Dorado Beach Resort & Country Club is one of the Caribbean's most historic hotels. Now a Hyatt property, it was once a plantation owned by Clara Livingston, the 11th female pilot and the third female helicopter pilot in the world. Amelia Earhart stayed at the plantation on a stop during her ill-fated journey. Livingston, who also built the first private airport in Puerto Rico, sold the property to Laurance Rockefeller, who opened it as a hotel in 1958. Henry Kissinger and President Dwight Eisenhower are among its visitors. Relive the Dorado's history with Un Sueno Dorado ($35, Hyatt Dorado Beach Corp.), a photographic history by architect Astrid D'az-Vega and Michael Thomas Walsh, the hotel's general manager. For more information call 787-796-1234.

Posted online 12/20/01.