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Museum features Honeymoon Isle
Article published on Wednesday, July 18, 2007 |
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![[Image]](/content_images/071807_leart-01.jpg) |
| Photo courtesy of DUNEDIN HISTORICAL MUSEUM |
| Rare vintage photos from 1940 capture Honeymoon Isle in its romantic heyday. |
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DUNEDIN – The Dunedin Historical Museum is featuring a new exhibit on the history of Honeymoon Isle through Dec. 31.
Today, Honeymoon Island is considered one of the finest state parks in Florida, but from 1940 to the end of 1941, it was an exotic destination for newlyweds.
A honeymoon on the island in 1940 was very different than the luxurious ones that honeymooners plan today. Back then couples would stay in the classic little grass shack with the basic furnishings. There was no gourmet room service then, as the wives cooked whatever their husbands caught fishing on the hotplates provided in the huts.
During Honeymoon Isle’s heyday, there were 50 grass shacks along with a community center, a mess hall, a chapel plus a bath and shower facility. More than 250 couples began their married life there until World War II brought an end to the dreamland.
Publicity was spread about Honeymoon Isle by newsreel and “Life” magazine, and couples desiring to stay there for two weeks had three requirements: They had to arrive in the Dunedin area within three days of their wedding, they had to have three character references, and they had to send a picture of themselves.
Clinton Washburn, who purchased the island in 1938, chose the honeymooners, met them at the Fort Harrison Hotel, then he whisked them off to Dunedin where they would meet the boat to the Island. There was no Dunedin Causeway then. Fishing, boating, shell collecting, sports, contests, evening bonfires with singalongs were the kinds of activities planned for the couples.
The museum’s exhibit includes photographs and artifacts from this little slice of time in Dunedin’s history. Also included in the exhibit is a replica grass shack that gives visitors the idea of how lovely and innocent times were just before World War II.
The Dunedin Museum is located at 349 Main St. Museum hours are Tuesday-Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 pm, closed Sunday and Monday. Call 736-1176.
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Article published on Wednesday, July 18, 2007
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