The non profit Tropical Audubon Society (TAS) has its origins as the Coconut Grove Audubon Society…read more(CGAS), founded April 16, 1915, as Dade County's first Audubon organization. CGAS members met in homes and worked to advocated for bird and wildlife protection, protection of birds hunted for their plumes with the hiring of game wardens, ornithological education for school children and the public, and they also collaborated in the movement to establish Everglades National Park. WWII led to the CGAS becoming inactive in 1942. Led by Charles Brookfield, then employed by National Audubon Society, a new chapter of the National Audubon Society was established in 1947. The Tropical Audubon Society (TAS) has been on the frontlines of conservation and environmental protection issues in South Florida. The mission of the Tropical Audubon Society is to "conserve and restore South Florida ecosystems, focusing on birds, wildlife, and their habitats. The Tropical Audubon Society has been headquartered at the 1932 Doc Thomas House since 1976. It has been designated a Miami-Dade County Historic Site, a Florida Heritage Site, and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Arden Hayes Thomas, Jr. was a pharmacist from Indiana who moved to South Miami in 1925, and opened the O. K. Drug Store just months before the Great Miami Hurricane of 1926. His business grew to managing two stores on Sunset Drive and Thomas invested in a 2.5 acres of property on the south side of Sunset Drive in the subdivision of High Pines. He commissioned Robert Fitch Smith, one of the first six graduates of the University of Miami architecture program, to create a home that would look like part of the piney landscape. He created a rustic house in the Florida wood-frame vernacular style of architecture that exemplified the influence of the Arts and Crafts movement. Created out of cypress, oak, pine mahogany, and local limestone, the home has detailed woodwork, a limestone fireplace, and built in features. Smith went on to a storied career as an architect, taught at the University of Miami, and served on the first City of Miami Planning Board. In the 1950's Doc Thomas retired and traveled the world. A life long conservationist and bachelor, Doc Thomas decided to leave his home and the surrounding 2 acres of woodlands to the TAS. He deeded the property to them in December of 1974 and he passed away exactly one year later. Since 1976 the house has functioned as the home of Tropical Audubon Society while the surrounding acreage now serves as the Steinberg Nature Center. I first discovered this delightful nature oasis and historic home in the middle of South Miami while eating lunch at Whisk which is just down the street. The gate is open so you can walk around what feels like a a secret garden. On the first Saturday of the month the Tropical Audubon Society hosts a public tour of the historic Doc Thomas House headquarters which has recently undergone structural repair and restoration. The tour is free although donations are welcome and lasts for 1 hour guided by a Tropical Audubon docent. I was finally able to attend the tour and learned so much more about Arden Hayes "Doc" Thomas and Robert Fitch Smith as we explored the house and near-native Steinberg Nature Center campus. The Steinberg Nature Center contains Pine Rockland, a globally endangered ecosystem. It is only located in south Miami, the Keys, and parts of the Bahamas. Pine Rockland once covered 180,000 acres or 12 percent of Miami but by the time Miami turned 100 in 1996, less than 2 percent remained. Today only fragments of the Pineland remain. It is a critical refuge for endangered plants and animals, some not found anywhere else in the world. I loved getting to see the inside of the house although the furnishings are not original and the bedrooms are now TAS offices. One of the few objects that actually belonged to Doc Thomas is the mantel clock. The docents were so engaging and they made the time fly by. A special thank you to Dan for one of the highlights of my visit, showing me a first edition copy of River of Grass that was signed by Marjory Stoneman Douglas. Come out and learn about this important ecosystem and the pioneers who lived here and built South Miami. The last tour of season will be May 4th. They also have a fundraising Conservation Concert series on the last Saturday of the month with live music, food truck, and area restaurant take out. The next date for that event is April 27th. The house is still undergoing restoration so all donations to this non profit are sincerely appreciated.

