Tropical Exotic: Transforming Nature in the Creation of South Florida

When developer Carl Fisher opened his first hotel, The Flamingo, in Miami Beach in 1920, one local reporter explained that Fisher's Miami Beach “is a figment of the imagination, with all of the qualities. . . of the best escapist fiction.” This reporter captured the sense of exoticism that permeated all aspects of South Florida in the 1920s. Indeed, Fischer himself, along with other developers, landscape designers, and architects, capitalized on this feeling of fantasy to create an urban oasis amidst the sandy beaches, clear waters, and tropical breezes that made South Florida a destination for travelers in America. From the Japanese gardeners who planted Arabian jasmine, Hong Kong orchids, and Rangoon creeper on the grounds of Miami Beach hotels to the architects who used Moorish arches, spires, and domes to enhance residential and commercial buildings, the developers of South Florida utilized the design motifs of “exotic” nature and architecture to sell the promise of escape. This paper will address the role of exoticism in transforming the natural environment of South Florida from the 1880s through the 1920s. It will focus on how developers and engineers dramatically altered the native tropical landscape in order to spur railroad development, agricultural production, land speculation, and the promotion of tourism. In place of tidal marshes, mangrove swamps, and saw grass, developers introduced manicured beaches, man-made islands, citrus plantations, and coconut groves, as well as “Oriental” plant species, Ceylonese peacocks, and Bahamian flamingoes. These efforts to commodify and exoticize the landscape helped sell the image of paradise to travelers and land buyers alike by directly linking the historic lure of the East with the carefree lifestyle of tropical Florida. In the process, the “Oriental” and the tropical were conflated, making South Florida into a new, modern example of what constituted the exotic.