Laura Woodward (1834-1926) was born in Mount Hope in Orange County, New York, in 1834, and by the early 1870s, she was a professional artist living in New York City. A member of the Hudson River and White Mountain Schools, she was one of only a handful of “lady” artists who hiked and sketched throughout the wilderness of the Northeast. She exhibited her finished paintings of the various locales at several prestigious institutions, including the National Academy of Design, Boston Art Club, Brooklyn Art Association, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Her reviews in the New York Times, the Brooklyn Eagle, and art magazines of the day were glowing and her paintings commanded higher prices than some of her male colleagues.
Woodward began to spend the winters in St. Augustine, Florida, in the 1880s but it was not as tropical as she had hoped. Laura made the arduous trip south to discover the true tropical foliage she was longing for. By 1890 she was spending a considerable amount of time in Palm Beach, painting en plein air amid alligators, panthers, bobcats, bears, and several varieties of snakes.
When she returned to St. Augustine, Laura became Palm Beach’s greatest publicist by showing her colorful depictions of the lush settlement to numerous members of society including Henry M. Flagler. Flagler became her patron and in 1893 when he was constructing his Palm Beach Hotel Royal Poinciana, he established her home and studio there. By 1902 Laura had moved to a cottage (Sunnyhurst) at Two South Lake Trail where she continued to exhibit her delicate renderings in oil and watercolor of the Palm Beach coastline, jungle, and flowers. In 1920, when the Palm Beach Art League was founded, Woodward became an honorary member. Sadly, due to failing eyesight, she was unable to continue painting by then but remained highly regarded as the famous pioneer artist of Palm Beach. She continued living in Palm Beach until 1926.