The Hunting Lodge is a historic log cabin in Miami Springs. It was built in 1924 by famed aviator…read moreand developer Glenn H. Curtiss for use as a hunting and fishing lodge. It was the first building he constructed in the northern Everglades which became the development, Country Club Estates. The lodge soon became the hub for social events in the fledgling town. Curtiss used logs brought to Florida from Kentucky and Tennessee for the construction. Interior features of the lodge include a coral rock fireplace, Dade County pine wood flooring that is prized because it is impervious to termites, cathedral exposed log beam ceilings, and multi pane original casement windows. The winding road to the lodge is still called Hunting Lodge Drive. Later on the building was used as a school until 1933 for the quickly expanding town. It also served as a library, a perfume factory, an airplane factory, and as the headquarters for the Miami Gun and Archery Club. This property was registered with the City of Miami Springs Historic Preservation Board in 1994. The lodge was last sold in January of 2018 for $315,000.

Being English I am a history buff, here in Miami. So I decided to check out this place on the…read moreHistorical list. This is what I found out about the place - although now it houses a Ballet studio and school. This impressive Neo-Classical building was designed for J.W. Warner, founder of South Florida's first floral company. The home's fine craftsmanship is especially evident in its massive columns, Palladian window and porte-cochère. Wide porches and verandas adapt the J.W. Warner House to the Florida climate with a graciousness that evokes the elegance of Florida's early years. This house was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

The J.W. Warner House is a historic Greek Revival house that was added to the U.S. National…read moreregister of Historic Place in 1983. James Warner came to Miami in 1906 to work as an accountant for Henry Flagler's railroad. Having lived in Palm Beach James wife Susan noticed that there were no florists in Miami. Susan began to grow flowers and made arrangements for friends and family. She then decided to turn her hobby into a business which turned out to be quite profitable. The Miami Floral Company was founded in 1906 and it did so well that James left his at Miami Electric to work at the flower business. In addition to working at the family business James was also active in politics and civic organizations. As the family became wealthy James desired to have a house reminiscent of the Plantation style homes he grew up with in Georgia. He hired German architect George L. Pfeiffer to design the neoclassical home. Unlike the wood homes that were standard in Miami at the time the Warners decided to build their home with reinforced concrete to withstand hurricanes. The house was completed in 1912 and also unlike other homes at the time had both electricity and indoor plumbing. after James death atthe age of 54 in 1922 Susan and her children continued to run the floral building until her death at the age of 69 in 1942. Two of the children continued to run the company until 1972 when they finally shut it down after being in business for 66 years. George Warner the son of James and Susan passed away and left the house to his widow Autumn and her daughter. By that time the house had become run down and was too large for her to manage. Preservationists were able to buy the home from Autumn Warner and renovated it and leased it to commercial businesses. Today the home is used by the Miami Hispanic Ballet. They purchased the house in 2009 with a grant from the city of Miami. They received a second grant in 2012 to remodel it and it now includes a space to exhibit art and two dance studios. The house is instantly recognizable with it's six three story columns along the front. When the Warner's occupied the house it had 22 bedrooms and a view of the Miami River. Today culture and history mix in the home that once belonged to one of the founding pioneer families of Miami.

