a teacher's guide to the special exhibit
TRANSCRIPT
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A Teacher’s Guide to
the Special Exhibit
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Prepared by the Historical Society of Palm Beach County
© 2009 Historical Society of Palm Beach County
Teachers In order to receive in-service points, be sure to complete the pre and post visit activities and fill
out the Staff Development forms at the end of this guide. Send them to Karen Bradley, K-12 Arts
ED Resource Teacher, 3310 Forest Hill Boulevard, C-225, West Palm Beach, FL 33406-5813.
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Teacher’s Guide to the Special Exhibit
Livin’ on the Lake 2
For Teachers: All sections of this guide may be reproduced for your students.
Florida Sunshine State Standards: Social Studies
SS.A.6.2.1 Understands reasons that immigrants came to Florida and the contributions of
immigrants to the state’s history.
SS.A.6.2.3 Knows the significant individuals, events, and social, political, and economic
characteristics of different periods in Florida’s history.
SS.A.6.2.4 Understands the perspectives of diverse cultural, ethnic, and economic groups
with regard to past and current events in Florida’s history.
SS.A.6.2.6 understands the cultural, social, and political features of Native American tribes
in Florida’s history.
Vocabulary
Sharpie A long, narrow, flat-bottom fishing boat having a
centerboard and one or two masts, each rigged with a
triangular sail.
Haulover A place where boats had to be hauled over land from
a stream to a lake or over a sand dune to the ocean.
Collodion process A process used in the 19th century to take photographs.
Several chemicals were used to coast a glass plate which
was placed in a camera while wet to take a photograph.
A photo was then developed from the glass plate
negative using several other chemicals. Swamp cabbage Swamp cabbage is an old pioneer favorite vegetable
obtained from the heart of the cabbage palm (S. palmetto), which is the official state tree of Florida. The
plant is known by such other names as palmetto palm,
sabal palm, and swamp cabbage tree.
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Introduction
Livin’ on the Lake: the Pioneer Era, the first of two exhibits planned to celebrate
Palm Beach County’s centennial, opens at the Richard and Pat Johnson Palm Beach
County History Museum on February 10, 2009. The second exhibit, East & West: 1909,
opens September 1, 2009.
More than just a wide spot in the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, Lake Worth
existed as a fresh water lake for thousands of years before it became home to many of Palm
Beach County’s earliest pioneers. The lake had no natural flow to the ocean and only
occasionally did an opening breach the beach ridge giving hint to what lies west of the
barrier island.
In 1860 the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse was completed and placed into operation. The
keepers of the lighthouse were the only people living in the area except for Seminole
Indians. At the beginning of the U.S. Civil War, an assistant lighthouse keeper, German-
born Augustus O. Lang, and a few Confederate sympathizers dismantled and hid part of
the lighting mechanism darkening the lighthouse to aid Confederate blockade runners.
Lang then enlisted in the Confederate Army but later deserted and fled to the shores of
Lake Worth becoming the first known Anglo-American resident on the lake. He built a
home from wood poles and palmetto fronds, cleared land, and planted a garden that
included fruit trees. So remote was the lake’s locale that it was more than a year after the
war’s end that Lang learned of its outcome from some travelers. By word of mouth more
people soon made their way to the lake.
Between 1873 and 1893, settlers came to the Lake Worth area to establish new
homes. They had the opportunity to own land and to escape the harsh, cold winters up
north. For some, their doctors had recommended they move far south, to warmer climates,
because of illnesses. Many did live long lives because of the warm weather. Others came
here to build a better life for their families. This is not to say that it was an easy venture,
though, for they had to overcome a variety of hardships.
When they arrived, all they found was a jungle, with no paths or roads; their only
means of transport was by boat. The settlers cut a path from Lake Worth to the Atlantic
Ocean to have easy access to the beach so that they could scavenge the numerous
shipwrecks littering the coast. However, the settlers lived on the lake side of the island
rather than on the ocean side because of storms. They survived on what they found on the
beaches from shipwrecks and from what they could grow or hunt.
