Green Tree Inn, Daytona Beach Florida [Florida Resort Advertising, Early Automobile Tourism, Winter Hotel Brochure]

‘Daytona Beach Is an Ideal Winter Resort’, Florida hotel life at the dawn of auto tourism

This striking piece of ephemera features a vibrant orange and green Arts & Crafts / Art Deco cover design. The interior reveals a sepia photograph of the inn with a period automobile (likely a Ford Model A) parked prominently out front. The reverse shows a lively beach scene with a vintage lifeguard tower and bathers in period ‘tank suit’ swimwear.

Text highlights the proximity to the Dixie Highway and the 'World's Finest Beach.' A fantastic piece for collectors of Florida history, vintage automobiles, or roaring 20s tourism memorabilia.

Physical Description Folded paper brochure, approximately 6 × 3 inches folded, opens to multi-panel layout, printed in green and ochre, photographic halftone images of Daytona Beach and the inn exterior, decorative palm motif, printed text throughout, no interior maps, single-sheet fold construction.

In the second image, under the rates section, there is a typo: "Rates Glady Furnished Upon Request" (missing the 'l'). 

Condition: The brochure is in excellent vintage condition with vibrant, unfaded ink. There is a charming typo in the rates section: A fantastic piece for collectors of Florida history, vintage automobiles, or pre-war travel memorabilia. Near Fine.

The brochure presents Daytona Beach as a resort offering climate, recreation, and convenience rather than luxury. Emphasis is placed on lawn bowling, golf, shuffleboard, fishing, surf bathing, and especially motoring, signaling the growing importance of automobile tourism. The Green Tree Inn is positioned as homelike rather than grand, with heated rooms, quiet lawns and gardens, and a large open fireplace, appealing to middle-class winter travelers seeking comfort over spectacle.

Contextual or Historical Significance
This piece fits squarely within Florida’s 1920s land and tourism boom, when improved highways such as Dixie Highway and the rise of automobile ownership reshaped resort marketing. Small inns like the Green Tree Inn flourished alongside larger hotels by offering affordability and personal atmosphere during the seasonal influx of northern visitors.

History of the Green Tree Inn 
The Green Tree Inn appears to have operated as a modest lodging house or small hotel in Daytona Beach during the early automobile-tourism era. The brochure notes that it adjoined the Hotel Morgan on Volusia Avenue and was under the same management, suggesting a coordinated operation rather than an independent grand resort. Beyond period advertisements and city directory references, the inn does not appear to have left a substantial standalone historical record, and it likely disappeared or was absorbed during later redevelopment as Daytona expanded mid-century.

Subjects: Daytona Beach Florida, Early 20th Century Hotels, Automobile Tourism, Winter Resorts, Dixie Highway, Florida Land Boom, Resort Advertising, Travel Ephemera, Florida History, Advertising.

Not located in OCLC/WorldCat under title-keyword searches at time of cataloging.

This brochure lists Warder D. Hunt as the manager and notes the inn is under the same management as the Hotel Morgan. Other known guides from 1924 list different managers (Katherine Rand), making this a specific snapshot of the Hunt tenure, likely during the height of the Florida land boom or just after.

Item #21433

Price: $45.00