GARDEN & GUN PRESENTS Florida

foundTubing in a spring along the Santa Fe River.

The spirit of Old Florida endures—come along as we crack stone crabs with Rick Bragg, cruise back in time down the St. Johns River, and explore more than two dozen hidden gems, from the Panhandle to the Keys

PHOTOGRAPH BY GATELY WILLIAMS

DEC. 2019 / JAN. 2020 99 The wildlife is as abundant as ever, but Susan’s final log focuses now on flora:

Water hyacinth. Pickerelweed. Red hibiscus. Spatterdock, about to bloom—a.k.a. yellow pond lily. Yellow cow lily. Lance-leaved ar- hot rowhead. Alligator flags. Red-blossomed coral bean.

As we near DeLand, we tie off behind an island and head out in list the skiff for our last supper. Continuing our immersion in Old Flor- Secret island getaways, swamp ida, we pull up to the sagging dock of the Shady Oak Restaurant and Bait Shack, which looks just like it sounds. Perched over the St. sanctuaries, sunken gardens, dive bars, Johns at a place called Crow’s Bluff, its dockside tables are ideal for oyster shacks, and other haunts that drinking cold draft and watching the sparse river traffic pass embody a not-quite-bygone Florida by as the sun fades. We order an authentic cracker dinner, which we get in quantity: catfish, frog legs, alligator tail (all fried), hush puppies, potato salad, coleslaw, and baked beans. More beer. Then key lime pie. It all ranges from not bad to excellent. Bonnet House On our way back, we wander down various creeks following FORT LAUDERDALE tempting signs to fish camps that we never find, until the closing A block from the seaside strip’s bars and tacky T-shirt in of darkness forces us home. All of a sudden, it’s become hot and shops lies a hidden gem that comes with a bittersweet muggy, and some nasty biting flies descend on us. For the first time, love story. Chicago lawyer Hugh Birch gave his daugh- we close up the boat, crank the generator, and turn the AC on. ter, Helen, this thirty-five-acre estate, with its tropical Still, all is well. We went in search of Old Florida, and we found gardens and eclectic design, for her wedding to the art- it. It is hiding right here in plain sight—in the middle of America’s ist Frederic Clay Bartlett in 1919. She died just six years third largest state (21 million residents), which lures 127 million vis- later, and Bartlett later married Evelyn Fortune Lilly, itors a year, qualifying it as the top travel attraction in the world. herself a talented painter. Their whimsical artwork Few of them come to the St. Johns, or even know where it is. How and decor, much of it honoring the couple’s beloved long this sanctuary can hold the tide against the encroachment monkeys, remain perfectly preserved. of civilization is an important question. The next morning we dock the Belle at Holly Bluff and head home Cabbage Key Inn and Restaurant on the vast maze of interstates that vein twenty-first-century Flori- PINELAND da. The reentry is stark. Desperate not to surrender the river magic The burger at the Cabbage Key Inn and Restaurant is, entirely, we try to conjure the St. Johns through music in the con- like umpteen other places, rumored to have inspired fines of our car. For that we dial up the English composer Frederick Jimmy Buffett’s “Cheeseburger in Paradise.” Back in Delius, specifically, his Florida Suite, inspired by the time he spent the seventies, Buffett drifted to the quiet key and its tending his family’s citrus plantation on the St. Johns in the 1880s. eponymous establishment by seaplane. Visitors today Its intentionally evocative movements—“Daybreak,” “By the River,” arrive by boat and can channel the icon with a cold one “At Night”—sweep and soar, crackle and soothe. A French horn is at the dollar-bill-covered , a stay at the inn or one of not a heron, a piccolo not a limpkin, but it sort of works. its surrounding cottages, and of course, a cheeseburg- I didn’t really find a “geographic cure” for my past out there, er (though don’t expect “french fried potatoes”—the and I may still be an “emotional desperado.” But I can certify that sides on offer are coleslaw and potato salad). a week on the St. Johns River—with the right people, weather, and attitude—is a magnificent way to treat whatever ails you. Cap’s Place Island Restaurant LIGHTHOUSE POINT Opened in 1929 by Eugene Theodore “Cap” Knight, a The Hueys share a moment while grilling dinner aboard the Southern Belle. steamship captain who ran bootleg whiskey in burlap bags from the Bahamas, this seafood dive on the In- tracoastal has impeccable Old Florida cred. Behind the bar of the onetime and gambling den hangs a wooden figurehead from the bow of a Spanish galleon. The time-warp menu plays the old standards: linguine with clams, crab cakes, hearts of palm salad. Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art WINTER PARK The artist Louis Comfort Tiffany could coax color and texture from glass, and each December, Winter Park displays nine of his towering stained-glass windows in the central garden downtown. Steps away, the Morse Museum collects the world’s most complete trove of

