I went for an early morning walk on the Roosevelt Bridge to catch the sunrise, and it was…read moreabsolutely beautiful! The views were stunning, making it a peaceful and refreshing experience. There was a section of the bridge under construction, but it didn't take away from the overall experience--it was still an easy walk.

The Roosevelt Bridge is a major highway segmental bridge across the St. Lucie River in Stuart,…read moreFlorida. Carrying U.S. Route 1, it was built to supersede the old Roosevelt Bridge, which had twin parallel drawbridges, one for northbound traffic and the other for southbound. The bridge is only 24 years old and recently has had cracks and concrete falling. Repairs are being done.

Stuart was first settled in 1870. It was recognized as a town in Palm Beach County in 1914. In…read more1925, it was designated a city in the newly created Martin County. Stuart is known as the Sailfish Capital of the World because of the large number of sailfish in the ocean waters off the coast of Stuart. The Stuart Riverwalk located in the historic downtown has cute shops, art galleries, restaurants, and spectacular views of the St. Lucie River and the Roosevelt Bridge. The riverwalk runs along the edge of town on the banks of the St. Lucie River. Take in the boats, fish, birds, and the river. There is a health trail you can follow if you are looking for exercise. At the waters edge on Sundays the city offers the free Rock 'n Riverwalk concert series and the Green Market. You can pick up the $10 Tiki Taxi Cruises behind Mulligan's Restaurant where they pick every hour on the hour Thursday through Sunday. If you visit Stuart, this is an area you will definitely want to check out.

If you find yourself in Stuart, FL, this is a good point of reference spot. It's a nice spot to see…read morethe River view. It's most picturesque to me at night. It can be very windy on those super windy days. It is also a hop skip away from the quaint downtown area with shops to browse. On the weekend, you can find a farmers market on a Saturday morning!

This house is located in Indian RivetSide Park where it was moved to from its original location…read more The home is frame vernacular and was built in 1889 at the tip of a peninsula called Sewell's point. It was a post office. Sewell was the postmaster and also lived in the building. Sewell and his wife Abbie moved from the home in 1911. The home was moved by barge to Willoughby Creek. In the intervening years the house was owned by several different people including a bootlegger and naval officer during WWII. The last owner of the home sold it to Martin County in 2006. It was moved to the Sailing Center in the park and the restoration was finished in 2012. Yo can tour the home the first and third Wednesday of every month from May until October, 11 AM to 1 PM. It can also be rented for private events.

I love historic architecture and I knew I found a real gem as soon as I saw the Golden Gate…read moreBuilding. This building has one of the blue historic markers in front of it that is part of the Florida Historical Marker Program. The Historical Marker program is one of the Division of Historical Resources' most popular and valued public history programs. It raises awareness of Florida's cultural history while enhancing the enjoyment of historic sites for residents and tourists. The blue historic markers tell the stories of the people and places that were important to Florida's history and they can be found in front of churches, schools, roads, archaeological sites, battlefields, and historically important buildings like the Golden Gate Building. Historic marker F-1004 was installed in 2018 by the Friends of the Historic Golden Gate Community, the Martin County Community Redevelopment Agency, the Golden Gate Neighborhood Advisory Committee, and the Florida Department of State. In 1925 during Florida's land boom years, the Golden Gate company and its President, G.W. Bingham hired R.l. Robb Construction Co. to build the two story Mediterranean Revival building on Dixie Hwy. It was to be the sales office for real estate and land development. Fun fact: the walls of the Golden Gate Building are not perpendicular to each other. The building is a parallelogram, rather than a rectangle. The building was to be the cornerstone for Martin County's first planned major residential development. Two hurricanes and the Great Depression brought and end to the real estate boom of the 1920's. For the next 10 years the building was the Port Sewell Post Office, When Port Sewall incorporated in 1927, the building became town hall. In 1943 the building was briefly used as the Church of God of Port Sewall. From 1956-58 Seminole culture artist James F. Hutchinson and his wife lived here and had an art studio. His artwork still remains on the walls in the stairwell. After years of neglect the building was condemned in 1989. In 2002. Martin County purchased the property and in 2005 they restored the building. In 2006, Golden Gate was added to the Martin County Historic Register. In 2017 Golden Gate was listed on the Nation Register of Historic Places. That same year, the non profit House of Hope entered into a 15 year lease with Martin County to manage the building. They run services that help people living in the area with career training, health, and educational opportunities. They grow nutritional plants in the garden behind the building and also offer GED, computer, and citizenship classes. Today this historically important and beautiful building serves as an envoy of hope and wellness for the community of Stuart.

This historical marker in Sewall Point marks where the Sewall home, dock, and pineapple fields once…read morestood. The marker was placed by the town of Sewall's Point which is located on Sewall's Peninsula, named for Henry Sewall who once owned it. Sewall came to the area with his wife Abbie in 1889 after they were awarded land including this peninsula in a land grant from the King of Spain in 1823. Sewall built a home and post office that operated until 1918. He built a dock that everyone who was traveling the Indian River north or south stopped at. He cleared the land and used it to grow pineapples. During the turn of the century settlers came to the area and built homes out of salvaged lumber from shipwrecks. Henry Sewall served as a Dade County commissioner in 1893 and as a state representative from 1894 to 1895. In the 1940's trailer parks started popping up in the area. In response to the development, the Sewall's Point Association was created in the 1950's to control the zoning on the peninsula and keep it a residential community. Efforts were led by Dr. Elvin Killheffer who became the towns first mayor when the town of Sewall Point received it's charter on June 12, 1957. Today the land that was once Sewall's home, dock, and pineapple fields is a luxury housing development.