The settlers often took what they could find from shipwrecks to use in constructing
their homes. Sometimes, barrels of foodstuffs would be found in the wrecks or on the
beaches that would be added to the pioneers’ food supplies. Other materials were taken
north to Titusville and sold or traded for cash or other necessities.
The typical house of most settlers was made from items gathered along the beach
and palmetto thatching. These materials were used because they were the handiest
building materials. Sometimes, lumber was shipped from Jacksonville and used to build
houses. Some pioneer houses were built out of salvaged ship timbers and canvas sails.
Early settlers found the area full of wild animals, such as bears, deer, raccoons, and
opossums. They depended on these animals for food. Birds, fish, alligators, turtles, and
turtle eggs added variety to their diet. Most of the settlers were farmers and grew various
crops, like onions, eggplant, tomatoes, cabbages, green peppers, and turnips, to eat or sell.
Some made regular trips by boat to the market in Titusville to sell the vegetables grown in
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the Lake Worth area. By selling their crops, the pioneers were able to earn money to buy
items they could not produce themselves.
Those livin’ on the lake during 1870s and 1880s were living on the American
frontier. An inlet from the lake to the ocean was dug by pioneers, barefoot mailmen carried
the mail along the beach to Miami and back, little sharpies (a type of flat-bottomed boat)
crossed the lake, and a train line nicknamed the Celestial Railroad linked the seven and a
half mile land area between the head of Lake Worth and the Jupiter Inlet. The pioneer era
came to an end in 1893 when Henry Flagler arrived on Lake Worth to build a resort hotel
and to extend his Florida East Coast Railroad.
The Lake Worth settlement was the center of the community for the early pioneers
who carved a new life for themselves out of a jungle from what pioneer Marion Greer called
a modern day Garden of Eden. To tell the story of this intrepid group, photographs and
artifacts from the Historical Society’s permanent collection, including the first mail desk
used in Palm Beach and railroad spikes from the first railroad in southeast Florida, will be
on display.
Agriculture: Growin’ on the Lake In the 1870s the first permanent settlers arrived on the island
now named Palm Beach. They began clearing land to farm and
thought the area was a ‘Garden of Eden.’ The sandy soil was so
fertile that almost anything would grow.
Pioneer famers planted pineapples, pumpkins, coconuts, peas,
beans, radishes, tomatoes, and lettuce. When the crops were
ripe, they were harvested and boxed for transportation to
northern cities. The boxes were loaded onto boats headed for
the north end of Lake Worth and then hauled by wagon seven
and one-half miles to Jupiter.
Transportation: Getting’ Around Pioneers used boats as their primary
transportation in the lake area and every
pioneer family owned one. Places know
as ‘haulovers’ were developed – many by
Seminoles – to move a boat from a stream
to the lake or over a sand dune to the
ocean. A natural break in the barrier
island introduced saltwater into the lake
in 1866 and the freshwater lake began to
change into a saltwater lagoon and allowed direct ocean access.
In 1889 the Jupiter and Lake Worth Railroad opened. It became known as the Celestial
Railroad because it ran from Jupiter to Juno. The railroad made it easier and faster for
farmers to get their crops to Jupiter for loading onto steamships for travel up the Indian
River to market.
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Communication In the 1850s, important developments
took place in the area of visual
communication. The collodion process
allowed the creation of glass plate
negatives form which identical prints
could be made in quantity. Earlier
photographic attempts produced one-of-
a-kind images only.
In 1876 Melville E. Spencer arrived in the Jupiter area from Titusville. His brother, Donald,
was an established photographer in Pennsylvania. With his camera, Spencer captured
images of the early pioneers which could then be reproduced in quantity. These and other
early photographs contributed to the ‘lure’ of South Florida.