110 DEC. 2019 / JAN. 2020 GARDEN&GUN Top: Courtesy of the Colony; bottom: Cedric Angeles glassy and pristine: the calm again once pools reflecting their green, more once restoration, the revived gardens reopened, their lawns and irrigation systems. Last June, after a $1.3 million lighting, electrical, out wiped and plants, uprooted swamped the lower tier in four feet ofbrackish water, from an uninvited guest: Hurricane Irma. The storm three formalbeside gardens the St. Johns River got a visit Museum’s Cummer the 2017, September In JACKSONVILLE Cummer Museum of Art forest on the continent. trail that ends at the largest old-growth bald cypress two-mile a boardwalk, park’s the from in all Takeit spoonbills. roseate and panthers Florida including sanctuary for many of the state’s endangered species, ness in the heart of the watershedwilder provide undisturbed of acres thousand thirteen The NAPLES Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary gry, staff will deliver a picnic powder-pinkin achairs matchingand umbrellas, and cooler.if you get hun as its paddleboards. Lounge oceanside on and beneath with seats decked out in the same fun Seagrape print on the hotel’s Beach Buggy, a custom-made golf cart über-attentive service. Forand apastels day dreamy in its the with sun, cool take aBeach ride Palm back laid- for standard the set has Colony 1947, the Since BEACH PALM The Colony Hotel drafted before transforming sand into relics. jewelry, experiments in pottery, the and sketches he in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries— leries share vignettes of Tiffany’s ceaseless creativity in mosaics and majestic filtered light. Meditative gal visitors surrounds thatchapel a includingwork, his after the storm. the - - - LAKELAND Florida Southern Colleg and seagrass. lounge, or rent a kayak to cruise among to thebeaches sugar-sand mangrovesPark’s State Island Caladesi to ferry the catch experience, wilderness deeper a for or beach, pet the on frolic a for pup your Bring Park. State Island Honeymoon now is what at sand long are gone, but digyou yourstill into the toes can developer Thoselodgings thethenwho land. owned Gulf Coast island, the brainchild of a clever real estate secludedthatcheda honeymoonbungalowsinon to In 1940, lucky newlyweds won a WEST OF DUNEDIN Honeymoon and Caladesi Islands oysters, stay for the unscripted dinner theater. jawbone’s chat up customers instead herof agiving hand: “His by the (Overheard trayful. when the owner lingers to thehalf-shell as beautiesshe delivers salty-sweet as emerge from an ancient green icebox. The waitress is they still use in the beds just offshore. Bottles of beer ones the of replica miniature a tongs,oyster of pair cap,ware ball and if it’s not too busy, he’ll show you a Hard Ace camo a and ponytail a wears shucker The APALACHICOLA Market and Raw Bar Seafood Wall the in Hole geometric esplanades. of mile a morethan and planetarium, dome,watera appears to hover above the ground, a first-of-its-kind that chapel a include college, through way their ing work students postwar and by Depression-era built some impressivestructures, The designs. visionary architect’s theof collection single-site largest theit grace the west side of this campus in Lakeland, making Thirteen of Frank Lloyd Wright’s innovative creations got to be sore in the morning.”) Come for the Life magazine contest e GARDEN&GUN

JAN. 2020 2020 JAN. / 2019 DEC. - - DESIGNER INTERIOR MIMI M bait.” for Publix from bacon Use Trail. Lake the on seawall the to access and bicycle a and pole fishing a is amused themselves keep to need kids all Beach, Palm “In Florida day? perfect a for tip a What’s Wall in Apalachicola. beauties at Hole in the Palm Beach; half-shell the Colony Hotel in From top: Cruising at

