The Lost Love of Thomas Rowe

The month of February is for love stories and The Don CeSar is no exception when it comes to love stories and its founder and builder, Thomas Rowe and opera singer,  Lucinda de Guzman.   Thomas, the son of an Irishman, was born in Massachusetts in 1872.  Intelligent and energetic, he went to London to study architecture.  While in London, he saw the opera, Maritana.  He was quickly smitten by its lead singer, a soprano named Lucinda. They met secretly by a fountain near the opera house and decided to wed.  Lucinda's father, a member of Spanish nobility, disapproved and prevented his daughter from meeting Thomas for their planned elopement.  Heartbroken, Thomas returned alone to the United States.  Thomas tried to write to Lucinda for years afterward, but the letters returned to him, unopened. There was one exception:  Lucinda's final farewell from her deathbed.  The note addressed Thomas as her "beloved Don Cesar" and promised to wait for him in the next world by the fountain that they so loved. 

"Tom, my beloved Don Cesar.  Forgive them both as I have.  Never would I despair.  Nor could I forsake you.  We found each other before we will do so again.  This life is only an intermediate.  I leave it without regret and travel to a place where the swing of the pendulum does not bring pain.  Time is infinite.  I will wait for you by our fountain to share our timeless love, our destiny is time."

In 1925, Thomas moved to Florida. He saw the beauty of St. Pete Beach and decided to invest $100,000 for 80 acres of land.  He platted the area and started building projects.  His crowning achievement was the "Pink Lady" which is the Don CeSar.  He named his hotel after the hero of the opera, Don Cesar de Bazan and insisted that a replica of the couple's beloved fountain in London be constructed in the center of the hotel lobby.  Guests could dine at the Maritana Grille.  It is named after the Maritana opera Rowe attended in London when he met the love of his life, Lucinda de Guzman.

Sadly, the lobby fountain is no longer there having been destroyed during one of the hotel's renovations.  If only .. it were still in the hotel lobby for guests to admire as did Thomas and Lucinda.