Two months ago I took a bit of a joy trip to southern Florida, where my family very conveniently has a vacation home. Though I have been visiting Palm Beach County since before I could walk, I somehow never made it to the Flagler Museum. Once home to industrialist Henry Flagler, "Whitehall" was built as a grand estate for a true, Gilded Age tycoon. Constructed in 1902 as a wedding present for his wife, Whitehall ranks as of the greatest representations of American wealth and luxury and is now today a National Landmark. Boasting as many as seventy-five rooms, it took a friend and me two and a half hours to see it all. Unfortunately, Henry Flagler's legacy has been somewhat lost amidst the histories of other great industrialists, of men like Carnegie and Vanderbilt and Rockefeller. However, the Flagler Museum gave me two opportunities: one to address my own ignorance regarding his influence and one to admire the absolutely beautiful (and sometimes strange) interiors in which he resided.
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