16. Mar a Lago became a white elephant in the early 1960s
By the beginning of the 1960s, many of the grand and lavish estates of Palm Beach had fallen on hard times. Two notable exceptions were the Kennedy compound and Mar a Lago. The Kennedys used their Palm Beach estate mainly as a family compound, rather than for extensive socializing. Mar a Lago remained mainly a winter residence and destination for high society guests. But others of the grand estates, none of which rivaled Mar a Lago in sheer size, were gradually closed down by their owners, no longer capable of maintaining and operating them. Some eventually became museums, others were torn down to make way for new communities. Others simply fell into disrepair, their grounds have grown over by weeds.
Marjorie began exploring the ways and means of divesting herself of the estate she had built with E. F. Hutton in the 1920s. By then Hutton was dead. Sea Cloud (which had served in the US Coast Guard and Navy during World War II before being returned to Marjorie) had been given to Ramon Trujillo. In exchange for the yacht, Trujillo gave Marjorie the Vickers Viscount airplane she named Merriweather. Trujillo used Sea Cloud as the Presidential yacht for the Dominican Republic. Mar a Lago remained, though more of a drag on her finances than a place for entertainment, especially following the divorce from Herbert May, her last husband. Marjorie began exploring other uses for her property in the mid-sixties, though she did not consider selling it outright.