The first post office, Lake Worth, opened on the island of what is now Palm Beach in 1880.
In 1885 a unique route was developed to link the Lake Worth community with the Miami
area. Mail carriers walked barefoot along the beach in order to avoid slogging through the
inland swamps. The six-day round trip covered 136 miles—80 on foot, 56 in small boats.
Diet: What’s For Dinner? How about opossum? Or turtle with a side of
swamp cabbage? With the nearest store
more than one hundred miles away, if you
didn’t grow it or kill it you went hungry.
Seminoles often showed up at the door with
deer or alligator meat in trade for coffee,
sugar, and flour.
Christmas dinner in 1873 was the first
holiday on the lake for most of the settlers.
They met at Charlie Moore’s for opossum
baked with sweet potatoes and covered with
thin strips of fat bacon. Biscuits with cane
syrup and prickly pear pie completed the menu.
Housing: Bugs ‘R Us Preparation for building a house on Lake
Worth included walks on the ocean beach.
The Gulf Stream and hidden reefs
combined to create hazardous conditions
for ships which often sunk offshore and
their debris floated ashore. Others
wrecked along the shoreline. So, early
houses on Lake Worth were constructed
from materials salvaged from the beach
and local materials. Taking a tip from the
Seminoles they used palm fronds for
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roofing. The fronds kept the houses dry and cool but also offered a happy home to bugs, rats,
and snakes.
Over the years, as the settlers became more successful, they made improvements on their
houses. Later settlers brought store-bought materials to build their homes. By 1893, it was
no longer necessary to search the beach for building materials because Lainhart & Potter
Lumber & Building Materials supplied their building needs.
Where did the early pioneers come from? Most of the settlers who moved to the Lake Worth region came from Pennsylvania, Illinois,
Ohio, Kansas, Florida, New York, and several other states and foreign countries.
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ACTIVITIES
1. The early pioneer homes were very different than those we live in today. Look at the
following photographs of pioneer era homes. In the space provided, compare and contrast
these four pioneer homes. Which house would you like to live in?
A B
C D
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2. For the 1873 Christmas dinner the settlers menu included opossum baked with sweet
potatoes and covered with thin strips of fat bacon, biscuits with cane syrup, and prickly pear
pie. Compare what they ate to what you had for your last Christmas dinner.
3. Photographers in the 19th century used glass plate negatives to produce their
photographs. In the 21st century, what do we use to print out photographs?
4. This particular kind of boat was used by the pioneers to travel on Lake Worth. What
was is it?
Circle A or B next to the photograph that shows this type of boat.
5. Most of the early settlers on Lake Worth were from other states like New York, Illinois,
Pennsylvania, Ohio, other states, and Great Britain. Survey your class to find out how
many different states or countries your classmates and families come from.
A
B
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Read and Answer
Postal Service and the Barefoot Mailman
When the early pioneers left their homes in the North, they continued to talk with
their families and friends whom they left behind. Yet it was not easy to send a letter back
home. They couldn’t just e-mail or drop a letter at a post office. Communication was
difficult if you lived in South Florida at that time. At first, settlers depended on the honesty
of passing ship crews to take and deliver their mail. They also asked beach walkers to carry
and deliver mail along the Florida coast. However, this method was not dependable.
Sending a letter from Lake Worth to Miami took several weeks. First, it had to
travel to Jacksonville. Then the letter was shipped to Havana, Cuba, or Key West. Then it
was sent to Miami. Can you see why it took several weeks? To solve this problem, the U.S.
Postal Service set up a special route, called the Star Route, which required men to walk
from Palm Beach to Miami and then back. These men became known as barefoot mailmen
because they walked barefoot along the beach, carrying their shoes over their shoulders.
