Monday; January 28
At the turn of the 20 th Century, Henry Flagler was creating civilization out of the harsh marshland known as Florida. After having tamed (or at least tempering) the upper east coast of the peninsula he turned his attention to taking a railroad all the way to Key West. If building a railroad on the sandy soil and water soaked mainland seem implausible, the idea of building it across the keys and water of extreme south Florida seemed ludicrous and the project soon became known as Flagler’s Folly. While there were many doubters, the millionaire kept his eye on the prize with a simple but workable plan. When asked how he planned on traversing the miles and miles of water between Miami and Key West he explained, “It is perfectly simple. All you have to do is build one concrete arch and then and another, and pretty soon you find yourself in Key West.”. Anyone who has driven the incredible highway known as A1A (which was built along the remnants of the railway) is indebted t