HOME & DESIGN
LIVING HISTORY
13
NAMING THE LODGE
Viles needed a caretaker for his winter home, and he found
a first-rate gardener at the Royal Poinciana Hotel. Edward
L. Hosford, a 39-year-old horticulturalist, had worked for
Flagler for 13 years. Hosford agreed to take up residence at
the isolated lodge, which he was destined to manage for 37
years. He cleared and manicured the land, bringing boatloads
of lush greenery and flowers up from Palm Beach. Hosford
would place a long-lasting legacy on the landscape, but Viles’
daughter gave the property its more permanent name.
“While there that first winter, Miss Helen Viles named the
place Bay Tree Lodge,” Hosford wrote in an unpublished
memoir. “There was a large bay tree by the walk leading >>
ROB DOWNEY
Few members of the public have seen the beautiful interior of the exclusive retreat.
ROB DOWNEY
THURLOW COLLECTION
In the 1930s and ‘40s, a portrait of Maxwell House Coffee magnate Joel
Cheek hung above the fireplace.
The lodge is decorated
with paintings by local
artists, including A.E.
“Bean” Backus.