From the air, you can see just how big Mar-a-Lago is-10,000 square meters with more than 100 rooms, spread over several buildings sitting on some of the finest beachfront in the United States.
However the gates of the exclusive estate are closed to anyone who can’t afford the $200,000 dollars membership fee- that’s if you make it onto the waiting list.
So for the rest of us, the best way to see Mar-a-Lago is from the water guided by local reporter Kristina Webb who’s beat is now Mar -a -Lago
Nathan Question: ” So here we have Mar- a -Lago behind us is this about as close as we can get “ said Kristina Webb, Journalist, Palm Beach Post, adding “Absolutely, this is about as close as we can get and when the President is in town you are not going to get this close because the coastguard is here to keep you away.”
Landing on beautiful Palmsicle island, Kristina talks about the wonderful history of Mar- a- Lago. Built as a private house in the roaring 1920’s by socialite and heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post and upon her death she donated the estate to the U.S. government for one particular reason.
“It was meant to be a winter White House it was meant to be used by Presidents to come down spend the weekend as a retreat.” Kristina Webb
But U.S. Presidents didn’t want to come to Mar -a- Lago, so it was given back to the Merriweather- Post estate in 1981 who then sold it to now President Donald Trump in 1985 for just five million dollars. Now, he’s President and its being used exactly as intended- a winter White House.
Trump now spends most weekends at the estate and that is causing quite a controversy- but he is used to that with Mar- a Lago- when he first opened the club locals didn’t like it.
“A lot of the clubs that are in Palm Beach, the long- time clubs were very exclusive and what Trump was proposing a club that was open to everyone – and that included African-Americans, people from other countries, not necessarily the usual Palmbeachers.” Kristina Webb says
Now home to a President and hosting another one this week, Mar -a- Lago has become the most exclusive club in Palm Beach. And at the same time fulfilling its original purpose as a retreat for a U.S. President and now a Chinese President too.
