MONDAY MARCH 30: GHOST HISTORY TOUR @ 4:00 PM + PRIME RIB
THE POST OFFICE ARCADE
Steeped in early Stuart history.
HISTORIC VIGNETTES: Circa 1920
Designed in 1919 in the French Mediterranean Revival Style, the Post Office Arcade was a modern-day mall with shops, common areas, entertainment, and food. The Post Office emerged right across from the Flagler Florida East Coast Railroad Depot – where communication from family up north reached loved ones embarked upon the ultimate new Florida adventure, complete with mosquitoes and funny-looking lizards, mounds of native-American bones, pirates, bootleggers, rumrunners, bank robbers, and unsavory business arrangements.
A century ago, everyone came to the post office every day. There was no internet, mailman or mailbox at the end of your driveway. Letters delivered love, invitations, death notices, news of the women’s vote, and rebellions about alcohol. Four million WWI sailors and soldiers who fought in the trenches to defend our country were forewarned that they could no longer drink in America. At the time of architectural design in 1919, alcohol was legal, and a bar in the new social meeting venue made perfect sense. The bar became a Speakeasy with the advent of the 18th amendment (Volstead Act) and Prohibition. It served as the local watering hole for the fine citizens of Stuart and the surrounding area from 1920 until 1933.
The 18th amendment prohibited the manufacture, sale and distribution of intoxicating liquors. It didn’t say anything about consuming them! The secret entrance to the Speakeasy was through today’s ladies’ room, where patrons waited in the vestibule behind a two-way mirror to be identified as being verbally invited and deemed safe to enter by another patron – thus, the term “Speakeasy.”
While most everyone was paid off back then, the occasional raid did occur. Speakeasy patrons exited through the secret door into the grapeleaf forest outside and boarded their boats on the St. Lucie River or stumbled home to their Seminole St. cottage. Thanks to “The Real McCoy” distribution technique using burlocks to house bottles of booze, authorities found only six half-empty bottles and threw up their hands. Happy patrons came back the next day and got drunk because they didn’t go to jail the night before!
Our History
It was the most grand Post Office in America – designed to attract businesses and offer a social gathering place for residents. A dazzling construction for 1920, it boasted a ceiling of hand-hewn Miami Dade Pine, original clay tile, handmade bricks, and floors of handmade Saltillo tiles, bedazzled with baked-in puppy footprints. The Post Office Arcade was engineered to draw the breeze from the St. Lucie River through the Champs-Élysées Breezeway and the Osceola Promenade. The “dog leg” where mailboxes stood provided convection to circulate the river breezes. The transoms above all the shops provided natural air conditioning. Today, the former shops boast eight distinct dining vignettes, including the Terrace Library, Crystal Veranda, Hearth Room, Fountain Gallery, Secret Garden, French Terrace, and Breezeway Piano Bar.
A first of its kind, the skylight roof soared high above the streetscape illuminating a centerpiece fountain (where marriage proposals were a raised French terrace, and enough room to drive a buggy from the rail depot to the river. Our lovingly restored venue spans 6000 square feet as the oldest federal commercial building on the Treasure Coast which, by the grace of God, has not burned or been damaged by dozens of hurricanes over the century. Knock on Wood! We have, however, endured our share of water emergencies courtesy of our friendly ghosts.
The Arcade building housed the most modern post office in America – P.O. boxes in the Promenade offered 24X7 access. The Speakeasy bar was conveniently located behind the post office boxes lining the Promenade. The Arcade also housed a solid steel Vault for the local banks to protect theirgold from the Ashley Gang, the most notorious band of bank robbers ever to steal money in Florida. The Ashley Gang did not rob the Post Office vault because they did not wish to tangle with the Federal Government in their own place of business, where they provided the local whiskey to the Speakeasy.
Ghost Stories
La Grande Martier is a women-owned business. We think that's the most likely reason why we have women ghosts. One of the indelible ghosts is Lettie. She loves to break things, and she has exceptionally expensive taste. The other is Laura of the Ashley Gang, prominently pictured in the Wanted Poster in a long white dress adorned with a holster and long-barrel pistol.
We like to call Laura the Hanky-Panky ghost. She's often responsible for late-night romance that results in unusually placed handprints, broken sinks, displaced tables, and the occasional jealous dispute. She was romantically involved out of wedlock with John Ashley after he stole her heart from the local sheriff. They never married; however, she became the matriarch of the Ashley Gang upon John's unfortunate demise.
One Monday morning, after repeated experience with Lettie's extravagance, we discovered all of the silverware on the long Ashley table pointed horizontally toward the kitchen. Looking floor to ceiling and inspecting every piece of equipment, we found nothing broken. That same afternoon, a severe thunderstorm dropped a lightning bolt on the building, running an electric arc right down the middle of the kitchen and ending at the vast convection oven, exactly where the silverware pointed. The oven was "fried," just before a very large wedding event planned for the weekend. By the time the wedding reception occurred, we had two new stacked convection ovens, allowing us to serve 65 guests with graceful execution. Most notably, Lettie's expensive forays involve air conditioners, ovens and plumbing. She has broken nine of our air conditioners twice. Our plumbing is cast iron and buried in 30 inches of concrete. She has a great affection for breaking the plumbing, so we can dig up concrete. Nonetheless, we are “eternally” grateful that Lettie breaks things for us, generally on Monday, so we can repair before the weekend.
The Martier Family
Hailing from around the world, the Martier Family represents a melting pot of character, personality, charm, and culture. From Deep South to Michigan, California to Maine, “Across the Pond,” South America, to the Caribbean, we value the diversity of all kinds of