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111 112 JAN. 2020 2020 JAN. / 2019 DEC. CHEF BERNSTEIN MICHELLE chile.” with spiced lucky, you’re if and slaw, the in lime of lots mayo, with bun sweet delicately warm, a on flour, little a just with fried ocean—crispy- the like tastes grouper Just-harvested roll. potato buttered hot a on slaw with sandwich grouper “Fried Florida? in eat to thing favorite your What’s WRITER HIAASEN CARL buzzards.” fat and bones only find would searchers the down, broke ever boat the if that tower cell nearest the from far so Everglades the in deep fishing “Fly look like? Florida in day perfect your does What

|Hot List| logical novelties as turmeric and activated charcoal. small-batch gins, Japanese whiskeys, and such mixo by cameosfeatures art-directedmenurotating Its pools. plunge and villas whitewashed Beach’s Alys strike, NEAT’s sleek tasting room will be ready, amid curated,” Instagrammable . Should the mood “thoughtfully splurgeof roundand ortwoona shirt Redneck Riviera there comes a time to put on a clean let tosses and two-dollar Budweisers. But even on the There always will be a place on the for Panhandle mul ALYS BEACH NEAT tional Register of Historic Places. sixties and seventies, Mai-Kai now resides on the Na withsplasha ofprestige. celebrityA favorite inthe kinis and sarongs serve up punches Drink in the inisland vibe—waitresses ceramic wearing floral bi heads— the nation’s longest-running Polynesian dinner show. of spinners centerhula takes at stage fire and dancers kitsch classic the Mai-Kai, at but gardens, lush torches Tiki light paths to man-made and waterfalls LAUDERDALE FORT Mai-Kai Florida Bay. of water blue-green the over lazily set sun the ing won battles they and lost watch ponder while tarpon where, over cold beer, conch chowder, and live music, shop),(aformerbait bar tiki theof deckscongenial Rick Ruoff and Tim Klein, ferry clients directly to the watering holes.après-fish Famous including guides, sideoneyou’ll ofmermaid,the nation’sfind premier road by 82 in the Keys, the beckoning marker At mile ISLAMORADA Lorelei Restaurant and Cabana Bar liams’s faded library card—if you know to ask. Library, where archivists will retrieve Tennessee Wil Public County Monroe the in spotted been have fett Laurie, now McGuane’s wife. Both McGuane and Buf my Buffett play in the 1970s—and met Buffett’s sister came to hear an up-and-coming musician named Jim McGuane Thomas novelist bar,the Room Chart the herself ringing up customers. A couple blocks away, at God? It’s Me, Margaret Books & Books, visitors who grew up on atJoe’s.) SloppyhauntformerOver his daiquiri at a Arms to Farewell wrote he where Street, Simonton 314 at building Papa’sin-the-know fans also popinto his apartment always-packed Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum: is to party hoppers. That literary draw goes beyond the also because Key West is as alluring to book lovers as it ly because the event features best-selling authors, but Seminar, they typically sell out in minutes. That’s part When tickets go live for January’s Key West Literary Side Key West’s Bookish GARDEN&GUN . (And they’re sure to toast him with delight to discover Judy Blume

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selection for walk-in customers. Envision forests of fly line store. That enables the shop to carry an enormous as the brick-and-mortar mother ship to few blocks from athe Atlantic, a massiveOle Florida Fly Shop center serves on shopping nondescript a into Tucked BOCA RATON Ole Florida Fly Shop tor of a new institution that promises to further raise chitecture,” says Anne-Marie Russell, executive direc from pilgrimages all over the world to see ar Sarasota and a mother lode of midcentury design. “Peopleproductions ballet make and symphony, opera, with arts, thou sixty thefor ground fertilethan surprisingly is Sarasota sand, less of population a with town a For SARASOTA Museum Art Sarasota a Noah’s ark of mounted fish and game, still charm. lined with square miles of pecky cypress paneling and thegrounds,but the original lobby and dining room, presidents. Guests overnight in updated cottages on former five and thatincludeHemingway luminaries ThousandIslands of the Everglades, hosted has and five waterfront acres at the gateway on to thesits complex famed sprawlingTen The restaurant. and inn Travel to South Florida’s yesteryear at this venerable CITY EVERGLADES Club Gun & Rod juice your glasses mom had when you were a kid. orange tiny same the perhaps and linens grammed mono age-softened for booth Peggy’s vendortime air-conditioned heirloom wonderland and find longRamble downhill through the 441. outdoor U.S. vendors to on the Orlando of north utopia antiques and Renninger’s,marketat117-acre the skillets flea iron garden urns and seasoned Wagner and Griswold cast- small Carry bills to barter, and scout blue-and-white MOUNT DORA Renninger’s two into an hours-long visit. thatservice frequentlyturns a quick stop for a fly or rods, materials, walls ofand fly-tying concierge-level

