Hotel Hygeia Seawall remains - Munyon Island - FL
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BONSAIRAD
N 26° 48.725 W 080° 02.747
17R E 594832 N 2965977
A brick and stone rampart is all that's visible now.You will need a boat to get here.
Waymark Code: WM8NF3
Location: Florida, United States
Date Posted: 04/23/2010
Views: 11
Once, rising above the island was the glamorous Hotel Hygeia. Alas, its glory was fleeting.
No doubt Dr. James Munyon was heartbroken when his Hotel Hygeia on Big Munyon’s Island burned down in 1917. But he would be pleased to know the 21-room structure won’t be forgotten.
The five-story hotel was a popular overnight stop for boat-traveling tourists in the early 1900s. It was also the distribution point for Munyon’s Paw-Paw tonic, a mixture of sulphur water and papaya juice that sold for $1 a bottle as a cure for dozens of ailments.
But one night in 1917, tragedy struck Munyon’s utopia.
The hotel, named after the Greek goddess of health, burned to the ground.
Disappointed, Munyon sold the island to New York restaurateur Harry Kelsey, developer of Kelsey City, now Lake Park.
Later, sand was dredged from the Intracoastal Waterway and dumped there, burying the hotel’s remnants and foundation.This Island is now part of John D. MacArthur State Park.You can see the seawall in the picture below.
