Article titled "The Gulf Coast of Florida: A Winter Climate for Invalids," ca. 1883

Winter resorts -- Florida

Climate -- Florida

Disabled People

Article titled "The Gulf Coast of Florida: A Winter Climate for Invalids" by Dr. R. J. Levis, M. D. originally published in the "The Continent" (Volume 3, Number 3, Whole Number 49 on January 17, 1883. discussing the benefits of Florida's climate, particularly focused on Punta Rassa, Florida. Includes historic climate information including temperature, precipitation, and humidity and a map of part of Florida's Gulf Coast between Cedar Key and Cape Romano.

Levis, R. J. (Richard Joseph), 1827-1890

State Library of Florida, Florida Collection

1883 (circa)

articles

eng-US

Text

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Late 19th-Century Florida (1877-1900)

Gulf Coast (United States)

Florida

Punta Rassa (Fla.)

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Health and Safety

[page 1] A WINTER CLIMATE FOR INVALIDS - A Gulf Coast of Florida By R.J. Levis, M.D. From "The Continent." The season is at hand when those who, like the birds of summer, take annually their flight southward, will be thinking of running away from winter. There are many who seek genial air and sunlit waters for pleasure only, others to escape from the chilling discomforts of winter; and the great invalid corps, turning its back on cold and death when the leaves fall, makes its pilgrimage to sunny lands. In the choice of a climate for invalids in general, there are certain health-giving factors which may be summed up as equability of temperature, purity of atmosphere and comparative dryness. I regard it as essential for most invalids that the temperature shall be such that they may be able to remain for an indefinite time out in the open air without discomfort, and to freely permit it to enter their apartments at all hours of the day and night. The general prevalence of bright, clear, sunny days, with the rarity of cloudiness and a light rainfall, are essentials of a winter health resort for lung diseases. The physiological, and specially the stimulating and eutrophic effects of sunlight on the human system, are well recognized; but, owing to the in-door habits of invalids, are too little regarded. The discomfort and depression produced by the prevalence of violent winds are familiar to most conditions of invalidism, and climates of continuous and moderate air movements are found to be the most desirable.

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An atmosphere of varying electric conditions, with the Consequent production of ozone, purifying the air and keeping it free from septic germs, is favorable.
A dry soil of sand or gravel, which quickly absorbs and Filters away the rainfall from its surface, and does not keep The air moist by evaporation, is an essential of a winter health resort for pulmonary affections.
The salubrious atmosphere from extensive pine forests, with their ozone and antiseptic influences, should incline invalids to the choice of such proximity.
Facility for sea-bathing, at a tolerable temperature throughout the winter, gives occupation and pleasure, and is an important adjuvant in the treatment of some morbid conditions.
As in incipient and developing pulmonary tuberculosis and in many other diseases prevalent among the dwellers in cities, it is essential that there shall be a change of habits from a sedentary to an out-door life, the region for a health resort should be one in which there are abundant opportunities for amusement or for agreeable and profitable work in the open air. In a region of country where open-air amusements can be varied by riding, hunting and sailing, and where the scenery is an attractive blending of vistas of forests and stretches of water, the conditions most favorable to an out-door life will be most happily presented.
The poorly-nourished victim of tuberculosis should not be banished to a land where his diet may be impoverished by the lack of fresh meats and vegetables. If he is where he can add to his fare by the products of his recreations of hunting and fishing, then will good digestion be most likely to wait on appetite.
Agreeable society is an essential of happiness and a preventive of depression of spirits in the class of invalids who are obliged to seek winter quarters away from home. Their associations should not be in a crowded caravansary, where the halls echo with sad sound of coughing, and the corridors seem sepulchral with the hoarse voices of sufferers. Far better is it to find companionship with the woodsman

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or the fisherman, and be entertained by their woodcraft or simple lore of boats, bays and streams.
The ideal winter climate for invalids, embracing perfectly all the essentials and suited to the fancy and caprice of sufferers, may not be found, but it can be approximated in its most important requisites.
It is evident that in Europe and in this country mild or warm climates have of recent years grown most in favor as winter health resorts. In our own land Florida has become the great winter sanitarium for consumptive invalids, for the nervous and debilitated, and for valetudinarians of all degrees, with the prospect of increasing in repute as the merits of some of its most advantageous localities become more generally known. My personal observations of Florida have extended over the regions usually visited by invalids and tourists, and over a domain of wilderness beyond the ready access of travelers. The greater part of the territory of the entire State still remains inaccessible to invalids, and the tide of travel is mostly confined to the great water-course of the St. John's River and its vicinity; but the increased developments of railroads and of the coast and interior navigation are about to speedily spread travel over a most attractive sanitary region. That there are portions of Florida much more suited for winter homes than those generally resorted to it is the object of this article to state.
Florida is a land of many waters. It has a coast line of about twelve hundred miles. Its rivers, lakes, everglades and lagoons are numberless. It is estimated that from a fourth to a third of the entire State, varying with the season of the year, is covered by water. To its extensive and peculiar water containing and surroundings is due to its unique and wonderfully mild and equable climate. Florida is our nether land, which, as Sidney Lanier wrote, by "its peninsular curve whimsically terminates our country in an interrogation point." It geographically and climatically resembles Italy, but its air is more bland and healthful, and its soil Has even a greater range of productiveness.

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No known land is exempt from the liability of its inhabitants to pulmonary consumption, but in this country statistics of the last two decades show that the disease progressively diminishes from our extreme Northern States southward to Florida. The mortality from consumption, as compared with all other causes of deaths in Florida, is, by the census, but 58 to the 1,000; whilst in the State of Maine it is 258 to the 1,000; Connecticut, 179; Pennsylvania, 142, and South Carolina, 90.
The low consumption mortality of Florida exists, notwithstanding the number of Northern invalids who seek too late its healthy air, only to end their days and add to the normally very low death rate. The best authority on the subject, Dr. Kenworthy, of Jacksonville, who has given much intelligent attention to climate in the cure of consumption and to sanitary statistics in general, believes that the mortality from consumption among the permanent residents of Florida actually does not exceed thirty deaths to the thousand from all causes.
Of the extended seaboard of Florida the Gulf Coast stretches over seven hundred miles. The climate of this coast has, in my opinion, more of the essentials of a good winter resort for invalids tan any other of which I know. I make this statement after some personal experience over a large extent of the coast, from much conference with invalids who have happily tested its merits, and from a comparison with the thermometric and hygrometric records of many of the various popular health resorts of the world. The west, or Gulf, coast of Florida has a temperature more mild, equable and dry than that of the corresponding Atlantic border. As compared with that of the much-frequented region of the St. John's River, in the winter season it is free from malarious influences, fogs are unknown, and the opportunities and inducements for an out-door life are far greater. Sidney Lanier, the poet, whose failing days were prolonged by a residence in Florida, says that the air of the Gulf Coast is "milder and dryer than on the eastern coast in midwinter; and it is to be greatly hoped that increase facilities for

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reaching these favorable regions will soon render them practicable to those who now find the journey too trying."
For the agriculturist and the orange-grower, and for the gardener who raises early vegetables for the Northern markets, this coast offers a fertile soil and a climate freer from destructive frosts than any other part of the peninsula. To the capitalist and the investor for speedy increase in values of lands, it, with the rapid development of railroads now stretching their competing lines to the fertile hummock lands and numerous harbors of this coast region, gives assurance of a flood times of immigration
"The first faint wash of waves where soon
Shall roll the human sea."
The Gulf Coast has great advantages in its many excellent harbors, and is, in this respect, more favored than the Atlantic border of the peninsula, which south of the mouth of the St. John's River, has not a single good harbor. The best harbors of the west coast are at Cedar Keys, the Anclote River, Clear Water Harbor, Tampa Bay, Charlotte Harbor and San Carlos Harbor; but there are innumerable inlets, with moderate depths of water, passing in between the thousands of beautiful islands which border the entire coast line. These islands or keys are lovely, fertile tracts, mostly in primitive wilderness, capable of high cultivation, with a delightful climate, and their only disadvantage is the liability to partial overflow from the occasional hurricane tides of late summer or early autumn. Residences on them can be safely located only on eminences above the possible reach of the waters, which may rise six or eight feet above the normal level.
The whole of the Gulf Coast, from Cedar Keys southward, is attentive for health- and pleasure-seekers, but the southern limit is sharply defined near the end of the peninsula by a region so inflicted with insect annoyances as to render human existence intolerable. How far southward the coast may be in all respects desirable for winter residences, my explanations have not determined; but from

