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| North Palm Beach Country Club (findthebest.com) |
I didn't want to write about the Fourth of July because I know lots of people will be writing about the holiday, but I just couldn't help it. The picture above is of the North Palm Beach Country Club where my family spent most Fourth of July holidays. We spread sheets out on the edges of the fairways as dusk approached and raided our coolers or raced back and forth to the clubhouse for drinks and munchees. The smell of mosquito repellent hung in the air as we sat waiting somewhat patiently, but prickly from sunburn from a day at the beach or pool, for the Village fireworks to begin. As the sun slowly set, sparklers were lit and kids carved patterns in the darkening sky. The moment the sun sunk below the horizon, the sky lit up. We leaned back onto the sheets and oohd and ah'd at the elaborate spiderwebs of light high above us.
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| Palm Beach Winter Golf Club Late 1920s Photo from Lake Park Historical Society "The Oakes Mansion" as it was known by the 1960s was torn down in the mid-1980s. |
In the 1920s, decades before we gathered on the fairways to watch fireworks, the course was not only used for golfing. Apparently, when the smugglers weren't slipping in cases of illegal hootch over the nearby waterway, they liked the clear open areas and would fly low over the golf course dropping little bits of illegal substances for their cohorts waiting in nearby woods to race out and collect. The area wasn't North Palm Beach then, but the far northern reaches of Kelsey City (now Lake Park) and lawmen were few and far between. It was rumored that some of those sworn to uphold the law were paid to look the other way. Times were hard in what was then a rough tropical paradise and it wasn't always easy to eke out a living.
This year (2012), the Village of North Palm Beach is having a "July 4th Red, White and Boom!" celebration at the Country Club (901 US Highway One, North Palm Beach). Starting with a free swim in the huge Country Club pool at noon, festivities are scheduled to continue until 10:00 p.m. with fireworks at 9:00. Here's a link for more information: NPB Celebration.
If you're lucky enough to live nearby and head over to watch the fireworks, bring your sheet, relax on the lawn, and enjoy! As you wave your sparklers waiting for the big show, take a look around and imagine how it all must have looked on a dark, dark night in the 1920s and 30s, no houses nearby and the uneven drone of a smuggler's plane swooping down to toss a package to the ground below.
Copyright (c) 2012 Ruth Hartman Berge
Sparkler and firework photos from Microsoft Office
