Castillo de San Marcos with the Shrimp Fleet in Matanzas Bay, St. Augustine, Florida

CASTILLO de San Marcos with the shrimp fleet in Matanzas Bay, St. Augustine, Florida

This grim gray old fortress still protects the harbor entrance to St. Augustine.  Construction was started in 1672 and it was not completed until 1756.  It has been under siege by British fleets and Pirate hordes, but never captured  During one siege the entire population of St. Augustine lived entirely within its walls.

Lake Wales, Fla, January 31, 1957

Thursday 6 A.M.

Plan to start out across the Everglades today.  Spent the day on the beach in Fort. Lauderdale.  The water was wonderful.  Had beautiful weather so far.  Hate to think of cold weather.  Be seeing you.

Hazel, Ike, Ken

Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Murphy

N. Railroad St.

Palmyra, Pa.

It looks like Hazel, Ike and Ken are taking the long way to get to the Everglades.  If you can imagine a Nash Rambler, moving over an Indiana Jones-type map of Florida, the red line would be slowly moving to St. Augustine, south to Ft. Lauderdale, then across the state to Lake Wales, where the postcard is marked, and where the scene would fade to Nazi orange pickers.  Wait, what?

As a Florida native, I’ve been to Castillo de San Marcos many times, and see it on many vintage postcards.  (In the 1930’s, it was called “Fort Marion,” which has no connection to Indiana Jones movies.)  However, I forgot the fact that this fort took 84 years to complete.  Think of that when you’re waiting for that new Performing Arts Center or road construction to be completed. 

Palmyra, PA is a small town, but apparently not small enough for absolute general delivery.  Unfortunately, no records of someone from the Murphy clan residing on Railroad exist.