Now for something completely different…a little bit of Fort Lauderdale history. As per the Sun Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale is named for the Army Major William Lauderdale, commander of 200 mounted Tennessee Volunteers who were posted to the new settlement in 1838 after the outbreak of the Second Seminole War. The troops followed a route from Jupiter, FL on Military Trail (a major highway now) to the banks of the New River. A wooden fort was constructed in 1838 and named for Lauderdale. This fort was eventually abandoned and when troops returned months later they found it burned. A series of two more Fort Lauderdale’s were created and they also did not stand the test of time.

The land that became Fort Lauderdale is a barrier island.  The Tequesta and other Indians used the land for hunting & gathering but evidently did not inhabit the area. After Major Williams Lauderdale’s forts came and went, the next person to put claim to much of the land was Hugh Taylor Birch.  According to the website of Florida State Parks; in 1893 Birch purchased 3 miles of the island for a total cost of $3,500.  Much of this was sold in the 1920’s and later, he donated the right-of-way for Sunrise Boulevard, ceded land for Highway A-1-A, and leased or gave most of the beach he owned to the city. He moved again, into what is now called the Bonnet House, a 35-acre tract of land and in 1940, built a new home for himself on the property that is now the state park.

Birch gave the Bonnet House land to his daughter Helen and her new husband, Frederic Clay Bartlett, as a wedding gift.  Frederic, although not an architect, designed and began building the house in the 1920’s and continued building for 20 years.  Helen passed away in 1925 and six years later Frederic married Evelyn Fortune LIlly, who upon her passing (at 109!) entrusted her home to the state of Florida as a museum.  The house was returned to its heyday of the 1930’s & 40’s and is well worth a visit.