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  • Title: CAPE FLORIDA LIGHTHOUSE
    Location:Cape Florida State Recreation Area
    County: Miami-Dade
    City: Key Biscayne
    Description: Cape Florida, the southern tip of Key Biscayne, was discovered by John Cabot in 1497, less than five years after Columbus first landed in the West Indies. Cabot continued his voyage into the Gulf of Mexico, but returned to Key Biscayne the following spring, and named it "The Cape of the End of April." Juan Ponce de Leon landed on the key in 1513, and christened it "Santa Marta." Its present name "Biscayne" is derived from the Indian word "Bischiyano" which meant "the favorite path of the rising moons." After the United States received Florida from Spain in 1821, and at the urging of the Navy, plans were drawn for a lighthouse on the tip of the Cape. The tower was completed December 17, 1825, and is one of the oldest structures in South Florida. In July of 1836, shortly after the beginning of the Second Seminole War, the lighthouse was attacked by Indians. John W.B. Thompson, the lighthouse keeper, was injured, and his Negro helper Tom was killed, before the arrival of a rescue ship. A temporary army post, Fort Bankhead, was established on the Cape in 1838, and became the headquarters of the 2nd Dragoons, commanded by Colonel William S. Harney, the "old Indian Fighter." At the same time, the key was a main base of the Navy's "Florida Squadron," under Lieutenant Commander John T. McLaughlin. The lighthouse was raised to its present height of 95 feet in 1855, but the light was wrecked by southern sympathizers in 1861, and was dark for the duration of the Civil War. It was restored in 1867, and guided ships through the dangerous reef waters until 1878, when it was extinguished for the final time. Larger ships needed a light further out at sea, and the new Fowey Rock lighttook its place.
    Sponsors: Florida Board of Parks and Historic Memorials
  • Title: THE PERRINE LAND GRANT
    Location:U.S. 1 at 16165 S. Dixie Highway
    County: Miami-Dade
    City: Perrine
    Description: In 1838, the United States Congress granted a township of land in the southern extremity of Florida to noted horticulturist Dr. Henry Perrine and his associates. This land was to be used in experiments aimed at introducing foreign tropical plants and seeds into Florida. Although Dr. Perrine did not select a township before his death in 1840, he indicated the area he preferred, and his family later selected the land which came to be called the Perrine Land Grant. Born in 1797, Henry Perrine was trained as a physician. During a visit to Cuba in 1826, he became interested in tropical plants which might be successfully introduced into the southern United States. As American consul in Campeche, Mexico (1827-1838), Dr. Perrine began to send Mexican plants to a friend on Indian Key in Florida and to seek government support for future agricultural experiments. Eager to find a way to utilize the tropical soils of the south, the leaders of Territorial Florida gave their support to Dr. Perrine in the efforts to obtain land for his project which culminated in the grant of 1838. Events of the Second Seminole War made it impossible for Dr. Perrine to settle on the Florida Mainland in 1838. He took his family to Indian Key to care for his plants and await the war's end. On August 7, 1840, Indians attacked the Key, killing Dr. Perrine and six others; his family escaped uninjured. Dr. Perrine deserves recognition as a pioneer whose efforts stimulated interest in tropical agriculture in Florida.
    Sponsors: Sponsored by Perrine Cutler Ridge Rotary Club In Cooperation With Department of State
  • Title: OLD CUTLER ROAD
    Location:entrance to Old Cutler Rd. south of Cartagena Plaz
    County: Miami-Dade
    City: Coral Gables
    Description: Old Cutler Road owes its name to the former town of Cutler, founded by William Fuzzard and named for Dr. William Cutler of Massachusetts who visited the area about 1880 and encouraged Fuzzard and others to settle here. In the mid-1880's, Fuzzard cut a path from his plantation to Coconut Grove, 4.5 miles to the north. This path was gradually improved and by 1902, there was a road with a crushed rock surface extending six miles south of Cutler. Although the town of Cutler declined, the road remained important to the region. The present Cutler Road, which follows a somewhat altered course, was declared a State Historic Highway in May, 1874, by the Florida Legislature.
