Sunshine Park, Orlando, FL
Orlando, Fla. February 2, 1940
We have not played as much shuffleboard as we did before the cold. Even with the sun beaming on you, you could freeze to death. Today was lovely and in a few days well will have forgotten the cold. All the flowers are gone but soon there will be others to take their place. Carolyn Mara is entertaining us tomorrow night.
Love,
S. Downing
Mrs. Harold Holbrook
Arch Street
Dover, N.H.
Google Maps will show a Sunshine Park in Orlando, but it was a National Guard Armory from 1938 to 1983, and is officially known as the Orlando Downtown Recreation Complex, with no shuffleboard courts in sight. Shuffleboard as a sport started in Daytona in 1913, reaching its peak in the 1940's, especially among the growing retired population in Florida. According to the Florida Shuffleboard Association, there are no teams currently playing in Orlando anymore, and I can't recall any surviving courts within the city limits. If you want to know more about the sport, the blog Visual Epherma tackles the question of preserving this sport seriously and thoughtfully, along with photos of existing (and sadly deteriorating) courts around central and south Florida.
Dover, New Hampshire has been a thriving commercial center since the 1700's. Through shipbuilding, cotton and brick manufacture, and the University of New Hampshire, the city has flourished for centuries. (at least that's what the city's website implies.) The Social Security Death Index lists a number of Harold Holbrooks who would be an appropriate age to receive this postcard in 1940, and there is a Harold Holbrook scholarship at the University of New Hamsphire's Whittemore Business School that started in 1972 in a memorial to the former banker. There's also an honorable mention of a Harold Holbrook in minutes from the city in 1945 that praise Mr. Holbrook for his war bond efforts.
Coincidentally, there is a prominent photographer in south Florida named Carolyn Mara. She is most likely way to young to have entertained our writer.
Google Maps will show a Sunshine Park in Orlando, but it was a National Guard Armory from 1938 to 1983, and is officially known as the Orlando Downtown Recreation Complex, with no shuffleboard courts in sight. Shuffleboard as a sport started in Daytona in 1913, reaching its peak in the 1940's, especially among the growing retired population in Florida. According to the Florida Shuffleboard Association, there are no teams currently playing in Orlando anymore, and I can't recall any surviving courts within the city limits. If you want to know more about the sport, the blog Visual Epherma tackles the question of preserving this sport seriously and thoughtfully, along with photos of existing (and sadly deteriorating) courts around central and south Florida.
Dover, New Hampshire has been a thriving commercial center since the 1700's. Through shipbuilding, cotton and brick manufacture, and the University of New Hampshire, the city has flourished for centuries. (at least that's what the city's website implies.) The Social Security Death Index lists a number of Harold Holbrooks who would be an appropriate age to receive this postcard in 1940, and there is a Harold Holbrook scholarship at the University of New Hamsphire's Whittemore Business School that started in 1972 in a memorial to the former banker. There's also an honorable mention of a Harold Holbrook in minutes from the city in 1945 that praise Mr. Holbrook for his war bond efforts.
Coincidentally, there is a prominent photographer in south Florida named Carolyn Mara. She is most likely way to young to have entertained our writer.
The Orlando Shuffle takes place at the Beardall Senior Center the first and third Saturday of each month at 7 pm. Shuffleboard lives in Orlando!
ReplyDelete