After fighting our way through some unbelievable stop-and-go traffic in the Miami Art Deco National Historic District, we stopped by the Ancient Spanish Monastery in North Miami Beach.
The Monastery and Cloisters of St. Bernard de Clairvaux were constructed in Sacramenia, Spain in the year 1133. Cistercian monks occupied the monastery until a social revolution in the 1830s, when the property was seized, sold, and converted into a granary and stable.
In 1925, William Randolph Hearst purchased the Cloisters, dismantled the structures stone-by-stone, and carefully packed the stones in numbered wooden crates. The crates were filled with hay to protect the individual stones.
When the 11,000 crates arrived in the United States, the Department of Agriculture quarantined the crates because they were afraid that the hay used for packing was contaminated with Hoof-and-Mouth Disease. As a safety precaution, the Department opened all of the crates, removed the stones, and burned all of the hay. Unfortunately, no attempt was made to determine which stones came from which crate, so the Department randomly replaced the stones in any crate that was available.
Since Hearst was having some financial difficulties at the time, the crates were placed in a warehouse until 1952 (one year after Hearst's death), when the crates were sold to William Edgemon and Rayond Moss. When attempting to reassemble the structures, the confusion with the stones and crate numbers was discovered and it required 19 months and $1.5 million dollars to put the Cloisters back together. Time magazine called the re-assemblage process "the world's biggest jigsaw puzzle."
In 1964 the property was purchased by a wealthy philanthropist and donated to the Episcopal Diocese.
Today, the Monastery is home to the Church of St. Bernard de Clairvaux and has an active Episcopal (Anglican) congregation. The Monastery is considered to be the oldest building in the Western Hemisphere.
The Church gift shop contains a small museum with a number of artifacts. Of particular interest are the Spanish iron-bound strong boxes that were used for storing valuables in the 16th and 17th centuries, knight's armor from the late 1600s (part of the Randolph Hearst collection), and a ring worn by the Knights Templar
When I was younger I was an avid fisherman, so when we reached Ft. Lauderdale I stopped by the International Game Fish Association (IGFA) Hall of Fame and Museum, only to find that they were in the process of moving everything to Springfield, Missouri. (I really question how many swordfish you can catch in Missouri!) One of the workers told me that I was not allowed in the building, but I could go next door to the Bass Pro Shop if I wanted to see some fish that were similar to the fish on display in the IGFA museum!
Since I was in the area, I also visited the International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF), but did not go swimming in any of their pools.
Many people do not start their bucket list until they get older, but I actually started writing my List at a fairly young age. Thus, people are often surprised when they learn that the #1 thing on my List was to go to Ft. Lauderdale over Spring Break. As a point of clarification, I should probably explain that the #1 thing on my List is not necessarily the most important thing on the list, it is just the oldest item recorded. (Key West and Everglades National Park were also in my Top 10 items!)
In 1960 I saw the movie Where The Boys Are with Connie Francis, George Hamilton, and Tim Hutton and decided that I should go to Ft. Lauderdale over spring break some day and added it to my list. (Little did I realize that it would be over 50 years before I made it to Ft. Lauderdale over Spring Break and even more surprising is that I would arrive with a grandma!)
I remember scenes from the movie where there were large crowds of people walking down the sidewalks and the beaches were so crowed with young people that it was difficult to even find a few square feet to lay down a blanket and get a suntan. In the movie, everyone was friendly and having a great time!
Much to my surprise, when I arrived at the Ft. Lauderdale beach, there were no crowds on the sidewalk, no crowds on the beach, no young people, and I did not even see any friendly people having a great time! All I saw were a few old people my age crossing "Ft. Lauderdale at Spring Break" off of their bucket list. I drove down the road a few blocks and it was the same thing - just a few old people trying to find their way back to the home. Not what I had envisioned - time to edit the Bucket List!
Continuing along the beach I came to the Ft. Lauderdale Port, and there she was - the beautiful, sleek, Island Princess. Time for a RonnieAdventure on the high seas!
No comments:
Post a Comment