    Sponsors: Sponsored by Department of State
  • Title: OLD CUTLER ROAD FORMER SITE OF THE TOWN OF CUTLER
    Location:Old Cutler Rd.
    County: Miami-Dade
    City: south of Coral Gables
    Description: The Cutler area, once an Indian hunting ground, was the scene in 1838 of a Second Seminole War skirmish. In 1847, horticulturist Henry Perrine's heirs selected a township of land in the area as the location of the federal grant made to him. Colonization of the Perrine Grant proceeded slowly. John Addison, the first settler, arrived at the "Hunting Ground" c. 1866. Around 1880, Dr. William Cutler and William Fuzzard of Boston visited the area. Fuzzard soon returned to settle near Addison's Landing. He cut a path to Coconut Grove which later became the Cutler Road. By 1884, a post office named "Cutler" had been established. For twenty years the settlement grew to include stores and wharves. A hotel, Richmond Cottage, was also the home of S. H. Richmond, agent for the Perrine Grant after 1896. Cutler's economy was based on the cultivation and shipping of tomatoes, pineapples, and other fruit. When the Florida East Coast Railroad bypassed Cutler in 1903, the town began to die. In 1915, Cutler became part of the Charles Deering Estate. All buildings were torn down except Richmond Cottage, which was incorporated into the Deering home.
    Sponsors: sponsored by department of state
  • Title: CORAL GABLES HOUSE
    Location:907 Coral Way
    County: Miami-Dade
    City: Coral Gables
    Description: In 1899, Dr. Solomon Merrick, a Massachusetts Congregational minister, purchased a 160-acre tract of land located near Miami. Rev. Merrick and his son, George, settled in a log cabin already standing on the property and planted grapefruit and vegetables on their land. The rest of the Merrick family soon came to live on the Florida property, which they called "Guavonia" after the fruit that grew there. They lived in a newly constructed frame house which was incorporated into the larger home, completed in 1906. Called "Coral Gables", this house was built of native limestone rock quarried from a nearby site, now Venetian Pool. As Merrick's crops prospered, more land was acquired, bringing the plantation to about 1,600 acres where George Merrick envisioned and later developed a new, Mediterranean-style community. It was named "Coral Gables", after the home. In 1966, W.L. Philbrick purchased the house, which had become known as Merrick Manor, and created the Merrick Manor Foundation to maintain the building as a historic site. In 1976, the Foundation donated this home to the people of Coral Gables. Merrick Manor, now known as Coral Gables House, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
    Sponsors: sponsored by coral gables chapter daughters of the american revolution in cooperation with department of state
  • Title: TUTTLE HOME
    Location:vicinty of Fort Dallas on Miami River
    County: Miami-Dade
    City: Miami
    Description: On this site stood the home of Miami pioneer, Mrs. Julia D. Tuttle. Mrs. Tuttle came to Miami in 1890 and was responsible for much of the city's early development. She encouraged the Florida East Coast Railway to extend its line to Miami. Her home was a two-story stone building, originally officers' quarters for old Fort Dallas, constructed in 1849 for use against the Indians. The building also served as Dade County's first courthouse.
