Old Fort Lauderdale

It's funny how some things never change.



The following excerpt is from "Fort Lauderdale The Venice of America" it was written by an Army officer visiting Ft. Lauderdale in 1821:

Florida is certainly the poorest country that ever two people quarreled for. The climate is in the first place objectionable; for even in winter, while persons further north were freezing, we were melting with heat. In the next place, the larger portion of Florida is a poor sandy country in the north, in the southern portions nearly all wet prairies and swamp; healthy in winter but sickly in summer; and in the south even the Indians said they could not live a month without suffering, and in the summer not at all. It is in fact a most hideous region to live in; a perfect place for Indians, alligators, serpents, frogs, and every other kind of loathsome reptile....

Two things come to mind right away, first, thank god for AC. When I was in the National Guard and had to be out all day in the summer, it was torture at it's purest form, I can relate to the Army pioneer. But...did he just imply that Indians are reptiles?