I was taken a beautiful late afternoon drive down A1A when I discovered this historic marker in…read morefront of Nancy Higgs Park in Melbourne Beach. The Smith Family Homestead marker is part of the Florida Historical Marker Program, one of the Division of Historical Resources' most popular and valued public history programs. The markers raise 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 schools, forts, roads, archaeological sites, battlefields, cemeteries, churches. and historic homesteads like the one. Historic marker F-641 was installed in 2008 by Brevard County Historical Commission, Brevard County Tourism Development Council, and the Florida Department of State. This homestead is a Florida Heritage Site. In 1887, brothers Robert Toombs Smith and Charley Smith came from southwest Georgia to Florida after the Civil War to start over and take advantage of the United States Government Homestead Act of 1862. They claimed 158.79 acres on Mullet Creek where they cleared the land, built a structure to live made out of palmetto cabbage logs, and planted crops that included beans, sweet potatoes, collards, and later citrus. Their produce was shipped all the way to the White House during the presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Robert bought out his brother's interest in the homestead and married Elizabeth (Bessie) Wells from Missouri. In 1899 they built a two-story Florida Cracker "I" house with a wrap around porch on three sides. The house was made from heart pine and featured clapboard siding and tongue and groove floors rests on coquina pilings. A separate kitchen structure was attached. On March 17, 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt signed the deed to their homestead. Honest John was the third of Robert and Bessie's eight children. He disliked farming and instead became a commercial fisherman. He holds the Honest John's Fish Camp trout record of 13 lbs. 4 oz. Honest John died in 1994 just before his 90th birthday, but his fishing legacy lives on. His daughter, Barbara Smith Arthur holds seven IGFA world records for sea trout and one for black drum. Barbara and her husband, Roger, have three sons who operate the fish camp today that sits on the banks of the Indian River Lagoon at the mouth of Mullet Creek. Also located on the site is a sugar cane mill, barn/net house and railroad depot used as a packing house for citrus grown on the property.

In 1919 when Vero Beach was incorporated, the population was 800 souls. Downtown existed primarily…read moreat the intersection of Osceola boulevard and Seminole Avenue. It is fun to check out all of the historic buildings from Vero's early years. Many of the buildings date from the 1920's during Florida's land boom years. During this time period there was a tradition of naming buildings and streets after Native American tribes like in the case with the 1918 Seminole Building. The first county offices of Indian River were located on the second floor of the Seminole building until the Indian River County Courthouse was built in 1935. Today the building houses Napier and Rollins, family law attorneys and the Treasure Coast Newspaper. Nice to see the old building still has life left in her.

I love historic abandoned buildings so I was so excited to find this amazing 1914 Catholic School…read moreon Orange Ave. in Ft. Pierce. The school was built by James P. McNichol, a senator from Philadelphia who used to come to Florida in the winter to fish. The school, a wood church, rectory, and convent were built to serve around 30 Catholic families in the area. A pastor rode into town once a month. McNichol's deceased wife was named Anastasia, so the school was named for St. Anastasia. The first pastor of the church was Father Rupert Gabriel. The high school remained in the building until the fall of 1965, when the last of the students moved to the new St. Anastasia High School. In 1978, the Miami Diocese sold the property for $120,000. The church, rectory, and convent buildings have since been demolished. Today only the school remains and it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on August 10,2000. The school suffered damage Hurricane Frances and Jeanne. In 2008 a new roof was added by REG Architects and Summit Construction of Vero Beach LLC. They were able to stabilize the building. New windows were added in 2014 on the buildings 100th anniversary. Some of them have since been smashed. Ft. Pierce is currently looking for someone to take over the property and perhaps turn it into some kind of center for the arts.