Villa Vecchia means old villa in Italian. This historic mansion was built by architect L.M…read more Barrettduring during Florida's land boom years in 1928 as a winter residence for Byron De Witt Miller. Esq, the President of F.W. Woolworth Company. Villa Vecchia is located on millionaire's row on Pinetree Drive in Miami Beach. The nearly 2 acre property is on the widest part of the Indian Creek Waterway. There is a waterfront dock that can accommodate a 100 foot yacht. The main house is 18,000 square feet with 13 bedrooms including a Marie Antionette Bedroom and a Napoleon Bedroom. The grand master suite overlooks Indian Creek. The 150-guest grand ballroom inspired by Versailles has hosted many famous world leaders including Benjamin Netanyahu, Dr. Henry Kissinger, Margaret Thatcher, Mikhail Gorbachev, and President Bill Clinton and luxury designers Emilio Pucci, Zuhair Murad, David Yurman, Luca Orlandi of Luca Luca. The ballroom is an exact replica, only smaller in size, of the ballroom at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach. Other notable features of the house include a mahogany paneled library, a formal dining room with 18th century furniture and a fireplace, servants quarters, a six car garage, a gentleman's all wooden library, and a gourmet kitchen with high-end appliances and stone floors. The home has been fully restored with custom crown molding, chandeliers, archways, wide windows, murals and terrazzo and hardwood floors. Also on the property is a two-bedroom guest house with a living room and kitchen, and a detached gym with steam room. The mansion has been used in the film Iron Man III and in Telemundo telenovelas. It was listed for 20 million dollars in 2012 and last sold for 15 million in 2019. It is currently off the market but there are many pictures of the interior online and you can get a quick peek through the massive mahogany gate.

There is so much history all around us if we pay attention. A great way to learn more about the…read morehistory of Florida is from these blue historic markers you can find all around the state. I discovered this one in Little Haiti at the Marketplace, part of the Little Haiti Cultural Complex, the center of artistic life in this historic Miami neighborhood. The Cultural Complex is Little Haiti's largest venue space In the 1980's thousands of Haitian immigrants settled in Miami and formed the neighborhood of Little Haiti. The Mache Asisyen Caribbean Marketplace is located in a building that was built in 1936 but which largely sat empty through the years. In 1984, the Miami Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, in partnership with the nonprofit Haitian Task Force, organized a competition for designs to repurpose the building. The contest was won by Miami architect Charles Harrison Pawley, who was born in Haiti to American parents and lived there as a child. Pawley based his design on Haiti's gingerbread-style houses and the Marche Ferrier, the famous Iron Market in the capital of Port-au-Prince. He used vibrant colors to evoke the spirit of the Caribbean. When the marketplace opened in 1990, it won a Florida Architect Award and an American Institute of Architects National Honor Award. In 1999, the market closed due to lack of funding and merchants were unable to keep their businesses open. The city took over the building in 2005 and planned to tear it down but protests from the community saved it. In 2014 the market was renovated and had a grand reopening. It is still a focal point of the Haitian community today and you can purchase food and authentic Haitian arts and crafts. Plan on visiting on Saturday when it is the most active. Historic marker number F-1009 was installed in 2018 by District 5 Commissioner, Keon Hardemon, The City of Miami Parks Department, Little Haiti Cultural Complex, Libreri Mapou, Haitian omen of Miami, Maximilian Consultants, Santla Neighborhood Center, Visit Little Haiti, and the Florida Department of State.

There is such a sad story attached to this place and also one of hope and love. In April of 2018,…read morethe Miami-Dade Medical Examiner Department named this cemetery after Dr. Bruce A. Hyme who led the MDME for 15 years, which is Florida's largest and busiest medical examiners office. During his career he presided over more than 30,000 autopsies before passing away from cancer in April of 2016. The cemetery is adjacent to Miami-Dade Fire Station #13. The land was purchased by the county for $10 in 1925. Since then it has served as the final resting place for the indigent and unidentified deceased persons of Miami Dade County. Over 40,000 people have their final resting place here, either buried or as scattered ashes. It is hard to even wrap my mind around 40,000 people who didn't have anyone to claim their bodies. This sadness also weighed heavily on Dr. Hyma and during his tenure as Medical Examiner he worked on a project to beautify the cemetery to give these people a final resting place of dignity and respect. During the dedication of the cemetery Darren Caprara, Director of Operations, for the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner Department said of Dr. Bruce Hyma that he "was an inspirational leader and an remarkable forensic pathologist, however he will be best remembered for his compassionate and caring demeanor. It is truly fitting that his name will be forever associated with the County cemetery, a place where thousands without family were given a compassionate and dignified final resting place." The cemetery can be opened for loved ones who may find out later that their person was interred here. Before the beautification project the lot was overgrown with weeds. Now when people come there are wide pathways, shade trees, and benches. It looks very peaceful. If you didn't know it was a cemetery you might think it was just an empty field. If you look closer at the ground there are some stone markers with numbers carved into them. At the back of the cemetery is a Veterans memorial and a fountain with a scatter garden. On the ground is the calcium deposits left from the cremated remains of over 6,000 people that have been sprinkled there since 1994. Volunteers planted flowers and cleaned up the area, dedicating the scatter garden in 2015. Dr. Hyma was present at the dedication before he passed away the next year. I love how compassionate people came together, veterans, volunteers, and members of different agencies so that a neglected area could be turned into a peaceful place where people who did not much dignity in life could at least have it in death.