  • Title: CORAL GABLES MERRICK HOUSE
    Location: Miami/Dade County
    County: Miami-Dade
    City: Coral Gables
    Description: In July 1899, Congregational minister Solomon Greasley Merrick (1859-1911) and his wife Althea (1859-1937) purchased sight unseen the surrounding 160 acres for $1,100. Several months later Merrick and his son George (1886-1942) came from Massachusetts to prepare an existing wooden cottage for the arrival of the family. Locals including Bahamians helped plant vegetables and grapefruit trees. The vegetables and existing guava trees were their only source of income until the grapefruit groves began to bear. In 1906 Althea designed a rock house including the original cottage that is still visible at the rear. Named “Coral Gables,” its limestone rock came from what is now the Venetian Pool. When his father died, George took over the groves, added land and dreamed of a planned community. It became a reality in 1921 when he sold the first lots. During the Depression, Ethel Merrick, George’s sister, made it a boarding house called Merrick Manor. Members of the Merrick family resided here until 1966, when W.L. Philbrick bought the home and created Merrick Manor Foundation to save it. The City of Coral Gables acquired and restored it in 1976. Coral Gables Merrick House is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
    Sponsors: Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution and the Florida Department of State
  • Title: CORAL GABLES WATERWAY
    Location: Coral Gables
    County: Miami-Dade
    City: Coral Gables
    Description: When developer George Merrick (1886-1942) and the Coral Gables Corporation conceived the master plan for Coral Gables in the 1920s, the city's boundaries encompassed waterfront acreage allowing access to waterways. The original city boundaries went from Key Biscayne, south to Soldier Key and then back to the coastal wetlands called Chapman Field Park. Merrick's promotional brochures advertised his new city as "Forty Miles of Waterfront" offering a ride in a gondola (narrow boat with curved ends used on the canals in Venice) from the Biltmore Hotel to Tahiti Beach (now part of the Cocoplum neighborhood). Although his grand vision was not realized due to the 1926 land bust, the Coral Gables Waterway has endured. The eight-mile-long waterway cuts west from Biscayne Bay to the intersection at Cartagena Plaza, then curves north, paralleling Riviera Drive on its way to the Biltmore Golf Course. It also connects the waterway's western loop through the University of Miami campus and the Mahi Waterway. The Coral Gables Waterway today has rugged limestone that rises up to 20 feet or more to the crossing beneath the LeJeune Road bridge.
    Sponsors: FLORIDA SOCIETY CHILDREN OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION; THE MIAMI CHAPTER SONS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION; AND FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE
  • Title: ALHAMBRA WATER TOWER
    Location: Coral Gables
    County: Miami-Dade
    City: Coral Gables
    Description: This “lighthouse” which has never seen the sea, serves as a testament to Coral Gables’ early boom years, a time when everyday practical things could be turned into works of art. Built c. 1923, its design is credited to Denman Fink, artistic designer for Coral Gables. A steel tank was erected first, and then enclosed with a wood frame and reinforced concrete structure designed to resemble a lighthouse, thus concealing the less attractive water tank behind an aesthetically pleasing and architecturally playful face. Purchased by Consumers Water Company in 1926, the Alhambra Water Tower was part of the City’s domestic water supply system until 1931, when it was disconnected from the system and abandoned after the utility company started buying water from the City of Miami. In response to citizen outcry to save the tower from destruction in 1958, the City purchased it for a token sum, thus preserving this unique landmark. In 1993 the tower was extensively restored based upon 1924 photographs. The Alhambra Water Tower was listed in the Coral Gables Register of Historic Places in 1988.
    Sponsors: the City of Coral Gables
  • Title: HAULOVER BEACH SPORT FISHING DOCKS
    Location:Baker's Haulover
    County: Miami-Dade
    City: Miami
    Description: Two sided marker: The originally known Lighthouse Dock, once at this site, marked the beginnings of this area’s fame as a sportsman’s paradise. Folklore and history relate that a man named Baker (c. 1810) "hauled over" fishing boats from the bay to the ocean. In 1926, Captain Henry Jones (1883-1968) built the first dock with a permit from the War Department. By 1937-1939, the Lighthouse Restaurant and the Ocean Bay Trailer Park shared this property. These early docks served as the foundation of an international sport fishing tourist industry as charter boat fisherman searched for marlin, sailfish and other big-game fish in Miami's abundant Gulf Stream waters. Adjacent to these docks was an official weighing station of the Metropolitan Miami Fishing Tournament, the oldest and largest fishing contest in the world. Many record catches were certified here. Captains navigated their charters beneath the hazardous Haulover Bridge with its treacherous currents. They also contended with the threat of enemy submarines, just outside the Inlet, from 1942 to 1943. Some captains assumed duties as sub-spotters. A Coast Guard vessel was moored here during World War II to ensure civilian safety, making this a strategic military site at that time. In 1944 the Lighthouse Dock became part of the Haulover Beach Park. The Dade County Parks Department assumed management and changed the name to Haulover Beach Docks. In 1951-1952 the docks were replaced by a marina, built farther to the north. Calling these docks home were the captains, their boats, and the only women working as mates for their husbands. The earliest pioneer captains at these docks were: Henry Jones, Henrietta; George Hamway, Popeye; Joe Reese, Ethel Lee; Slim Caraway (Marjorie) Lady Luck; John Sacon (nee Saconchik), Martha Mary; George Helker, Gremlin; Ralph Nemire (Iris), Seacomber; Harry Stone, Oke Doke; Ira Gregory, Lucky Strike; Elsworth Stone, Anhow; W.D. Murphy, Pat; Charles Smith (Mary), Interim; Harold Alford (Jeannette) Privateer; Otto Reichert, Restless; Robert Paterson, Huskee; Frank Kurek, Sportsman; Ernie Luebbers, Mystery; B.C. Millard, Surf King; and Paul Goerner, Vee Gee. Other individuals contributing to the success of the Haulover fishing fleet: Official Dock Photographer, Doris Barnes; Dock/Weigh Masters, Norton/Waggoner; and Taxidermist, Al Pflueger. They recorded the feats of tourists and such celebrities as Hollywood superstar Robert Mitchum and TV host Arthur Godfrey.
    Sponsors: MIAMI-DADE PARK AND RECREATION AND THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE
  • Title: WOMEN TAKE ACTION IN CORAL GABLES (The Roxcy O'Neal Bolton House)
    Location: Alhambra Circle and Madrid
    County: Miami-Dade
    City: Miami
    Description: Built in 1933, this Mediterranean Revival house is a contributing structure in the Coral Gables Plantation Historic District, one of the earliest developments in the city planned by George Merrick. Throughout the late 1960s and the 1970s, this house became a meeting place for those who campaigned for equal rights for women. Resident and pioneer feminist Roxcy O’Neal Bolton opened her home as headquarters to organize numerous rallies and marches and founded the Miami Dade Chapter of the National Organization for Women. In an effort to bring public attention to the special needs of women, organizational meetings were held in this house to establish Women in Distress, the first women’s rescue shelter in Florida, and the Rape Treatment Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital. Community meetings were also held here to create the Citizen’s Crime Watch of Dade County, one of the first of its kind in the country. Under Roxcy Bolton’s leadership, the perseverance of all those who volunteered their time here created a forceful voice for justice for those who would otherwise not be heard.
    Sponsors: Coral Gables Historic Preservation Board and the Florida Department of State
  • Title: MIAMI CITY CEMETERY
    Location:
    County: Miami-Dade
    City: Miami
    Description: In 1897 Mrs. William Brickell sold this 10-acre rocky wasteland to the City of Miami for $750. At that time it was located one half mile north of the city limits on a narrow wagon track county road. The first burial, not recorded, was of an elderly black man on 14 July 1897. The first recorded burial was H. Graham Branscomb, a 23-year-old Englishman on 20 July 1897. From its inception it was subdivided with whites on the east end and the colored population on the west end. In 1915 the Beth David congregation began a Jewish section. Two other prominent sections are the circles: the first to Julia Tuttle, the Mother of Miami buried in 1898; the second, a memorial to the Confederate Dead erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Sixty-six Confederate and twenty-seven Union veterans are buried here. Other sections include a Catholic section, American Legion, Spanish American War, and two military sections along the north and south fence lines. Among the 9,000 burials are pioneer families such as the Burdines, Peacocks and Dr. James Jackson. This site has the only known five oolitic (limestone) gravestones worldwide. These and the unique tropical plants make this a tropical oasis.
