"Presents new information about the creation and construction of the Hotel Ponce de Leon, its eighty years as a luxury resort hotel, and its transformation into the centerpiece of Flagler College. Keys does an excellent job of capturing the historical, cultural, and even political themes that were part of the hotel's development and its adaptation for use as a four-year college."--William T. Abare, Jr., president, Flagler College "Keys's monumental work documenting the creation and evolution of 'The Ponce' and its role in the Florida tourist industry and as the home of Flagler College is impressive. This is an important addition to those interested in heritage tourism and historic preservation and their impact on this nation."--Ted Ligibel, co-author of Historic Preservation: An Introduction to Its History, Principles and Practices "In this richly detailed account, Keys deftly traces the metamorphosis of Hotel Ponce de Leon from exclusive hostelry to community icon to symbol of the grandest designs of a gilded age. Here is the last word on the first resort."--Les Standiford, author of Last Train to Paradise: Henry Flagler and the Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Railroad that Crossed an Ocean "Chronicles the architectural and community history of one of America's greatest buildings."--Dana Ste. Claire, author of Cracker: The Cracker Culture in Florida History Henry Flagler's opulent Hotel Ponce de Leon drew worldwide praise from the day its elaborately carved doors opened in 1888. Built in the Spanish Renaissance Revival style, the architectural and engineering marvel featured the talents of a team of renowned artisans, including the designs of architects John Carr re, Thomas Hastings, and Bernard Maybeck, electricity by Thomas Edison, and interior decoration and stained glass windows by Louis Tiffany. Hotel Ponce de Leon is the first work to present the building's complete history and detail its transformation into the heart of Flagler College. Leslee Keys, who assisted in the restoration, recounts the complicated construction of the hotel--the first major structure to be built entirely of poured concrete--and the efforts to preserve it and restore it to its former glory. The methods used at Flagler College have been recognized as best practices in historic preservation and decorative arts conservation, and today the campus is one of Florida's most visited heritage tourism destinations. Leslee F. Keys is director of historic preservation and assistant professor of history at Flagler College.

When Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founded St. Augustine in 1565, his New World survival kit included gambling, liquor and ladies for hire. For the next four hundred years, these three industries were vital in keeping the city financially afloat. With the cooperation of law enforcement and politicians, St. Augustine's madams, bootleggers and high-rollers created a veritable Riviera where tourists, especially the wealthy, could indulge in almost every vice and still bring the family along for a wholesome vacation picking oranges and gawking at alligators. Join historian Ann Colby's tour of spots not on the standard tourist map to discover hidden-in-plain-sight bordellos, speakeasies, casinos and the occasional opium den.

Flavors of St. Augustine, an Historic Cookbook offers over 200 extraordinary recipes and more than 100 beautiful pen and ink sketches for your enjoyment of St. Augustine, America’s oldest continuously occupied city, a city of five flags and a thousand flavors. At last recipes from all of St. Augustine’s historical periods have been carefully researched, compiled, and presented in a beautifully illustrated cookbook and handbook of history. Bring delicious recipes and fascinating stories from Timucua, Spanish, British, Minorcans, American Settlers, Flagler’s Gilded Age, Lighthouse Keepers, and others into your kitchen.

You may think you know the South for its food, its people, its past, and its stories, but if there’s one thing that’s certain, it’s that the region tells far more than one tale. It is ever-evolving, open to interpretation, steeped in history and tradition, yet defined differently based on who you ask. This Is My South inspires the reader to explore the Southern States––Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia––like never before. No other guide pulls together these states into one book in quite this way with a fresh perspective on can’t-miss landmarks, off the beaten path gems, tours for every interest, unique places to sleep, and classic restaurants. So come see for yourself and create your own experiences along the way!

St. Augustine was more than three centuries old when tourism awakened the sleepy Spanish village. Soon after Standard Oil partner Henry Flagler brought the railroad to town in the 1880s, well-heeled visitors began flocking to Flagler's luxury hotels as St. Augustine became known as the "American Riviera." Tourists walked the quaint, narrow streets and visited the city gate, the old Spanish fort, the alligator farm, the Fountain of Youth, and the four houses all claiming to be the oldest in the country. Postcard History Series: St. Augustine in the Gilded Age depicts the oldest city in the United States from the beginning of the picture postcard era to 1914, when a fire destroyed several downtown blocks. The volume presents more than 200 images from the archives of the St. Augustine Historical Society and the author's personal collection.

From reviews of the first edition: "A succinct and informed account of [Flagler's] leadership in transforming Florida's economy."--American Historical Review "An important contribution to the understanding of Standard Oil's extended partnership and how the personal desire of Flagler led to the early development of Florida's Atlantic Coast."--The Historian Henry M. Flagler (1830-1913), the ambitious Gilded Age tycoon who designed and built much of Florida's fashionable east coast, rode to success on the rails. As John D. Rockefeller's closest adviser in the 1870s, Flagler helped assemble the Standard Oil empire. In this thoroughly researched biography, Akin shows that Flagler understood early in his career that cheap freight rates determined industrial profits. Portraying Flagler as an aggressive entrepreneur, Akin documents his shrewd negotiations to obtain reduced rates, rebates, and drawbacks from the railroads, thus assuring Standard Oil's national domination over oil transportation costs. Flagler drove himself as hard as he drove a bargain, obsessed with the desire to create a monument to himself that he called "my domain." His legacy was no less than modern Florida. In 1885, at the age of fifty-five, he turned his attention away from Standard Oil and began construction of the Ponce de León luxury hotel in St. Augustine, the city where he had honeymooned with his second wife. Realizing he could never fill its rooms unless better transportation with the North was available, he embarked on the second railroad venture of his lifetime, creation of the Florida East Coast Railway. Flagler's resort empire eventually included The Breakers in Palm Beach and the Royal Palm in Miami; his Atlantic coast railroad extended all the way to Key West, an engineering achievement that was called the "eighth wonder of the world." By the beginning of the twentieth century, Flagler dominated not just the resort and railroad industries in Florida but steamship and agricultural operations, too. Florida politicians gave his projects preferential treatment, even changing the state's divorce law so he could marry for a third time. Woven into this biography are details about Flagler's family, personality, three marriages, alienation from his only son, and devotion to the Presbyterian church--copy that fueled society gossip columns from New York to Palm Beach for decades. Edward N. Akin, author of Mississippi: An Illustrated History and other works on southern history, taught at Mississippi College in Clinton. His biography of Henry Flagler won the 1985 Phi Alpha Theta manuscript prize.