Laura Woodward Painting
Long ago Florida became a tourism hotspot and people came down to enjoy a warmer winter season and also for the natural beauty, as depicted in this painting of North Florida by Laura Woodward (1834–1926).
Woodward was an accomplished and noted artist in her day. She moved from New York to Florida to paint after the Civil War. She was one of the artists in residence at Henry Flagler's Ponce De Leon Hotel in St. Augustine. Her artwork was bought by the tourists while staying at Flagler’s hotel as a visual memory of their trip to Florida. She then moved down to the West Palm Beach area because she wanted to capture some of Florida’s more tropical beauty. She was the first artist to take up residence at Flagler’s famed Royal Poinciana Hotel in West Palm Beach in 1893.
(Collection of the Museum of Florida History)