These adventurous mailmen traveled a route that was 136 miles round trip. It was
56 miles by boat and 80 miles on foot. It took three days each way. The mailmen walked an
average of 7,000 miles a year. Every Monday, a mailman left Lake Worth. He arrived in
Miami on Wednesday. The following day, he began his trip back north and arrived on
Saturday. During his journey, the mail carrier spent the nights at houses of refuge. Those
houses of refuge are still standing in today’s Delray Beach and Fort Lauderdale. In some
places, the mailmen had to cross water. At Hillsboro Inlet, New River and Biscayne Bay,
the mail carriers used a boat to get across. The first barefoot mailman was Edwin Ruthven
Bradley. He received a salary of $600 a year to make his weekly trips.
There are many stories about the barefoot mailmen. Here are a couple of stories
worth mentioning. They would often charge a small amount of money to take passengers
with them. According to stories, one passenger was upset over the long, hot walk because
there was limited fresh water and poor food. For revenge, he first sent some coconuts
through the mail. Then he sent a package of rocks. When he attempted to mail a small tree,
the mailman finally complained to Washington, D.C. That resulted in a weight limit being
placed on all deliveries.
In a second story, a mailman named Ed Hamilton lost his life while trying to
complete his route. Someone had moved Hamilton’s boat to the other side of Hillsboro Inlet.
He left his mailbag and clothes in a tree so he could swim for the boat. The mailbag and his
clothes were found in the tree, but Hamilton was never found. No one knows whether
Hamilton had simply drowned or if sharks or alligators in the inlet attacked him.
From 1885 to 1893, these brave men walked the beaches to deliver the mail. In 1893
when a stage, or hack line, was opened between Lantana and Miami, the barefoot mailmen
were no longer needed.
By today’s standards, the barefoot-mailman system in Lake Worth was primitive
and dangerous. But it worked for the pioneers. The postal service has improved since the
1880s. Automated services help mail carriers package and send mail all over the world.
They now travel in automobiles and even in airplanes. The barefoot mailmen would be
amazed at how efficiently mail is delivered in the 21st century.
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Answer the following questions.
1. What was the special route that the U.S. Postal Service set up for the pioneers to send
and receive mail?
____________________________________________
2. How many miles did the barefoot mailman travel by boat? ______________
3. In 1893, what replaced the barefoot mailmen? _______________________________
Suggested Reading:
Curl Donald W. Palm Beach County: An Illustrated History. Northridge, CA: Windsor
Publications, 1986.
Oyer, Harvey E. III. The Adventures of Charlie Pierce: The American Jungle. Oakland
Park: Middle River Press, 2008.
Pierce, Charles W. Pioneering Life in Southeast Florida. Coral Gables: University of
Miami Press, 1970.
Robinson, Tim. A Tropical Frontier: Pioneers and Settlers of Southeast Florida, 1800-1890.
Port Salerno: Port Sun Publishing, 2005.
Snyder, James. Black Gold and Silver Sands. Palm Beach: Historical Society of Palm
Beach County, 2004.
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A pioneer picnic on Lake Worth. Millie Gildersleeve, an
African American pioneer on
Lake Worth.
Pioneer family and friends ready for a
boat ride. Pen and ink drawing of Young
Tiger, a Seminole Indian by
George Potter.
Hunting alligators. The first schoolhouse, 1886.
Teacher Hattie Gale is standing in
doorway.
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Between 1873-1893 at
least seventy-three
pioneer families made
their homes on Lake
Worth. The descendents
of these families still
reside in Palm Beach
County today. This map
shows the lake’s 1883
shoreline and several
homesteads and
geographical features
from the era. It is based
on the map by Donald
Curl in Pioneering in Southeast Florida by
Charles Pierce.
A watercolor painting of pineapple fields in the Lake Worth area by pioneer George
Potter, late 19th century. Courtesy Historical Society of Palm Beach County, George
Potter Collection.
To learn more about the Historical Society of Palm Beach
County and its education programs visit:
www.historicalsocietypbc.org or call Curator of Education at
561-832-4164 ext. 104.
A Teacher’s Guide to
the Special Exhibit