Seminole Inn, Indiantown, FL

Since ITHAKA is "on the hard" (in nautical terms) at RFYC having some work done, we needed to find a place to stay for a few days. Since this is spring break time and the snowbirds are still coming south, every hotel we called close to RFYC was full. We finally found an inn located 15 miles west of RFYC that had one room remaining, so we took it, sight unseen. It turns out that it is a rather historic inn, called Seminole Inn located in Indiantown, FL.

The Inn was built in the 1920's by a Baltimore banker named S. Davies Warfield who planned to make the Inn the center of his new planned community and the headquarters of his Seaboard Airline Railroad that ran from Central Florida to West Palm Beach. The Inn is situated on land settled by the Seminole Indians early in the nineteenth century and most of the residents of Indiantown today are full blooded descendants of the original settlers. Mr. Warfield was the uncle of Wallis Warfield who was to become the Duchess of Windsor when King George of England  abdicated his throne to marry her. She attended the gala opening of the Inn and visited many times after. Pictures of her and the former King adorn many of the walls of the Inn.

Today it is a quaint inn that still harbors some of the grandeur of the old south with it's wide porches.......

lush gardens......

.........and tiny rooms. It has been a long time since we've slept in just a double bed!

......there is still a nice lounge area to relax, read, play games or work jigsaw puzzles.

One of the wonderful side benefits of sometimes staying at unique, out of the way places is having the opportunity to attend very special events. Such was the case today when Sara picked up a flyer in the lobby of the Inn announcing a presentation by the son of world renown author Patrick Smith. Patrick Smith, a multi-Pulitzer prize nominee is most famous for his book "A Land Remembered", a historic fiction novel covering the history of Florida from approximately 1850 to 1960 as told through the trials and tribulations of the MacIvey family. Prior to Mr. Smith's presentation, a local "wilderness woman" gave a brief presentation on some aspects of early pioneer life in Florida.

Patrick Smith's son Rick gave a superb video presentation and talk explaining his father's many books and his life and style of writing. Though his father passed on a few years ago, Rick's videos included many recorded appearances of his father and his wonderful story telling ability.

It was an afternoon to remember!