Jill Thomas is a rambler, traveler, and storyteller with a big laugh who celebrates that life takes you where you want to go, no matter the round about route.
Imagine it's Sunday morning. You are a college student, and your mom's friend sends you a text requesting a tour of your campus. UGGGG, right? Well, I did it anyway.
Thankfully, Marina Turner, the lovely daughter of my friend Julie Shepherd, was a willing and welcoming host. You raised a fabulous human Julie, and I appreciate her taking this time with me.
I wanted a tour because Marina attends a fascinating school called Flagler College. Flagler is a small liberal arts school, and its 2,500 students spend their days in what was once a great Gilded Age luxury hotel. Marina says the drawbacks are poor climate control in an old building, but it's worth it.
Many buildings in Florida have Henry Flagler's name. He was a Gilded Age industrialist, oil magnate, and railroad pioneer. He was the kind of guy who would have hung out with Jay Gatsby.
The campus buildings are pure Gilded Age swagger. The original hotel opened in 1888 and today remains one of the finest examples of Spanish Renaissance architecture in the USA. This hotel was remarkable even in an age known for over-the-top opulence and luxury.
Henry Flagler envisioned St. Augustine as the American Riviera and designed the hotel according to this ambitious vision. He sought to capture the essence of Old Europe in a Spanish Revival style adorned with Moorish Revival architectural elements. The grandeur of this building influenced architecture in Florida for the next half-century.
The hotel was one of the first buildings in the nation to be wired for electricity. Staff members would turn the lights on and off in the rooms because guests feared flipping the switches.
Frank Thompson, the hotel's head waiter in the late 1800s, was a pioneer in the Civil Rights Movement and an organizer of the Cuban Giants, a professional black baseball team. Prominent personalities like Mark Twain, President Theodore Roosevelt, and Babe Ruth frequented the hotel.
Thanks for the tour, Marina! Of course, we had to get sweatshirts in the campus store on St. George street in the heart of the old city. Sadly we didn't have time to enjoy lunch in the restaurant in what used to be the hotel's once opulent indoor swimming pool. We'll save that for next time.
Read More: Ramble Log, Ramblers Cafe Blog.
Walking into the campus, you find a with a 86-foot high domed ceiling supported by eight oak caryatids hand-carved with robed women, each different from the next.
Flagler hired Louis Comfort Tiffany to design the interior spaces. Many of his beautiful stained glass windows adorn Marina's residence dining hall. Angelic figures represent the four seasons, and a large painting depicts a Spanish Galleon under full sail.
This is the Flagler room with handcrafted Austrian crystal chandeliers and a clock crafted by Thomas Edison containing the biggest piece of intact white onyx in the western hemisphere.
Domed ceiling in rotunda of main lobby.
Statue of Henry Flagler outside main entrance.
This was Marina's dorm in her freshman year. During the Depression, Robert Frost, Ernest Hemingway, and Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings stayed in these rooms while attending arts programs.
Leave a comment