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| Southwest Florida Vacation Rental |
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Overview of Miami Area Attractions and Things To Do
Welcome to an overview of Miami Southwest Florida vacation rental area attractions.
The Greater Miami area is full of attractions for all ages. With tourism as its backbone, pulsating Miami Southwest Florida
vacation rental area has evolved from a sleepy outpost near Florida's Everglades into a world-class cosmopolitan metropolis
bursting with attractions, watersports, nightlife and shopping. Miles of sparkling shoreline, museums, parks, and a
diversified line-up of restaurants await, along with a gleaming seaport boasting more passenger cruise activity than anywhere
else in the world. Boom beginnings date to an 1895 record freeze sweeping northern Florida, where rail magnate Henry Flagler's
trains regularly deposited wealthy snowbirds at his Southwest Florida vacation rental hotels.
Citrus crops were devastated, prompting South Florida's Julia Tuttle to renew overtures to Flagler, offering a partnership in
exchange for stretching his tracks to Miami. A few years earlier, Tuttle had invested in acreage along the Miami River's north
bank and she had besieged Flagler about extending his railroad south. She visited, she wrote, and she wrote again, but Flagler
remained aloof. With the freeze, Tuttle seized opportunity, according to legend shipping fresh-cut flowers from her unblemished
garden to the rail magnate along with a "come see for yourself" note. Flagler did, and passenger service to Miami debuted in
April,1896, kicking off huge development. After WWI, the boom was fueled not just by balmy weather and beachfront allure, but
also by gambling and disdain for Prohibition. Despite hurricane devastation, followed by statewide recession and national
depression, the mid-1930s brought construction of Art Deco buildings on Miami Beach. Prosperity reigned through 1942, when a
German U-boat sank an American tanker off Florida's coast helping transform South Florida into a massive military staging area.
After WWII, service trainees returned and settled, and so did gamblers and gangsters. Then Castro took power in Cuba, and Miami's
Cuban population mushroomed, jump-starting the region's Latin/Caribbean magnetism with neighborhoods like Little Havana and Little
Haiti. In the 1980s, Miami's dubious reputation as a haven for drug dealing got a positive spin on television's artsy Miami Vice,
putting Miami Beach's Art Deco District on the world stage as a trend centerpiece. With Miami's vice, nice, and spice, little
wonder that after Los Angeles and New York, Miami and its Southwest Florida vacation rental area is the third most popular
American city for international tourists.
Below is a list of some suggested things to do in the Miami Southwest Florida vacation rental Metropolitan Area, with links to
more details when available.
Visit Vizcaya Museum and Gardens from a Southwest Florida vacation rental
Industrialist James Deering's 34-room winter residence showcases a long-gone lifestyle as well as America's finest collection of
15th through 19th century furniture and decorative arts. When Deering (1859-1925) started to build his estate more than 85 years
ago, he enlisted help from New York painter Paul Chalfin. They made buying trips to Europe for important architectural components,
furniture, and art including wall panels, ceilings, mantels, and tapestries. Each room conveys a particular period style, from
Renaissance to Baroque, Rococo and Neoclassic. Deering's suite covers several Neoclassic periods. In the sitting room, Italian
carved wood paneling frames Louis XVI silk on walls, and massive mahogany desks are French Empire. A French Savonnerie rug dates
from the early 19th century. His bedroom contains a gold laurel wreath on the ceiling, bed drapery supported by a bronze eagle
and gold-decorated mahogany furniture of the Napoleonic French Empire period. Deering's bath features a linen ceiling canopy,
suggestive of a Napoleonic campaign tent. Marble walls are decorated with Sheffield silver. Since Vizcaya was acquired by
Miami-Dade County in 1952, the main house and contents have undergone extensive restoration. Unoccupied since Deering's death,
salt air humidity and neglect had taken their toll. In 1987, the open courtyard was enclosed and air-conditioned for preservation.
Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, 3251 South Miami Avenue, Miami (305) 250-9133 call them from a Southwest Florida vacation rental
Visit World and U.S. Chess Hall of Fame from a Southwest Florida vacation rental
Visitors to the World and U.S. Chess Hall of Fame might be surprised to learn the first time Superman appeared on the cover of a
comic book, he was depicted as a chess piece. The World and U.S. Chess Hall of Fame is the place to bone up on chess history,
including the birth of modern chess, the beginnings of college chess, chess in the Old West, chess and U.S. presidents, chess
and baseball, and more.
13755 Southwest 19th Avenue, Miami (786) 242-4255 call them from a Southwest Florida vacation rental
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