A1A Life in the Twenties

Flagler Beach in the 1920s was an area with wildlife tales galore. As late as 1915, there were no buildings on the beach side of the town at all—just dunes and palmettos. Deer and alligators could be seen swimming the brackish water of the canal. In fact, it was reported that cattle and chickens were being kept at the beach, and some of the residents had problems with alligators coming up from the canal after the animals. Margaret Johnson, a resident at the time, tells how the gators were roped and taken back to the river. She also added that the wild razorback hogs that were killed to protect livestock around the same time tasted like pine needles. Because there were no refrigerators in the 1920s, people had to store the hogs in buckets of lard to keep the meat from spoiling.

Interestingly, black bears used to reside between Flagler Beach and the Mala Compra Plantation. A black bear was sighted as recently as the late 1960s. Mr. Upson can testify to the presence of other types of wild animals. As he was sitting with a group of residents on the porch of the hotel one day, a panther came creeping out of the palmettos. What a surprise! Mr. Upson also tells of a walk he made to Bunnell—during which he was chased by a wild cow. He said, "Thank goodness there was a tree nearby that had boards nailed on it. I climbed the tree just in time!"

In addition to wild animals, it seems domesticated animals were running wild too. The old judge’s book from 1925 shows a fine of five dollars to someone for allowing his mule to run loose in the streets. The main reason for these occurrences is that most of the houses were back in the woods—and there were only a few. The area, in general, was not very developed.

The lack of development was especially apparent with regard to the condition of the roads—since the two go hand in hand. One of the Upson boys remembers riding along to deliver milk to the beach residents. Mr. D. L. Gage of Illinois had a farm about six miles north of town just above Fox’s Cut. He had property on both sides of the river with cattle and a dairy on the west side. The Upson boy recalls, "The road was so rough that there would be butter on the top of the milk cans by the time we got to the beach!" This may be an exaggeration, but his point is hard to miss.

At this time, Flagler Beach was just four blocks wide from the bridge to the Atlantic Ocean—a very narrow island. Moody Boulevard was the main drag. Palm logs were laid transversely across the road to stabilize the marsh, which made for a very rough drive. There were low lands from the dunes down to the river. One of the Moody boys remembers trying to drive a school bus through high water. The bus flipped off the side of the log road, and they had quite a time trying to get it out of the mud.

On any given day in Flagler Beach in the 1920s, it seems the residents could expect to encounter the unexpected.