Last year when I attended the Society of Florida Archivists conference in Saint Petersburg, I listened to a talk by a woman who’d gotten into the field rather by accident. I learned a lot at that conference, and I also realized what a narrow niche archiving is. It sounds mysterious to a lot of people,… Continue reading Why is [historical] archiving important?
By Ruby Lynn Holden, North Palm Beach Village Historian A nineteenth century physician and scientist, Dr. Gorrie was an advocate of swamp draining to eliminate a major source of mosquitoes and the use of mosquito netting over beds. Also an inventor, he experimented with methods for cooling the sick rooms of fevered malaria patients. He… Continue reading Dr. John Gorrie, air conditioning pioneer
This past weekend, I went to St. Augustine for the Convocation of Seminole War Historians, organized by the Seminole Wars Foundation and the West Point Society of North Florida. I’ve been very involved in Seminole Wars history for some time now, and it was wonderful to see so many of my friends, acquaintances, and colleagues… Continue reading Weekly Reads: The Army is My Calling: The Life and Writings of Major John Rogers Vinton 1801-1847
By Ruby Lynn Holden, North Palm Beach Village Historian A biologist with an MS in marine science, Marshall’s real passion was preserving Florida’s wetlands which were being threatened by unbridled development. He saw, through his work at U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and assessments of dredge and fill projects, that drainage of wetlands and “water control” in general… Continue reading Arthur R. Marshall, Ecologist
By Ruby Lynn Holden, North Palm Beach Village Historian Today we’ll learn a bit about this wonderful South Florida park of 11,500 acres, Jonathan Dickinson State Park. Prior to being established as a state park in 1950, the land served as top-secret U.S. Army Camp Murphy from 1942 to 1944, a radar training school. Author… Continue reading Camp Murphy
By Ruby Lynn Holden, North Palm Beach Village Historian Nancy Moore was the library’s first Director. She was one of two volunteers who started the library, eventually became an employee, then Director, serving over thirty years, from December 1, 1967 to February 21, 2005, when she retired. Kathleen Olds took Nancy’s place, serving from May… Continue reading North Palm Beach Library Directors, Past and Present
By Ruby Lynn Holden, North Palm Beach Village Historian Whitehall, Henry Flagler’s Palm Beach palace of 55 extravagantly furnished rooms was imagined and created by architects John Carrere and Thomas Hastings as a wedding gift to his third wife, Mary Lily. American artisans as well as Italian and French contributed their lavish creations of sculpture,… Continue reading At Whitehall
Recently, hand-painted rocks have been discovered all around Martin County, with the words “MC Rocks” or “Martin County Rocks” written on them. What’s the deal? The community-building movement has been inspired by other counties, and folks love it so much that they started doing it here. You can read about who got it going in… Continue reading Martin County rocks and here’s why
In 1913, only 400 people lived in the area that would become Martin County in 1925. The year 1914 saw the opening of the first library in the area. The new library was organized by the Woman’s Club of Stuart, which was a fledgling group itself. These women decided to open a library, and until… Continue reading The year 1914 and the first library
On February 25, I attended the Battle of Okeechobee at Okeechobee Battlefield Historic State Park. This was a major battle fought in the Second Seminole War. Click here to visit and support The Okeechobee Battlefield Friends, Inc. In Martin County, I have also been getting involved in the Martin County Memory Project, which seeks to… Continue reading The Battle of Okeechobee
Looking Back 