Seminole Hotel

Riding the horse-drawn streetcar, hotel guests avoided the bumpy, sandy streets surrounded by posh comforts of velvet, brass and polished native and exotic hardwood finishes.

Indeed, all of the streetcars manufactured by the John Stephenson Company[2] in New York City, were state-of-the-art and on the cutting edge of urban transportation development.

For the guests entertainment, the hotel provided a bowling alley, a billiard hall, tennis and croquet grounds, and an orchestra for dancing.

Other activities including horseback riding, fishing, and sailing on Lake Osceola in sailboats and steam yachts provided by the hotel.

On February 24, 1888, President Grover Cleveland visited the Seminole Hotel, along with several senators and prominent citizens from the nation's capital.

Through their association with affluent white hotel guests, local African-Americans procured off-season jobs maintaining gardens and orange crops for the wealthy people who returned north for the summer, leaving their Florida properties in need of maintenance.