THE VOTERS HAVE SPOKEN. TRUMP WANTS TO “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN” by turning the clock back to President McKinley’s time. This, despite plenty of us having already had enough of seemingly Gilded Age plutocrats.
Ever the one to offer information when it’s called for—nay, cried out for in exasperation—SimanaitisSays focuses today on health resorts elsewhere than in the United States. And, with McKinley in mind, the tidbits are gleaned from Cook’s Traveller’s Handbook Health Resorts, 1905.
Cook’s Handbook to the Health Resorts of the South of France, Rivera, and Pyrenees, Thos. Cook & Son, 1905.
Some Historical Notes. This particular Cook’s is not inappropriate, as it was published only four years after the assassination of President William McKinley—by a fellow with an unpronounceable name, wouldn’t you know, “an anarchist who believed the centralized powers of the presidency were too great for one man.” This quote about Leon Czolgosz isn’t mine; it comes from the McKinley Presidential Library & Museum.
William McKinley, 1843–1901, 25th president of the United States.
Wikipedia notes, “As a member of the Republican Party, he led a realignment that made Republicans largely dominant in the industrial states and nationwide for decades. He presided over victory in the Spanish–American War of 1898; gained control of Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines; restored prosperity after a deep depression; rejected the inflationary monetary policy of free silver, keeping the nation on the gold standard; and raised protective tariffs.”
Not bad creds to be envied by a Queens felon.
Personal Links. McKinley was born in Niles, Ohio, near Canton. I am Cleveland-born, though admittedly a born-again Californian. By the way, Daughter Suz was graduated from Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania; same as McKinley.
And, it can be noted that Leon Czolgosz (“CHOL-gosh”) was born in Detroit, Michigan, into a Polish-American family, one of eight children. Wikipedia recounts that Czolgosz later worked in a glass factory in Natrona, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh, and then in Cleveland at the Cleveland Rolling Mill Company.
This steel firm was absorbed into the American Steel & Wire Company, where my dad worked and whence came my scholarship to Worcester Poly.
Talk about Six Degrees of Separation, enviable or not.
Back to 1905 Health Resorts. I’ve certainly strayed from the point, but that’s the fun of tidbit gleaning. Cook’s observes, “Every autumn, at the first approach of frost, there sets in a general migration, like that of the swallows, from the colder lands of Northern and Central Europe to the sunny shores of the Mediterranean…. in short, to enjoy to the full the thousand charms and attractions of an earthly paradise.”
My particular Cook’s is particularly well-travelled.
Heading South. The Cook’s reader either travels to the Riviera from England by sea or to Paris and then south by train. Along the latter routing, the traveller passes through Vienne, “one of the most ancient towns of France,” Cook’s writes. “It is mentioned by Caesar, by Ausonius, and by Martial, and contains some interesting Roman remains.”
A pyramide of Vienne.
And there resides La Pyramide F. Point, perhaps my favorite of French restaurants. The Guide Michelin still admires its excellent cuisine. And I recall the care with which a French family—kids included—enjoyed selecting dinners.
Continuing south, one encounters Avignon: an “ancient city of the Popes,” says Cook’s, and renowned for “sur le point d’Avignon” on which one dances “tous en rond.” And has been doing so since the 15th century.
Image of the bridge of Avignon from “Words for Life.”
There’s also Tarascon, “a town of some 9,500 inhabitants,” recounts Cook’s, “possessing a remarkable Gothic castle, begun in 1400 and finished by King Réne d’Anjou. It is now used as a prison, and can only be visited by an order from the Prefect of Les Bouches-du-Rhône.”
Tarascon castle. Image by Gérard Marin from Wikipedia.
Visiting has been easier since 1932 when the castle was acquired by the state.
Eventually the train arrives at Marseilles. Or perhaps one has sailed directly from England. Either way, 1905 or now, visit the Chateau d’If, described by Cook’s as “being the scene of a thrilling incident in Alexandre Dumas’ ‘Monte Cristo.’ ”
And don’t forget the “Restaurant ‘La Reserve,’ celebrated for its Bouillabaisse, a kind of fish soup….”
Indeed, truly an understatement on Cook’s part!
My modest attempt at bouillabaisse. Bon appetite! ds
© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2025