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Homosassa down as far as the Ten Thousand Islands, a region included between the twenty-sixth and twenty-eight degrees of latitude, the invalid will find a winter climate presenting the essentials, as I have stated them, of equability of temperature, purity of atmosphere and comparative dryness.
The mean temperature for the five cold months for a Period of five years, at the United States Signal Station at Punta Rassa, about two hundred miles south of Cedar Keys and one hundred north of Cape Sable, is shown in the following table:

	November	December	January	February	March	Mean for 5 months
Punta Rassa	69.4 [degrees Fahrenheit]	64.6 [degrees Fahrenheit]	64.8 [degrees Fahrenheit]	66.1 [degrees Fahrenheit]	68.8 [degrees Fahrenheit]	66.7 [degrees Fahrenheit]

Another table shows the maximum and minimum temperatures for the same months in the years 1878 and 1879:

Punta Rassa.	November	December	January	February	March	Mean.
Maximum [degrees Fahrenheit]	83.7	76.2	79.3	79.1	82.6	80.7
Minimum [degrees Fahrenheit]	46.7	42.3	46.7	47.6	49.7	46.6

Here is shown a winter temperature which, with its well-known equability, renders out-door life agreeable, and dwelling apartments can always be kept open to the free admission of air. The winter temperature is rarely so low as to require even the open wood-fire. The skies, from sunrise to ver the tops of the pines and palms to the dip of a red sunset into the warm waters of the Gulf, are almost always bright and blue, checkered only by white flying clouds. The balmy breezes blow mildly and almost without ceasing, excepting during an occasional lull of calm at the sunset hour, so that the advantage to health of continuous and moderate air movement prevails. As to purity of atmosphere the situation and surroundings are extremely favorable. The breezes blow from

[page] 7 either the vast area of waters of the Gulf or from over great forests of pine, palm and cypress, with their ozonizing influences. It is due to these agencies and to the remarkable dryness that an aseptic condition of atmosphere exists. I have seen venison, game birds and other meats remain for many days, or even for weks, hanging unprotected in the ppen air, free from taint, and becoming merely hard and dry without decomposition.
No claim for the sanitary merits of the Gulf Coast of Florida will create so much surprise as that of the comparative dryness of its atmosphere. The natural and popular inference that it has a moist climate must be from a consideration of its vast traverses and surroundings of water, fresh and salt, and not from the trustworthy reports of the Signal Service or from personal observation. I am not able to give a reasonable explanation of the cause of the remarkable dryness of the atmosphere, admist such a realm of waters; but that the climate of this coast is comparatively dry and bracing can be proved by the records of official observation and attested by the permanent residents of the region. The following table, from official data, of relative humidity of some winter resorts of Europe and America shows particularly well for Punta Rassa, on the Gulf Coast of Florida, during the five cold months:

	Years	November	December	January	February	March	Mean for 5 months
		[% realtive humidity]	[% realtive humidity]	[% realtive humidity]	[% realtive humidity]	[% realtive humidity]	[% realtive humidity]
Mentone and Cannes.	3	71.8	74.2	72.0	70.7	73.3	72.4
Atlantic City, N.J.	5	76.9	79.1	80.6	77.3	76.8	78.1
Breckenridge, Minn.	5	76.9	83.2	76.8	81.8	79.5	79.6
St. Paul, Minn.	5	70.3	73.5	75.2	70.7	67.1	71.3
Punta Rassa, Fla.	5	72.7	73.2	74.2	73.7	69.9	72.7
Kew West, Fla.	5	77.1	78.7	78.9	77.2	72.2	76.8
Jacksonville, Fla.	5	71.7	69.3	70.1	68.5	63.9	68.8

Data supplied by the United States Signal Service prove that during the five cold months the relative humidity of Florida, as taken at a number of widely spirited stations of observation, is less than that of what is popularly called the "dry winter climate of Minnesota."

[page] 8 The very small rainfall at Punta Rassa during the five cold months, given in inches and hundredths, from the statistics of the Signal Service, is as follows:

	November	December	January	February	March	Mean for 5 months
Punta Rassa	1.61 [inches]	1.08 [inches]	2.31 [inches]	1.79 [inches]	.83 [inches]	1.52 [inches]

The mean of the maximum and minimum temperatures of the water of the ocean bottom, at Punta Rassa, for the five cold months during five years, from 1878 to 1883, is here shown:

	November	December	January	February	March	Mean for 5 months
Punta Rassa	72.8 [degrees Fahrenheit]	67.2 [degrees Fahrenheit]	63.6 [degrees Fahrenheit]	68.1 [degrees Fahrenheit]	73.0 [degrees Fahrenheit]	1.52 [inches]

Such temperatures render sea bathing agreeable throughout the winter and early spring months.
For an attractive out-door life in the winter for invalids I know of no region equaling the Gulf Coast of Florida, with its great bays and harbors for sailing, its wonderful fishing and excellent deer hunting, and for the great abundance of feathered game in the forest and on the waters. There is perpetual inducement to spend time in the open air. The sun does not parch, the winds do not chill, and the atmosphere has that indefinable poetic quality called "dreamy." I have felt comfortable in the bracing air when very lightly dressed, and not oppressed when heavily clothed. Seabathing is agreeable on the shelly or white sandy beaches all through the winter. And I have found the water warmer on the western than on the eastern coast of the peninsula.
The reason that the Gulf Coast has not been more popularly known as the sanitary resort is the want of convenient access and of accommodations for sojourners, but a

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Happy change is at hand. Coasting steamers now run into All of the more important harbors, as those of Anclote, Tampa, Charlotte, and San Carlos; and railroads are rapidly being constructed to reach the towns all along the coast. The want of convenient residences for invalids is now quite Overcome, and comfortable accommodations can be had in every village. The hospitality of the people renders the stay genial and social, and it is a common remark, which I have happily verified, that in Florida wherever you see a house you can find a home, for every home seems open to welcome the stranger.
At a most attractive and salubrious location on the high peninsula between Tampa Bay and the Gulf Coast, on the shore of Lake Butler, a beautiful site for villas is being developed, and a large hotel will be ready this winter for the accommodation of health- or pleasure- seeking visitors. This locality can be readily reached by the coasting steamers from Cedar Keys to the Anclote River, about seventy-five miles. A railroad tending in that direction, by way of Waldo, Ocala and Brookville has now reached within a short stage ride of the coast near Lake Butler. The land here is much elevated, overlooking the Gulf of Mexico, Lake Butler and the great Tarpon Spring. The elevation of this region, which is the highest on the coast, and its extensive water surrounding, render it most favorable for a winter resort, and indeed, for residence during t he entire year. A number of persons from the North are about erecting cottages on the shores of Lake Butler, so that abundant accommodations will soon be ready for winter visitors to this favorable locality.
To all who would escape from the severity and dangers of our Northern winters and seek a mild, equable and comparatively dry climate, free from malarial influences, and where life in the open air is always practicable and agreeable, I commend a journey to the Gulf Coast of Florida.

[page] 10 WAR DEPARTMENT OFFICE OF THE CHIEF SIGNAL OFFICER Washington, D.C. January 16, 1883 Statement showing t he mean, maximum, minimum and water temperatures; the Precipitation, in inches and hundredths, and the mean relative humidity, at Punta Rassa, Florida, for each month from the commencement of observations to December, 1882. (Compiled from the records on file at the office of the Chief Signal Officer, U.S. Army, Washington, D.C.)
Punta Rassa, Florida. - Mean Monthly Temperatures [in degrees Fahrenheit].
(Computed from the three telegraphic observations.)