The Tangelo House was formerly known as Ryburn's Apartment Building. It is located in the Royal…read morePark subdivision developed by Waldo Sexton and the Atlantic Construction Corporation. Arthur G. McKee was an early investor in the company and handled the lot sales. Mr. Ryburn purchased lot 8 on July 21,1926 for the construction of an right unit, two story apartment building. The building was designed in the Mission Revival style of architecture. One of the most notable early tenants was Bud Holman who was instrumental in bringing the Dodgers to Vero Beach. The Tangelo is the last remaining of four similarly built apartment from the 1920's along Royal Palm Blvd. The Waverly, The Penn, and the Flora are no longer standing. Mr. Ryburn sold the apartments to his son Alexander in 1931. In 1947 the carriage house in the back was remodeled into two apartments. In the 1950's the building became known as the Tangelo and there are three tangelo trees on the property. The Tangelo is the first apartment building to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Current apartment owners, Garrett and Stephanie Puzzo have restored the building back to its originally glory and today it was open for $6 tours in an event benefitting the Indian River Historical society. It was a lot of fun exploring the apartments. They are very small, but charming with arched doorways, built in shelves, and the original tubs. Most of the floors are original too as are the steel doorknobs and brass window cranks. In the center of the building is an eight foot by eight foot atrium letting in light and channeling rainwater from the roof. There was also art for sale in each room. When the building was constructed, apartments rented for $60 a month. Now most of the apartments have already been rented for between $1,400 and $1,800 a month. The upstairs apartment are larger with an additional corner room and balcony. The Tangelo Apartments in Vero Beach has been named the most haunted location on the Treasure Coast by the Florida Bureau of Paranormal Investigations. During investigations they have encountered a little girl. After the day time apartment tours finishes, Indian River Hauntings conducted a paranormal investigation open to the public for an $11 donation to the Indian River Historical Society.

Beautifully restored building in a beautiful part of Vero Beach. Great job for the people that did…read morethe restoration!

On North Hutchinson Island at Sebastian Inlet State Park on Orchid Island there is a marker on the…read moresite of the survivors' and salvagers' camp from the fleet of Spanish ships sunk by a hurricane off the coast on July 31, 1715. The marker is part of the Historical Marker Program, one of the Division of Historical Resources' most popular and valued public history programs. The markers raise awareness of Florida's cultural history while enhancing the enjoyment of historic sites for residents and tourists. The markers tell the stories of the people and places that were important to Florida's history and they can be found in front of schools, forts, roads, battlefields, cemeteries, churches, historic districts, archaeological sites, buildings, bridges, and historic sites like this one. You can tell this is an older marker because it is green and the newer markers are blue. Historic marker F-222 was installed in 1974 by Treasure Coast Chapter NSDAR and the Florida Department of State. A late July hurricane in 1715 destroyed the Spanish treasure fleet as they were sailing from Havana, Cuba to Spain. Eleven of the twelve ships filled with gold, silver, jewels, and other goods from the New World sank off the coast between present day Melbourne Beach and Vero Beach. 1,000 lives were lost and the cargo was scattered over a 40 mile area. Approximately 1,500 men, women, and children who survived the disaster reached the shore and made a camp along the barrier island near the place where the fleet's flagship had sunk. Two boats were salvaged from the wrecks and were sent for help, one to St. Augustine and the other back to Havana. Governor General Corcoles sent a relief party composed mainly of Indian support from St. Augustine to provide food and help for the survivors. They also provided protection and aid to the salvagers who were also camped out and working to recover the valuable cargo from the sunken ships. Temporary structures were constructed for use as storehouses for the recovered gold and silver. While the salvage operation was in process, Henry Jennings, an English pirate, conducted a daring raid and seized a large quantity of the recovered coins which he took to to Port Royal, Jamaica. Spanish salvagers were able to recover the majority of the treasure and brought it to Havana. Eventually, the Spanish abandoned salvage operations, and English opportunists moved in to their camps to claim what was left in the wrecks. When they were picked clean they left the site too. In the early 1940s, amateur archaeologist Charles Higgs discovered evidence of the salvage camps in the dunes near the Sebastian Inlet. A hurricane in 1955 washed away some dunes around the camps, revealing many artifacts and silver coins. The wreck was eventually rediscovered by treasure hunters in the 1960's. Salvage efforts by local builder Kip Wagner and his Real 8 Company recovered thousands of coins, pieces of jewelry, and several cannons. These discovery led to the establishment of a state park and the nearby McLarty Treasure Museum which has more information about the wreck including an informative 45 minute movie, displays, and artifacts. Storms continue to wash up a small number of artifacts to this day.

I discovered this historic marker while driving through Fellsmere to the St. Sebastian River…read morePreserve State Park. This marker is part of the Florida Historical Marker Program, one of the Division of Historical Resources' most popular and valued public history programs. The markers raise 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 schools, forts, roads, archaeological sites, battlefields, cemeteries, churches. historic buildings and roads like this one. Historic marker F-404 was installed in 1999 by the St. Johns River Water Management District, Indian River County Historical Society, and Florida Department of State. The Fellsmere Grade is an old road that was a vital transportation route in the early 20th century, connecting Fellsmere to the surrounding areas. Promoted as the Fellsmere-Tampa cross state road, this road allowed travel between the interior and the coast by crossing over the St. Johns River marshes. This allowed access to the town by sportsman who were vital for Fellsmere economy. In the late 1940's the Fellsmere Grade bridges burned across the river and the road ended in the marsh six miles from this site. