| eginning in the late nineteenth century, members of the
nation's elite transformed remote areas of Georgia and Florida
into luxurious vacation havens. The region's tropical climate,
natural beauty, and rich cultural heritage attracted many of the
country's wealthiest families. This sudden discovery was due in
large part to the nation's burgeoning transportation system.
Steamboats and new rail lines, and the later emergence of the
automobile, allowed wealthy Northerners to escape frigid winters
and bask in the mild southern climate. The collapse of the
South's plantation economy after 1865 also made large tracts of
land available at bargain prices for resort development. Wealthy
business leaders such as Henry Flagler and Thomas Carnegie
created magnificent tropical paradises the country hadn't seen
before. Today, many clubhouses, hotels, and private homes from
this period remain as reminders of an age when the well-to-do
ushered in winter havens throughout the Golden Crescent.