"Miami around Christmas" a Miami Travel Page by grandmaR

Since we have a daughter who is an AA pilot and a SIL and grandchildren that have lived in the Miami area since 1992 (before Andrew), we are there a lot. When we fly down to the Caribbean or Central America, we almost always go through Miami. We've been there on our boat in December 2000 and off and on to March 2001. Then we were there again in December 2001, and after Bob's heart attack in February 2002 for surgery and recovery. And we came by boat again in December 2003 and March 2004. In December 2004, we drove down and were there at Xmas and then again in February 2005. In October 2005, we came in by cruise ship, and we expect to be there again in January 2006.

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Miami at night

The Miamiak or Maumee Indians

The origin of the name "Miami" is not known. The Miami Indian tribes were part of the Algonquin Indians and the French called them by the Obijawa's name for the Miami which was "Omanik". "Miamiak" was the Miami name for themselves. Maumee is another form of Miami.

According to a page on Miami Indian Culture

"They quite often condemned their prisoners to be eaten.(This is recorded in a number of written records.) There would be one family who would have been trained for this--it was handed down according to heredity. The eating was done in public(after the victim was roasted)."

The Miami originally lived in several areas to the west, south, and east of lower Lake Michigan.

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Miami skyline from hospital room

Flagler's Railroad Comes to Biscayne Bay

Severe freezes hit the West Palm Beach area in 1894 and 1895 where Henry Flagler had intended to have the southern terminus of his railroad. West Palm Beach recorded 30 degrees; ice formed one-eighth of an inch thick in a fountain in front of Palm Beach’s Royal Poinciana. It ruined Florida's orange and vegetable crops.

Two days after the second freeze, Flagler sent James E. Ingraham to investigate the reports that south Florida was "freeze-proof". Ingraham headed the railroad’s land department and was among Flagler’s most trusted employees

At that time, there were two influential families living in the area of the present Miami River which was then known as Biscayne Bay Country. The Brickell family, who had arrived in 1871 from Clevelend. William, his wife Mary, and eight adult children ranging in age from 18 to 38, operated a trading post and post office. And the widow Julia Tuttle and her two children who also came from Cleveland had moved near to where her father Ephraim Sturtevant, had homesteaded.

Twenty five years later, speaking before a meeting of the Miami Women’s Club, Ingraham said:

"..I gathered up a lot of blooms from these various trees, put them in damp cotton, and after an interview with Mrs. Tuttle and Mr. and Mrs. Brickell of Miami, I hurried to St. Augustine, where I called on Mr. Flagler and showed him the orange blossoms..

“Mr. Flagler looked at me for some minutes in perfect silence, then he said: ‘How soon can you arrange for me to go to Miami?’”"

Flagler's railroad reached Biscayne Bay by 1896.

According to Flagler's biography

"Flagler dredged a channel, built streets, instituted the first water and power systems, and financed the town's first newspaper, the Metropolis. When the town incorporated in 1896, its citizens wanted to honor the man responsible for its growth by naming it "Flagler." He declined the honor, persuading them to use an old Indian name, "Miami"."