900 Collins Avenue is a historic coral rock house in the heart of South Beach. It looks like a…read moresandcastle in the middle of the Art Deco buildings of Collins Avenue. The house is known as the Avery/Coral Rock house. It was built in 1916 by Avery Smith who lived in the home with his family until 1931. Smith ran the ferry service from the mainland to the beaches before the causeways were built which allowed for the first tourists to get to the beach. Avery Smith sold the home to Isadore Roth whose son Dr. Edward Roth, was the first physician practicing in Miami Beach. He ran his practice in the house until the 1970's. After that it was always used as a home until 1990 when it was turned into a fishing club. In 2007 a developer purchased the property and allowed it to deteriorate for the next four years. He bribed three city officials with money and goods to allow him to bulldoze the property which he started to do. The three city officials were arrested for taking bribes in connection with the destruction of the home. By 2011 all that remained was a shell of the house. Preservationists fought to have the house restored. The Miami Beach Historic Preservation Board approved a design and the house was reconstructed using the original coral but this time it was linked to a retail store that is leased. Located only one block from the beaches and Ocean Drive the house is currently for sale and being advertised as a restaurant location. The exterior of the house has been rebuilt but the interior is still under construction. There is a historic marker on the front of the house.

I am a sucker for history, especially being English and it is so few and far between to ever…read moreactually find any real history in Miami. Having said this, I found out about this hidden gem. It is located in the grounds of the Plymouth Congregational church in Coconut grove. This is worthy of a visit as you can see this old wooden school, pretty grounds and the gorgeous church all at the same time. Also to be noted I even saw a Peacock! The First Coconut Grove Schoolhouse is a historic school located within City of Miami limits, in Dade County, Florida. The school originally resided at 2916 Grand Avenue, Miami, Florida, 33133. The structure was built in 1887, by Coconut Grove pioneer, Charles Peacock. Peacock reportedly constructed the house using wood gathered from ships wrecked in nearby Key Biscayne. The building originally served as a community gathering place, with Sunday School as its main purpose. In 1889, the one-room schoolhouse became the very first public school for area children. The building's owner, Charles Peacock, was paid rent in the amount of $12.00 for the first seven-month school year. Ten children from the Frow, Pent, and Peacock pioneer families, were its first attendees. The first meetings of the Miami-Dade County School Board can be traced back to this period, with the First Coconut Grove Schoolhouse located in School District Number Three. The first teacher hired by the Miami-Dade County School Board to instruct pioneer children of Coconut Grove, Flora McFarlane, was contracted in November 1889. The schoolhouse also retains historical significance since the first meetings of the Woman's Club of Coconut Grove were held on site. In February 1891, Flora McFarlane and Coconut Grove pioneers Isabella Peacock, Euphemia Frow, Mary Munroe, and Louisa Newbold held began their work of organizing numerous social, civic, and educational projects. In 1902, Charles Peacock sold the First Coconut Grove Schoolhouse for $400.00. The property remained in possession of the new owner until it was sold again in 1944. The building was then purchased by Ryder Systems, refurbished, and relocated to the Plymouth Congregational Church property in 1970. The schoolhouse remains on church property at 3429 Devon Road, Miami, Florida, 33133