naplesbackyardhistory.org

Simplify3 on Aug. 10 2008 edit · delete
Lois A Bolin Ph.D.

Naples Backyard History kicked of its Walk a Historical Block event, with the cooperation of 20 businesses dubbed Historical Ambassadors on and around historical Third Street South.

Historical photos of Collier County history, such as buildings, people and landmarks are displayed in the window fronts of the participating restaurants and stores.

The Naples Backyard History office, which is located at 1300 Third Street South, and participating businesses will be providing history report cards for all the participants to keep track of the number of questions they answer correctly. After they come up with their best guess, participants can go inside the businesses to ask for the correct answer.

When they have finished their walk, the participants can drop off their report cards at the Naples Backyard History office for a chance to win a $100 gift certificate. The drawing will take place at the end of August. Information: 594-2978.

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A notable man in Naples’ history

By Bonnie Jean, Cousineau, Docent, Naples Historical Society Sunday, August 10, 2008

Visitors to Palm Cottage are sometimes reminded that such luminaries as film stars Hedy Lamarr and Gary Cooper were at one time guests. Indeed, their celebrity is part of the reason Palm Cottage is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. One far more illustrious guest, however, was Henry Watterson, whose portrait hangs in the Palm Cottage library.

Visitors are told that Watterson was a friend of newspaper publisher Walter Haldeman (who built the cottage in 1895), that he won a Pulitzer Prize, and that he stayed at Palm Cottage for several winters. What most visitors probably do not know is that Watterson was a man of many parts and a nationally known figure. He was, in the words of one observer, “One of the most eminent journalists ever produced in the United States.”

Although his views were not always consistent, he was always an engaging, deliberate and insightful observer of what was happening in America, from the mid-19th century through the early 20th century. Not surprisingly, his opinions carried considerable weight.

Henry Watterson was born in the nation’s capital in 1840, so we can safely say he was at the center of political activity at a very early age. He served with the Confederate Army, despite his objections to slavery and secession, and later became a reporter for newspapers in Tennessee, Alabama and Ohio.

In 1868, he became the editor of the Louisville Journal (Kentucky), which he subsequently merged with Haldeman’s Louisville Courier, creating one of the most influential newspapers of the time. Jeffersonian in his outlook, Watterson argued in his editorials for a return of home rule in the South, and for the civil rights of African-Americans. Interestingly, in the next century, he was not as tolerant of women’s rights, and barely acknowledged their right to vote.

Watterson served in Congress, albeit for only one year, when he completed the term of Edward Parsons and supported Samuel J. Tilden for president. He also received, in 1882, a smattering of votes for the vice-presidential nomination.

An indication of how close he was to the seat of power all through his life is that he met, knew, or was an advisor to almost every president from John Quincy Adams to Woodrow Wilson.

Adams, whom Watterson met when he was only a child, was considered a “little old bald-headed gentleman, who was good to (Watterson).” He attended the inauguration of Lincoln, lobbied against a third term for Grant, and was offered an appointment by Theodore Roosevelt. Watterson was quite critical of the last president he knew, Woodrow Wilson, for he was strongly opposed to Wilson’s proposed League of Nations. Earlier, in 1918, his series of editorials urging the United States to declare war with Germany earned him the Pulitzer Prize.

It seems Watterson had much to say on a myriad of subjects, as a perusal of the chapters in his autobiography, “Marse Henry,” attests. Among them: “The Real Grover Cleveland,” “I Go to London;” “Mark Twain;” “Feminism and Woman Suffrage;” “Monte Carlo–The European Shrine of Sport and Fashion;” “Stephen Foster, the Song Writer” and “Political Conventions, State and National.” These are only a mere few among the many commentaries Watterson wrote throughout his years as a journalist.

In addition to his autobiography, which is really a collection of vividly told anecdotes concerning the people he met during his career, Watterson published “History of the Spanish-American War” in 1899 and “The Compromises of Life” in 1902. Given these dates, we can surmise that he might have worked on these while he wintered at Palm Cottage.