Palm Beach
Palm Beach is a barrier island 13 miles long, three quarters of a mile at its widest part, and contains approximately 3.75 square miles. To the east is the Atlantic Ocean and to the west is Lake Worth - the Intracoastal Waterway - which separates the Town from the City of West Palm Beach.
According to early settler accounts, Palm Beach received its name from a shipwreck named the "Providencia". The ship washed ashore in January of 1878 with a load of coconuts bound from Havana to Barcelona. Early settlers lost no time claiming salvage and planting the coconuts, which were not native to South Florida, in an effort to launch a tropical coconut industry.