In its heyday, the mangroves at Bonnet House in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, sheltered a barrel of wild monkeys who so loved their mistress, Evelyn Bartlett, that they seemed to know exactly when she was en route from Massachusetts. By the time she arrived for the winter season, they were gathered in the branches overhanging the porch, awaiting the toast points with strawberry jam that Evelyn fed them.
It seems outrageous, calling to mind Mrs. Thurston Howell III, doesn’t it? But such are the privileges of the very very wealthy. And what good fortune that Evelyn Bartlett (whose maiden name was indeed Fortune) did not sell her valuable property to Fort Lauderdale developers, that instead she donated all 35 acres to the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation.
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