	January	February	March	April	May	June	July	August	September	October	November	December	Means
1871									80.2	77.2	71.6	65.7
1872	61.5	62.8	68.0	76.3	78.0	81.0	80.3	81.3	79.8	73.7	67.8	62.7	72.8
1873	61.6	66.0	64.7	72.6	79.3	81.0	81.1	80.2	80.0	72.0	66.2	65.2	72.5
1874	62.9	68.7	71.3	73.7	75.9	79.4	80.7	81.2	78.8	74.2	70.1	65.5	73.5
1875	69.6	65.9	70.6	70.9	76.5	79.1	80.9	79.5	80.8	74.5	73.5	66.6	73.9
1876	67.1	68.7	67.9	72.5	75.6	80.4	80.4	81.4	80.8	745	66.6	59.9	73.0
1877	65.5	64.4	66.7	70.9	75.5	81.7	82.6	82.1	81.9	77.3	60.6	64.1	73.5
1878	60.0	63.5	69.8	74.6	78.4	81.5	82.5	83.8	80.1	73.2	69.1	61.5	73.5
1879	61.7	63.8	69.4	70.8	75.7	79.1	81.1	80.9	78.8	76.8	69.2	70.2	73.1
1880	67.9	68:2	72.5	73.4	75.8	80.2	81.8	80.3	80.0	74.9	72.9	62.7	74.2
1881	64.5	65.2	64.9	69.5	76.3	81.7	82.9	80.6	79.9	77.2	72.1	67.7	73.0
1882	67.9	67.9	70.8	75.4	76.7	80.5	80.4	80.8	79.6	76.3	67.1	62.6	73.8
Mns.	64.6	65.9	68.8	72.7	76.7	80.5	81.3	81.0	80.1	75.3	69.6	64.5	73.4

NOTE - The Daily means are obtained by dividing the sum of the readings at the Three telegraphic observations by three; the monthly means by dividing the sum of The daily means by the number of days in the month.

MAXIMUM TEMPERATURES [in degrees Fahrenheit]

Year	January	February	March	April	May	June	July	August	September	October	November	December
1872	77	78.5	81	87	92	91	92	92	92	88	83	80
1873	80	79	81	88	90	94	93	92	89	88	83	81
1874	79	84	85	87	90	91	91	91	91	85	82	80
1875	80	80	83.5	82	86	89	91.1	91	90	89	85	81
1876	81.5	81	81.8	84	90	952	92	92	91	89.5	82.5	75
1877	80	77	80.5	83	85	93	93	92	92	89	87	78
1878	74	75	84	84	89	92	91	92	90	88	81	76
1879	77	79	81	85	89	91	92	92	90	89	84	80
1880	80	79	84	86	90	93	92	91	91	88	83	81
1881	80	78	82	86	89	92	92	91	91	89	86	82.5
1882	80	81	83.5	85	90	91	91.5	92	90	87	84	78

MINIMUM TEMPERATURE [in degrees Fahrenheit]

Year	January	February	March	April	May	June	July	August	September	October	November	December
1871									72	69	50.5	43
1872	39	46	50	68	65	71	72	71	71	58	37	35
1873	37	47	38	55	63	81	69	71	72	57	42	40
1874	42	50	55	55	59	70	70	71	67	64	50	49
1875	51.2	43	50	66.5	62	69	69	70.5	69.5	55.5	51.5	42
1876	42	51	44	56	61	70	67	72	69.5	55	48	34
1877	40.5	46.5	50	55.5	62	68	75	75	70	64	42	41
1878	42	48	50	62	64	72	73	73	69	54	48	38
1879	33	44	55	48	64	68	70	72	71	63	46	56
1880	53	52	49	53	65	67	69	70	67	57	49	39
1881	45	46	49	46	64	71.5	73	70	71	66	46	48
1882	42	49	57	64	64	6	70.5	72	70	60	45	36

[page] 11 MEAN OF THE MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM TEMPERATURES OF THE WATER AT THE OCEAN BOTTOM AT PUNTA RASSA, FLA. FOR THE MONTHS NAMED. Average depth of the water at the place where observations are taken, is 11.9 feet.