As a dog lover I had to stop and check out this moving memorial that caught my eye in front of the…read morepolice station in Stuart. The Stuart Police Department instituted a K-9 Unit in 1998. In 2016 they added two new Belgian Malinois K9 teams. The K-9s live with their assigned officers where they live as a member of the family. The K9 Memorial was installed in 2018 during National Police Week honoring K-9 officers who have passed away. The first dog to have his name engraved was Beny who passed away from cancer after 9 years of service. He was followed by Cody who passed away after 8 years of service. The plaque on the memorial reads "Dedicated to our beloved fallen canine officers in this City of Stuart and throughout Martin County. Exemplars of loyalty, dependability, and service these canines by our side, defending and protecting us with an unbreakable bond of mutual love and respect. The unique qualifications and skills of the canine officers are an invaluable asset in our police work. We are immensely grateful to them for their heroic sacrifices in the line of duty." I love that Stuart has chosen to honor their K9 teams in this loving way.

The Stuart Welcome Arch was commissioned in 1925 by the Stuart Chamber of Commerce to celebrate the…read morecreation of Martin County, with Stuart as the county seat. At the time Stuart envisioned themselves becoming even bigger than Miami. The arch was designed by Nat C. Hogdon of Pfeiffer and O'Reilly Architects, in the ornate Mediterranean Revival style that was typical during Florida's land boom years. The arch was built by A. L. Doenges and completed on February 20, 1926 at a site donated by the development of Stuart Shores. The arch was placed where Stuart's boundary on A1A met the southern limit of Jensen Beach. Businesses and individuals from both towns donated to a campaign that paid for the arch. It was conceived as a way to welcome the many motorists coming to winter in Florida on the main route to Miami. On the Stuart side the arch reads "Atlantic Gateway to the Gulf of Mexico" on the crossbeam which commemorated the 1923 opening of the cross-state Stuart to Ft. Myers canal. Great fishing on the St. Lucie River that was supposed to lure people was ruined when the state started used the canal to flush polluted overflow from Lake Okeechobee out to sea. "Jensen" appears on the south side of the arch's crossbeam. The chamber had originally planned to build gateways at both the northern and southern boundaries of Stuart but the bust of the land boom caused by hurricanes and the Great Depression prevented additional construction. During the Great Depression, the town of Jensen went bankrupt and was dissolved, while Stuart lost most of it's land north of the St. Lucie River resulting in the arch now being located in an unincorporated area of Martin County called Rio. After construction the arch was vandalized in the 1940's during WWII when the brass was stolen. A 1949 hurricane toppled the crossbeam, and a car accident destroyed the east tower in 1976. In 1977 the east tower was rebuilt and in 1994 it was painted hot pink. In 1998 the arch was again struck by a vehicle, this time a garbage truck that took out the replaced crossbeam. The arch was repaired with a new beam featuring "Welcome to Rio" on the south side and "Welcome to Jensen Beach" on the north side. On September 15, 2004 the arch was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Stuart never lived up to the it's 1920's hype and the arch saw less travelers with the building of Route 1 and Interstate 95. Even so, in 2006 Martin County paid an architectural firm in Key West $235,000 to restore the beloved landmark to the way it originally looked. A dedication plaque was installed during this time. Although arches were popular with the advent of motor travel this is one of the last few to still remain. Drive under it and remember when it was the main artery for snowbirds flocking to South Florida for the winter.

If you an interest in history and engineering then the St. Lucie Lock and Dam is well worth a…read morevisit. Managed by the US Army Corps of Engineers, the St. Lucie Lock and Dam is a key part of the Intracoastal Waterway system serving a vital role in controlling the flow of water, helping with flood management, navigation, and water quality. This lock is located on the St. Lucie Canal also known as C-44. It is a man-made canal in Martin County, connecting Lake Okeechobee to the Indian River Lagoon. The canal was built between 1916 and 1924 to divert floodwaters from the lake into the St. Lucie Estuary via the South Fork of the St. Lucie River. The canal was deepened in 1937 to enable the passage of boats and it is now the eastern segment of the Okeechobee Waterway. The first lock built at this site was constructed by the Everglades Drainage District in 1925. The current lock was built in 1941 for navigation and flood control. In 1944, the connecting spillway structure was built for flood control replacing the natural outflow of the St. Lucie River from Lake Okeechobee. The St. Lucie South Recreation Area next to the lock has picnic tables, fishing piers, a boat ramp, and campground. On the north side of the lock you can hike the St. Lucie Nature Trail through a subtropical forest next to a primitive group campsite. You can only cross over to the nature trail if the lock is not in operation. I ended having to wait both to enter and to leave. If a boat is going through the lock it takes around 20 minutes. If you are allowed to cross the yellow gate will be open. A short drive from the entrance is a visitor's center which gives more history on the lock and dam as well as the ecology of the area.