"Palm Beach - the jewel of South Florida " a Palm Beach Travel Page by mnybondas

Palm Beach is the island area east of West Palm Beach in South Florida that is facing the Atlantic Ocean. The surrounding area is called Palm Beach County. Palm Beach county streches until the Belle Glade area at the Lake Okeechobee (the biggest lake in Florida). From the north to the south coast Palm Beach county consist of the following cities: Jupiter, Riviera Beach, West Palm Beach, Lake Worth, Lantana, Boynton Beach, Delray Beach and Boca Raton. These cities are known as the Palm Beaches.

Tha main land area of the Florida Atlantic coast is separated from the island strip facing the Atlantic Ocean by a water area that is called the Intracoastal Waterway. If you for example consider West Palm Beach and Palm Beach then the Intracoastal Waterway is the boundary between these towns. From the coast towards east the following roads run through Palm Beach County: A1A (this is the beach road running through the island areas), Federal Highway (this the main road facing the Intracoastal Waterway on the west side), I-95 (this is the main interstate highway in South Florida), Congress Avenue, Military Trail, Jog Road and State Road 7. On the island areas of Palm Beach County you can see some of the most spectacular private properties anywhere in the world. Jupiter Island is the richest town in America according to Forbes magazine both when you measure it according to income per capita (more than $220,000) or according to median home prices (around $2,5 million). Among the bigger towns with at least 10,000 inhabitants Palm Beach itself ranks as number 3 behind two Californian cities (Rancho Santa Fe and Atherton). The areas of Palm Beach county facing the Intracoastal Waterway are also exclusive because these are also waterfront properties. Then west of Federal Highway there is a very sharp boundary with much less expensive real estate. It is like another world. Then again further west after Military Highway and Jog Road there are some very exclusive gated country club communities.

When you talk about Palm Beach a good starting point is to mention some prominent Floridians who have greatly influenced the development of Palm Beach County to what it is now. The grandfather of Palm Beach and of whole South Florida is without a doubt a man called Henry Morrison Flagler. Flagler was one of the richest men in the world during the beginning of the 20th century as a cofounder of Standard Oild together with John D. Rockefeller. When Flagler came to South Florida then it was mainly a mosquito infested uninhabited swamp. Key West was at that time the most populated place in South Florida. Miami was at that time a small fisherman's village with around 600 people. Flagler was actually the one who named the village Miami from an old Indian name. Flagler settled in Palm Beach where he built a glorious 60,000 square feet mansion called Whitehall. Whitehall is nowadays a Flagler museum. Flagler was also the one who established Palm Beach as a playground for the rich and famous. He is also credited as the founder of the luxury hotel Palm Beach Inn on Palm Beach. This hotel was later renamed as the Breakers as it is known nowadays. The man who maybe influenced the look of Palm Beach county more than anyone was an architect with the name Addison Mizner. Much of the architectural desing of the beautiful town of Boca Raton was originally created by Addison Mizner. Mizner introduced the Mediterranean look to Palm Beach and much of the whole South Floridian architecture has later been inspired by him. Another architect who had a great influnce in the development of Palm Beach county was Maurice Fatio. He is not as well known as Mizner, but he was just as talented. He favored the Italian architecture as opposed to the Spanish architecture favored by Mizner, so nowadays you can say that the architecture in Palm Beach county has a mix of influence from the Spanish and Italian Mediterranean looks. This is very common all over Palm Beach county.