    Sponsors: SONS OF CONFEDERATE VETERANS, DADE HERITAGE TRUST, COMMISSIONERS REGALDO,WINTON & TEELE AND THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE
  • Title: CORAL GABLES GOLF AND COUNTRY CLUB
    Location: Coral Gables
    County: Miami-Dade
    City: Coral Gables
    Description: The Coral Gables Golf and Country Club and the Granada Golf Course, once the Merrick familys vegetable field, were part of the original 1921 city plan by George Merrick and landscape architect, Frank Button. The golf course, designed by the nationally known team of Langford & Moreau, opened on January 15, 1923. Three months later, the clubhouse, designed by Hampton & Reimert, became Coral Gables first public building. The six original coral rock arches seen behind this marker reflect the Coral Gables Mediterranean style that helped set the tone for the Citys architecture. The Coral Gables Golf and Country Club quickly became the epicenter of the new community and played an important role in its development. Salesmen, including Merrick himself, entertained prospective buyers there and showed them home sites from its distinctive tower. Crowds flocked to the Clubs palm patio and danced to the nationally broadcast music of renowned bandleaders Jan Garber and Paul Whiteman. The Country Club of Coral Gables, as it is known today, received its charter on October 9, 1935. A devastating fire destroyed much of the building on July 11, 1983.
    Sponsors: THE CITY OF CORAL GABLES, THE COUNTRY CLUB OF CORAL GABLES FOUNDATION AND THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE
  • Title: OLD DAVIE SCHOOL
    Location:Davie
    County: Miami-Dade
    City: Davie
    Description: This historic structure was the first permanent school in the Everglades and is now Broward Countys oldest existing school building. The Davie School was designed in 1917 by August Geiger (born 1888), who came to Miami in 1905 from New Haven, Connecticut and later became one of South Floridas most well known early architects. The school opened its doors in 1918 to 90 students and was in continuous use as a school until 1980. The masonry vernacular, concrete structure is topped by a shallow hip roof behind a parapet. From the day it opened, the Davie School served as the areas source of education as well as a center for community gatherings. In 1988 the Davie School was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Today, the Old Davie School Historical Museum is a historic, cultural, social and artistic resource dedicated to providing information and learning opportunities for students and the community at large. The building represents an irreplaceable link with the history of early 20th century pioneering, settlement and education in Western Broward County.
    Sponsors: THE TOWN OF DAVIE AND THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE
  • Title: VIRGINIA KEY BEACH STATE PARK
    Location: Miami
    County: Miami-Dade
    City: Miami
    Description: Virginia Key Beach Park is an environmental and historic landmark on a barrier island in Miami. Its earliest recorded history is of an 1838 skirmish during the Second Seminole War in which three Seminoles were killed on this site. From the early 1900s onward, during the era of segregation laws, this location became a popular unofficial Colored recreation area known as Bears Cut. In response to a bold protest led by attorney Lawson E. Thomas and others demanding an officially designated beach, Virginia Key Beach opened for the exclusive use of Negroes on August 1, 1945. The new park, at first accessible only by boat, was an immediate success, attracting over 1,000 visitors on any given weekend. In addition to the baptisms and sunrise services which regularly took place, churches, organizations, and families gathered here for memorable picnics and social events. The park brought together all neighborhoods and social classes of the Colored community. By the early 1960s, another courageous protest brought segregation to an end. The beach park symbolizes the struggle of Black Miamians who persevered to bring about change for future generations.
