Vaill's Floating Hotel - Steamship Rockledge

Captain Richard P. Paddison brought the Steamer Governor Worth to Florida from North Carolina. The sidewheel steamer ran between Jacksonville and Sanford before Paddison relocated to the Indian River in 1886 and renamed her the Rockledge. She stopped at Melbourne and Titusville, and connected with the Jacksonville, Tampa and Key West Railroad. As the flagship of the Indian River Steamboat Company, she was also called the "Queen of the River." In 1888, the Rockledge carried President Grover Cleveland and his wife when they toured the Indian River region. In 1888 or 1889 Paddison sold the Rockledge to Captain E.E. Vaill, who remodeled the steamer and operated it as "Vaill's Floating Hotel" at Jupiter, Lake Worth, and Miami. While at Jupiter, Vaill docked the Floating Hotel the Celestial Railroad dock.

Credits:

• Photo, Sidewheel steamer "Rockledge" on Indian River, 1888, State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory

Sources:

• Steamboats on the Indian River
• The Cape Fear River Steamers: The Steamer ROCKLEDGE
• Vaill's Floating Hotel advertisement, The Topical Sun, Nov. 18, 1891
• Tourists' and Settlers' Guide to Florida, by Helen K. Ingram, 1895
• The Cape Fear River Steamers: Captain Vaill’s Floating Hotel
• Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse and Museum: Steamboats and Railways
• Miami Heritage: Henry Flagler’s Railroad Comes to Miami
• Photo of Steamboat Rockledge, 1888, East Carolina University Digital Collections
• Photo of the Steamboat Rockledge, North Brevard Historical Museum
• North Brevard Historical Museum photo of the Rockledge

References in the Texts:

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• April 15, Friday

For other topics referenced in the Expedition texts, please refer to the Index to Subjects and Names.
1892 Everglades Exploration Expedition : Three Digital Texts, 2015