Year	January	February	March	April	May	June	July	August	September	October	November	December
1878	60.5	*	74.5	76.0	83.0	88.0	87.5	86.5	85.0	†	71.5	64.5
1879	62.0	66.0	72.0	75.0	81.0	85.0	86.5	85.0	84.0	78.0	71.0	70.5
1880	*	70.5	74.0	76.5	*	85.5	88.0	83.5	83.0	78.0	76.0	66.5
1881	64.5	66.0	70.0	73.5	81.0	86.0	87.5	84.8	85.6	80.6	73.6	68.8
1882	67.4	70.0	74.4	79.0	81.8	85.3	86.5	88.0	85.5	80.3	72.1	65.6

* Record incomplete
† Thermometer broken.

PRECIPITATION (IN INCHES AND HUNDREDTHS)

Year	January	February	March	April	May	June	July	August	September	October	November	December	Annual Ammount
1871									15.49	1.80	0.98	2.68
1872	2.64	2.71	0.69	1.54	2.88	7.16	8.68	4.08	15.14	2.82	0.58	1.87
1873	6.84	0.48	1.59	8.58	9.89	5.21	5.13	9.85	9.13	3.90	2.88	1.57	60.00
1874	2.05	2.50	0.08	0.41	1.27	11.94	8.06	5.11	4.73	0.09	1.21	0.71	38.16
1875	0.84	0.08	0.70	4.59	2.07	3.33	5.33	12.49	6.99	2.08	1.00	1.26	40.71
1876	0.04	0.51	1.35	0.88	2.73	4.34	16.95	5.19	4.07	5.25	2.56	0.47	44.34
1877	1.58	2.89	0.84	1.09	4,38	1.26	6.59	8.33	4.86	1.99	4.30	0.93	38.99
1878	4.03	7.41	2.24	4.05	5.06	4.75	9.58	3.95	8.77	0.56	0.84	1.07	51.81
1879	0.31	2.11	0.14	0.63	1.42	3.22	6.21	12.75	13.78	4.85	0.35	0.52	46.29
1880	3.22	1.26	0.03	0.55	5.32	2.45	8.76	8.55	2.50	8.10	1.81	1.98	39.53
1881	4.02	0.52	1.18	0.54	3.13	2.53	3.60	7.28	7.20	1.58	0.80	1.22	33.60
1882	0.30	0.20	0.15	3.59	2.51	8.46	5.58	362	4.12	3.90	1.04	1.10	34.57
Me’n	2.35	1.87	0.42	1.95	3.70	4.97	7.22	7.88	7.23	3.08	1.48	1.28	42.6

MEAN RELATIVE HUMIDITY. - (From The Three Telegraphic Observations.)

Year	January	February	March	April	May	June	July	August	September	October	November	December
1873	79	75	74	73	74	75	76	78	80	73	74	78
1874	77	80	72	72	71	7	77	76	77	72	77	77
1875	83	77	73	67	74	74	76	79	78	76	81	74
1876	75	76	71	75	74	77	79	77	77	77	73	78
1877	78	76	70	69	70	67	71	74	72	74	75	71
1878	75	74	74	73	70	77	79	77	77	70	70	69
1879	72.5	70.6	70.4	66.7	70.9	72.5	74.8	78.1	81.8	78.3	71.4	78.6
1880	77.3	77.2	71.0	70.7	74.8	75.8	72.9	77.0	75.0	74.0	81.0	74.1
1881	79.0	72.0	69.0	72.0	70.0	72.0	73.1	76.9	78.2	73.9	75.4	76.2
1882	76.3	72.9	69.4	73.8	70.5	73.7	77.1	77.1	76.7	76.2	71.9	77.5
Me’n	77.2	75.1	71.7								75	75

[Map of ] Part of the Gulf Coast of Florida