Little Cottage by the Sea    

   Come with us and visit the place where Donald Trump wrote his inaugural speech. 
              
   Mar-a-Lago ("Sea to Lake" in Spanish) was built in the 1920s by Marjorie Merriweather Post. Her family's fortune was built on Postum, a coffee substitute. She envisioned a wintertime presidential retreat ... "a little cottage by the sea" she told her second husband. 

   Wealthy people were building their own getaways on Palm Beach. Post scouted out 17 acres of scrub between Lake Worth and the Atlantic. She was known for philanthropy, her mega-yacht, her grand balls and her jewels. 

   Mar-a-Lago - 110,000 square feet - had 58 bedrooms, 33 bathrooms with gold-plated fixtures, and an 1,800-square-foot living room with 42-foot ceilings. 
There was gold leaf, Spanish tiles, Italian marble and Venetian silks. 

   Post spent $7 million - at least $90 million today.   

   In 1929, she hired the circus to perform there for a charity fund-raiser, inviting underprivileged children to attend. In 1944, she offered the grounds to WWII vets who needed occupational therapy. 

   By the 1950s, most of the grand houses were considered "white elephants" and were razed. Not Mar-a-Lago. 

   Post tried to donate the mansion in the 1960s, but all prospects, including the Federal Government, declined due to maintenance costs. She died in 1973, with the property still in limbo.

   It went on the market in the 1980s. Three potential sales fell through before Trump bought it in 1985 for a reported $8 million. That was a deal! 

   Mrs. Post's original wish for her "little cottage" came true this year. 

Smithsonian 

         Jimmy