From the Little Orphan Annie comic strip, February 26, 1935
Shirley Temple popping through a 1935 calendar
At the height of the Depression, Key West was in economic ruin, with the majority of the population on public relief. The town officially declared bankruptcy. FERA, the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, came into Key West in 1934 with the intent of reinvigorating the economy by marketing it as a tourist attraction. Key West was on its way to recovery when what became known as the Labor Day Hurricane struck on September 2, 1935. While the Lower Keys and Key West were largely spared, the Middle and Upper Keys bore the brunt of the storm, with terrible loss of life.
Searching for pirate loot has always been a popular pastime in the Keys. Jeane Porter, in her book Key West: Conch Smiles, writes, “When I was a little girl in the early ’30s everybody in Key West had a treasure story.” While actually finding pirate treasure may seem far-fetched, historical rumors abound. In Charlotte Niedhauk’s account of living in the Florida Keys during this time, Charlotte’s Story, she relates the tale circulating around Key West of a sponge fisherman who mysteriously disappeared with his family to South America after finding the treasure of a pirate named Black Caesar. Whether Black Caesar ever visited the Keys is still a matter of speculation.
Pepe’s Café is a beloved institution in Key West. It still exists, although it is no longer on Duval Street.
The sponging industry and turtle kraals are now remnants of the past, but they were once thriving industries. Nicknaming was a Key West tradition, and the nicknames came in all styles. The scorpion sting suffered by Aunt Minnie was inspired by an actual incident.
Pepe’s Café, Key West, Florida, circa 1938
Key West children posing on the docks with five turtles and a pile of sponges in the background
Likewise, some of the characters had their inspiration in actual people. The writer Ernest Hemingway was one of Key West’s most famous residents. He was in Key West when the Labor Day Hurricane struck, and he witnessed the aftermath firsthand and wrote about it. In true Key West fashion, he had a nickname among the locals—Papa. Kermit was inspired by my cousin Kermit Lewin. The real Kermit suffered rheumatic fever as a child and grew up to become the mayor of Key West in the 1960s. He famously tricked Jimmy the ice cream man with the “nickel in the bottom of the cup” trick to get free ice cream, and he did tick-tock people. Killie the Horse and Jimmy were actual local characters of Key West.
The real Kermit (left) circa 1930, with the family friend who inspired Pork Chop
Finally, the Diaper Gang’s secret diaper-rash formula is a family remedy I have used on my own babies’ bungys. (It also works on mosquito bites.)
My family’s recollections, and those of many other Conchs, provided the details of everyday life in this book, and I am grateful to them all for sharing their memories.
A typical Conch neighborhood in Key West, circa 1935
Resources
Drye, Willie. Storm of the Century: The Labor Day Hurricane of 1935. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 2002.
Freedman, Russell. Children of the Great Depression. New York: Clarion Books, 2005.
Knowles, Thomas Neil. Category 5: The 1935 Labor Day Hurricane. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2009.
Terkel, Studs. Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression. New York: The New Press, 2000.
Web Sites
Historical Preservation Society of the Upper Keys: www.keyshistory.org
Key West Art & Historical Society: www.kwahs.com
The Shadow’s Sanctum: www.shadowsanctum.com
Acknowledgments
I would never have been able to write this book without the generosity of my Conch relatives, especially Cathy Porter, Kurt and Monica Lewin, and Ann Gardner. And, of course, my mother (who always shook out her shoes). I was fortunate to have incredible support from historian Annette Liggett; Tom Hambright, curator of the Florida History Department of the Monroe County May Hill Russell Library; and Jerry Wilkinson, president of the Historical Preservation Society of the Upper Keys. Willie Drye and Tom Knowles provided invaluable insight into the 1935 hurricane, and Anthony Tollin kindly aided my research on the Shadow. Harry Knight and Della Bennett were beyond generous in sharing their recollections of growing up in Key West in the 1930s, as was author and chronicler of all things Conch, Donnie Williams. Most of all, my heartfelt thanks to my editor, Shana Corey, who started me down this path by asking if my nana was really from Key West. She certainly was!
About the Author
JENNIFER L. HOLM’S great-grandmother emigrated from the Bahamas to Key West in 1897. Jennifer is the author of two Newbery Honor Books, Our Only May Amelia and Penny from Heaven. She is also the author of several other highly praised books, including Middle School Is Worse Than Meatloaf and the Babymouse series, which she collaborates on with her brother Matthew Holm. Jennifer lives in California with her husband and two children. You can visit her Web site at www.jenniferholm.com.
Text copyright © 2010 by Jennifer Holm
All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Random House
Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
Random House and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Photo credits: Little Orphan Annie © Tribune Media Services, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Reprinted with permission. Shirley Temple popping through 1935 calendar © Bettmann/CORBIS. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, FSA/OWI Collection, LC-USF34-026281-P DLC (Pepe’s Café). Monroe County Library (undated postcard). Personal collection of Cathy Porter, used by permission (photo of Kermit and family friend). State Archives of Florida (Conch house).
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Holm, Jennifer L.
Turtle in paradise / by Jennifer L. Holm. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
Summary: In 1935, when her mother gets a job housekeeping for a woman who does not like children, eleven-year-old Turtle is sent to stay with relatives she has never met in far away Key West, Florida.
eISBN: 978-0-375-89316-2
[1. Cousins — Fiction. 2. Family life — Florida — Fiction. 3. Adventure and adventurers—Fiction. 4. Key West (Fla.)—History—20th century—Fiction. 5. Depressions — 1929 — Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.H732226Tu 2010 [Fic]—dc22 2009019077
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Jennifer L. Holm, Turtle in Paradise
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