A Dream Come True

Founded by Women

Edith Gifford and Mary Barr Munroe made the first proposal for the preservation of Royal Palm Hammock as a state park at the 1905 Florida Federation of Women’s Clubs meeting in Coconut Grove. (A hammock is a dense stand of trees, an island of trees in the "river of grass" that is the Everglades.) However, it was not until 1915 that May Mann Jennings, wife of former governor William Jennings, presented a bill to the Florida state legislature that was designed to protect, improve, beautify, and maintain the Royal Palm Hammock. On June 5, 1915, Governor Park Trammell signed into law the first and only state park created by an act of legislature and owned by women, creating Royal Palm State Park. Women accomplished this new park before they won the right to vote across the U.S.

On November 23, 1916, Royal Palm State Park held an official dedication ceremony. At this event, May Jennings committed the park to “the people of Florida and their children forever.” For thirty-two years, the clubwomen of Florida maintained the park on a shoestring budget through hurricanes, the Great Depression, and World War II. Finally, after congressional action allowed the transfer in 1947, the women deeded the land to the newly formed Everglades National Park.

May Mann Jennings Papers, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida (UF00091259-6)

Though access to Everglades National Park is an easy drive these days over paved State Road 9336 from Homestead, this hasn't always been the case. Only with the completion of Ingraham Highway in early November 1916 was there a decent road to Royal Palm State Park.

Cars parked along the road at the dedication of Royal Palm State Park

May Mann Jennings Papers, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida (UF00091258-1)

Dedication Day

Thursday, November 23, 1916, was an exciting day in South Florida. Upwards of 800 people crowded into 150 cars drove from Miami to Paradise Key in what is now Everglades National Park for the dedication of Royal Palm State Park.

Samuel Belcher speaking at the dedication of the Ingraham Highway

May Mann Jennings Papers, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida (UF00091256-22)

Samuel A. Belcher, chairman of the Dade County Commission, dedicated the Ingraham Highway at the ceremony for Royal Palm State Park. Seated left to right are May Mann Jennings, president of the Florida Federation of Women’s Clubs, and Mary K. Sherman, of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs.

Picnic lunch following the dedication of Royal Palm State Park

May Mann Jennings Papers, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida (UF00091256-11)

After the dedication ceremony, members of the Longview and Homestead Women’s Clubs served a picnic lunch to about 600 attendees. The menu included turkey, beans, salad, coffee, and doughnuts.

Edith Gifford’s Words from the Dedication

“In our far ancestral past, rare and beautiful sylvan retreats were set apart for worship of the most High, and now as we dedicate our park, let us hope that kindred inspirations fill our minds, and that we, and those who come after us may find here a revelation of deep delight and may go forth refreshed and invigorated in spirit and in deed.”

The lodge at Royal Palm State Park, near Homestead, Florida

May Mann Jennings Papers, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida (UF00091259-4)

The women built a lodge in the state park. (It no longer exists.) Contributions from area women’s clubs, including the rag rugs woven by the Longview Woman’s Club, helped to create a homey atmosphere inside the lodge.

Interior of the lodge at Royal Palm State Park

May Mann Jennings Papers, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida (UF00091255-5)

When the women set out to create a state park in 1905, they never expected that they would become involved in the hotel and restaurant business. The lodge constructed at Royal Palm served not only as the home for the park warden and his family, but also as accommodations for visitors.

Mosier family tent at Royal Palm State Park, around 1915

John Kunkel Small collection, Florida Memory (RC02516, public domain)

In March 1915 the Women’s Clubs hired Charles A. Mosier to serve as the warden for Royal Palm State Park. He lived in this tent with his wife and two children until the completion of the lodge in August 1917.

For Further Study

• May Mann Jennings Papers, Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida. Items in the May Mann Jennings collection have been digitized for America's Swamp: The Historical Everglades project.
• Linda D. Vance, "May Mann Jennings and Royal Palm State Park," Florida Historical Quarterly 55 (July 1976) 1-17.
• Woman's Club of Coconut Grove Records, Special Collections, University of Miami Libraries. Some items in the collection have been digitized and made available online.

FROM IDEA TO PARK, WOMEN LED THE WAY

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  Royal Palm: The Seed for Everglades NP

  Florida women led the effort and owned Royal Palm State Park, created in 1916 and the nucleus for the eventual Everglades National Park.

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  Drain the Swamp

  Before the park, dredging "reclaimed" the wetlands and provided land for farming.

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  Save the Birds

  Women of the late 1800s and early 1900s worked nationally and locally in many conservation and reform causes, like ending plume hunting.