Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Having completed the Southern Caribbean portion of the cruise, we docked at Fort Lauderdale to let some of the passengers off, and to board the ones who were to cruise the Eastern Caribbean.
While at Fort Lauderdale, we thought we would take a tour to see parts of the city. We chose a tour that was called land and sea. First part of the tour was on land, the other part was "at sea".
One of our first stops was the museum of history.
Then a walk through the park.
The King-Cromartie House had an interesting past. It was moved by barge to its current location to be preserved as a historical house. But it has become famous for being haunted. Louise King Cromartie suffered and died of yellow fever in the 1920s. She was still at a young age and not ready to go to the other side. As such, she is to have stayed in the house she loved. Her translucent apparition has been seen looking out her second floor bedroom window. She is described (accurately) as wearing her blonde hair in a bun with ringlets on the side of her face, wearing a pink dress. She is said to be an affable, benign spirit, who likes to watch people from the second story window of her bedroom.
"I'm not afraid of a friendly ghost". So on with the tour.
This has nothing to do with the tour; the cat standoff just interested me.
Philemon Nathaniel Bryan House
This hollow concrete block home was built in 1905 by Edwin T. King for Philemon Bryan. The Bryan House features Classical Revival architectural detailing. It functioned as a boarding house during WW II. It now houses the Historical Society advertising agency.
While gazing at the nice mural, another story of one of the houses comes to mind. During prohibition, legend has it that Al Capone ran whiskey from Fort Lauderdale to Miami and other parts. The Feds were on to Al but he and his men were tricky. They would hide the liquor bottles in big boots, walk across the street, and board a train, thus getting the liquor past the Feds. This is reportedly where the term "bootlegging" originated. (Don't boo me. This was the tour guide's story).
As we walked to our "sea" part of the tour, we got our first glimpse of the Fort Lauderdale boat-lined fingerlets that make up the better part of the city's coast line.
Our sea boat was a paddle boat. But it was fun.
Fort Lauderdale sky line.
High rises were plentiful.
Then we "paddled" along the canal lined with large, fancy houses of the rich and famous.
Plenty of room for guests.
There were so many nice houses that I thought a collage would be appropriate.
This was really yacht's alley. Above is a "small" one decker.
On down the way was a two decker.
And then a three deck yacht.
Not to be outdone, a four deck yacht.
No, this was not a baby yacht. It was one of the tug boats that helped the cruise ship to get safely away from the dock.
All of the new passengers had boarded so it was time for us to continue our journey.
Surprisingly, some undeveloped land just off the coast. Want to bet it doesn't stay "pristine" long?
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