YOUR case is packed and you are Florida bound. For many, particularly families, ‘The Sunshine State’ is the ultimate holiday aspiration. They are doubtless lured by the sprawling campus of four Walt Disney theme parks, created from swampland just south of Orlando, where in 2019 just shy of 60 million people visited them. While the visionary creator died before he saw the project open in 1972, his legacy is an unprecedented global tourism machine.
But I would argue that Disney is not the father of Florida as a destination. If anyone deserves that title, industrialist and entrepreneur Henry Flagler must be in contention. Without him, the great East Coast resorts of Daytona Beach, Palm Beach and even Miami would not exist as they do today. The latter city would even bear his name were it not for his modesty, but you will find him commemorated on streets and businesses the entire length of the Atlantic Coast, his contribution to shaping modern Florida celebrated over hundreds of miles.