    Sponsors: THE CITY OF MIAMI PARKS AND RECREATION DEPARTMENT AND THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE
  • Title: PIONEER BOAT BUILDERS' SITE -- 1947
    Location: 975 North West 95th Street
    County: Miami-Dade
    City: Miami
    Description: For thousands of years most water crafts were built of wood. The first reinforced plastic fiberglass boats in the southeastern United States were conceived and built here in 1947. Two hundred feet north of this marker is the former home and workshop of Troy Wollard, where his shop building still stands. He was an outstanding shipwright who was instrumental in building the durable high-performing crafts with visionary pioneers Arthur H. Siegel (1924-2003) and Dudley Whitman. Challenger Marine Corporation produced its first boats at this location which was the beginning of the boating revolution. This small manufacturing venture changed the yachting world forever. The 18-foot runabout speedboats had inboard engines that could reach up to 50 miles per hour. They had monocoque (egg shape) construction with full-length stringers that supported the hull and engine. An outline of excess resin used to make these boats is still visible on the floor of the shop. This enterprise was one of the first in the nation to use fiberglass successfully and was the forerunner of an important industry eventually leading to the development of large luxury yachts and commercial vessels.
    Sponsors: THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE
  • Title: ARCH CREEK MILITARY TRAIL
    Location:
    County: Miami-Dade
    City: Miami
    Description: The Arch Creek State Archaeological Site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. It contains a portion of the Military Trail, a wagon road, built during the Third Seminole War (1855-1859) by the U.S. Army. In 1856 Captains Abner Doubleday (1819-1893) and John Brannan and their troops constructed part of the Military Trail between Fort Dallas on the Miami River and Fort Lauderdale. It later became a portion of the first county road in 1892, passing over the Natural Bridge and Arch Creek. In 1915 it was renamed Dixie Highway. The road was designated a local historic site on January 18, 1995.
    Sponsors: CITY OF N. MIAMI BEACH, ARCH CREEK TRUST AND THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE
  • Title: TROOP 7 LOG CABIN
    Location:
    County: Miami-Dade
    City: Coral Gables
    Description: When George Edgar Merrick (1886-1942) designed his idealistic City of Coral Gables in the early 1920s, he created a special area for scouts and built a rustic log cabin for his Troop 7 Boy Scouts on this site. Today, only the chimney remains. After the hurricane of 1926, Merricks Coral Gables Construction Company built the Troop 7 scout cabin largely from pine trees and telephone poles. Merrick deeded these two acres of land, now in the middle of the Granada Golf Course, to the scouts in perpetuity. Their first scoutmaster was Albert H. Bartle. As scoutmaster for the first three years, then a committee member, Mr. Bartle served Troop 7 for 16 years until 1938, setting the standard for excellence and longevity for others to follow. The old Troop 7 log cabin burned down on March 30, 1971, leaving only the chimney. The new building, finished in 1976, was dedicated to Scoutmaster Rex Hawkins, who kept the troop alive during the difficult WWII years when many adult leaders were away. The George Merrick Foundation continues to maintain the property, with help from the City of Coral Gables, the Kiwanis Club of Coral Gables and concerned citizens who appreciate the legacy of George Merricks scouting program.
    Sponsors: THE GEORGE MERRICK FOUNDATION, INC. AND THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE
  • Title: GREAT MIAMI HURRICANE OF 1926
    Location:
    County: Miami-Dade
    City: Miami
    Description: On September 18, 1926, the Great Miami Hurricane swept across South Florida with estimated winds of 131-155 mph. Before the era of satellites and computer models, warnings for tropical cyclones were often inadequate. A storm warning from Washington was posted by the Miami Weather Bureau Office (located on the third floor of the Old U.S. Post Office and Courthouse Building from 1914 to 1929) at noon on September 17. A hurricane warning went up only as the winds were rising at 11:25 P.M. Weather instruments on the roof of the building blew away around 3:30 A.M. The eye of the hurricane reached the coast at 6:00 A.M., lasting about 35 minutes with a lowest pressure measured at 27.61 inches. The second part of the hurricane produced the strongest winds and the highest storm surge up to 10 feet that completely flooded Miami Beach and several blocks inland on the mainland, causing the deaths of many who mistakenly thought the storm was over. The storm killed more than 370, made more than 25,000 people homeless, and caused millions of dollars in damage in South Florida. It continued across the state and moved into the Gulf of Mexico near Fort Myers, making a second landfall west of Pensacola on September 20, 1926.
    Sponsors: THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AND THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE