotel is now owned by Tampa University which pays $1 a year for its use, with the agreement not to make any structural changes and to maintain the historic integrity of its architecture.  A good portion of the rooms are now classrooms and a section of the hotel has been preserved along with many of the artifacts as a museum.

The hotel was only open 5 months a year, from December to April because Tampa weather during the summer was intolerable.  Even during the 5 months, there were only two times all rooms in the hotel were full.  One was the grand opening when Plant brought all his friends from the North and the second was when the Spanish American War broke out.  Plant was instrumental in convincing the government that Tampa would be the best place to launch their front against the Spanish in Cuba.  The high ranking soldiers and government officials were housed in the hotel while the foot soldiers were in their tents.  Stories say Teddy Roosevelt stayed in the hotel in the evenings visiting his wife.
 http://www.plantmuseum.com/Historical-Information/1891-hotel.html

looking down the street today

Men's writing room

So now we are leaving here and starting a trip that will eventually land us in Connecticut for three months starting in July.  We will try to post weekly as we travel, so stay with us and enjoy the ride. Our first stop is Port Charlotte Florida, a little further south of Tampa where we want to explore Sanibel and Captiva Islands, Venice and meet up with Lynn and Tom Moriarty who were also hosts at Alafia, during our time here.

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