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Vlad Kharitonov Top: Dylan + Jeni; bottom: Jennifer Kielich of course, its famous pink flamingos. canopies, secret pools and waterfalls, rare flowers, and, full of meandering paths, cultivated lawns, spreading midst of cosmopolitan St. Petersburg—an oasis chock- the destination has lost none of its vintage charm in theof Florida’s first roadside attractions. A century later, instead to the west coast to visit Sunken Gardens, one Decades before Mickey Mouse arrived, tourists drove ST. PETERSBURG Gardens Sunken dip. your afternoon during explore to waterfalls and boulders limestone with complete ming pond to suggestlandscaped a Yucatán cenote, bamboo, and plumeria—framing a freshwater swim coconut palms, ferns, bananas, elephant ears, gingers, of with thousands a plants— greenery riot of tropical renown. The showstopper, though, is the Taru Garden, dining an roomairy that serves brunches of national Queen Anne showpiece with a wraparound porch and common hotel: twelve artsy guest rooms behind a 1902 You might think of the Sundy House as a cure for the DELRAY BEACH House Sundy as many as five thousand revelers. draws that phenomenon—one a remains festival the sic,loomingandhimself Goberthe large, memory of title Buzzard Lope Queen. With fresh seafood, live mu after which one lucky lady is choreography, crowned outlandish with and the coveted costumes feathered event centers on a zany dance contest with elaborate by the late bar owner and local legend Stan Gober, the Festival(this year January 24 to 26). Created in 1985 to life as the dive bar Stan’s Idle Hour hosts the Mullet ForJanuary,weekendonein townburstsbeachthis GOODLAND Stan’s Idle Hour themselves architectural landmarks. buildings, two of them historic schoolhouses that are cember. Rotating exhibitions occupy a campus of three at Ringling College of Art and Design, opening in De the Gulf Coast’s arts profile: the Sarasota Art Museum - - -

seventy-three degrees year-round. Don a mask and and mask a Don year-round. seventy-threedegrees about stays water clear-as-glass the where Coast, Gulf theonSpringsSisters Three snowbirds like to When temperatures dip in the winter, manatees flock CRYSTAL RIVER Three Sisters Springs piled with a sponge haul. you’re lucky, you may even spot a dive boat returning, and overhear locals restaurant, speaking nearbyin their native a tongue. from If drifting octopus savory smoked, of aroma the catch docks, the At sphere). WesternHemi the incelebration Epiphanybiggest the(and capita per population American Greek est Sponge Capital the of todaythe World and sponges, is home sea to harvest the U.S.’s to 1900s larg early Tarpontheto in Springs came country theoldfrom Divers old-world Greece. to window a opens Mexico of Gulf the meets River Anclote the where city This NORTHWEST OF TAMPA Springs Tarpon Rodeghier, Caroline Sanders, and Abigail Tierney T. Edward Nickens, Steph Post, Allison Ramirez, Katherine Grudowski, Andrea Guthmann, Sallie Lewis Longoria, CJ Lotz, —Susan B. Barnes, Monte Burke, Allison Entrekin, Mike long ago. so not moonlight in bathed parties Gatsbyesque to an ethereal feel to a space that might have played host ter. Pause in the glass skylight courtyard, which lends ture, ornate gold accents, and sparkling cerulean wa plantings, of and juxtaposition infrastruc century-old ing—surprises with its sculpture-lined driveway, lavish caya—once the estate of the millionaire James Deer novel,Viz Fitzgerald F. Scott an of out scene a Like MIAMI Vizcaya Museum and Gardens surrounds the boardwalk springs for an overhead A perspective. canoeing. or paddling, stand-up ing, kayak for paddle a grab or March, through vember mid-No giants gentle the alongside swim to snorkel G

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SPORTSMAN PALLOT FLIP and eggs.” snapper some up fry just I’ll hell, Aw breakfast. for crabs stone and lobster between choose to hard “Awfully Florida? in eat to thing favorite What’s your HUMORIST DAVE BARRY lizards.” 380 roughly and family my with share I which home, actual my “In Florida? in home at most feel you do Where Tarpon Springs. Mai-Kai; sponges in fire dancers spin at garden at Vizcaya; Far left to right: A

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