Balancing act--success, the past and a living legacy.(extra credit)(Harris Rosen)

When Harris Rosen first laid his eyes on the acres of pine and oak teeming with deer, opossum, bobcats, gators and a cornucopia of birds, he knew he was in love. Pink irises, Crowns of Thorns and Air Plants continued the language of vibrancy, providing the finishing touches to the picture-perfect, quintessential Floridian landscape. Without hesitation, he opened his checkbook and wrote out a $32 million check for the 250-acres that very day. That was a moment in stark contrast to his inauspicious beginnings.

Rosen, founder and president of Rosen Hotels and Resorts, grew up in the infamously poor lower east side of New York City. He vigorously launched himself into an almost innumerable string of entrepreneurial endeavors--from selling bait to tulips to sun reflectors to developing real estate. His first job, at nine years old, was peddling night crawlers--three worms for a quarter--to fishermen in upstate New York. He spent a lifetime working fearlessly and diligently to become the successful hotelier that he is today.

What now stands on those acres Rosen purchased almost a decade ago is the acclaimed Rosen Shingle Creek luxury hotel, the site of NACM's 113th Credit Congress. The area was once home to the Seminole Indians before the arrival of white settlers in the 1820s. Shingle Creek, which meanders along the eastern border of the luxury hotel's property, is of significant importance as the northernmost headwaters to the Florida Everglades. The creek derives its name from an industry that once thrived there during the mid- to late-19th century, when cypress trees were harvested from the surrounding forests and floated down the waterway to a sawmill where they were turned into roofing shingles. The creek and its historical and ecological significance wasn't part of Rosen's original plan.

"I'm embarrassed to admit that when I first purchased the property, I wasn't even aware of Shingle Creek being on our eastern boundary," explained Rosen, who had envisioned nature and horseback riding trails along that eastern edge. When he discovered the creek, he was discouraged and thought that maybe it could be filled in, but after a bit of research, he came to realize just how important the stream was to the state and what it represented. "I went down and walked the creek and began to really understand how blessed we were to have that little creek right off our property," said Rosen.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Shingle Creek begins in a swamp in Orange County and slowly makes its way south to Lake Tohopekaliga, the largest lake in Florida's Osceola County. From there, it flows into the Kissimmee River system and on into the Everglades. It's a tether that connects sprawling urban areas like Orlando to some of the most diverse and fragile ecosystems in the country.

"When I walk down to the creek, I'm transported back 200 years or more; shutting out everything over the tree tops. I feel as though I'm back in Florida during the 1800s, and just walking quietly along the creek for a half hour or so really recharges the batteries and is a wonderful experience for me," Rosen said. His staff soon heard of his fascination with Shingle Creek and for Florida's history, and they began to recommend books. Eventually, a friend suggested one about Florida's pioneers, following a family three generations from the Civil War to the 1960s. Rosen was told that it mentioned Shingle Creek and would give him insight into what life was like more than a century ago. Then, on one Saturday afternoon, Rosen cracked open Patrick Smith's A Land Remembered and couldn't put it down.