Hellen May Pinney Seward Travel Diary

On October 23, 1922, shortly after her husband’s death, Hellen May Pinney Seward left her home in Vermont to spend the winter in Clermont, Florida. She travelled with a friend named Flora, and the two rented a cottage together for the season. She kept a diary about her time in Florida that recounted her daily activities, such as cooking, cleaning, visiting neighbors, running errands, writing letters, and making baskets. Seward did not have a car, but many of her friends (who were mostly out-of-state visitors wintering in Clermont) did. They often invited her to ride with them, and she described these trips in her diary. She noted local landmarks, such as the First National Bank and Trust building, the Log House, and a tin can tourist camp, which were all in Clermont. Some of the places they visited included Lake Minneola, Montverde, Marcotte, Lake Louise, the Fisherman’s Paradise fish camp on Lake Apopka, Groveland, Orlando, and Silver Springs. She also mentioned important events, such as the Ocoee massacre, the murder of an African American man in Clemont, a lecture in Orlando by William Jennings Bryan on prohibition, and the death of Martin Tabert at a lumber camp, which led to an investigation of the convict lease system in Florida. In late April, once the weather began to warm up and her friends started to leave, Seward returned to Vermont.

Her last diary entries are a detailed accounting of her expenses during the six months she spent in Florida. The diary also includes two train tickets and a receipt for a box of oranges that Seward sent to her son in Vermont. A photo album accompanies the diary, but the photos are unidentified. They may correspond to an entry on October 28, 1922, in which Seward is invited to visit a friend’s orange grove.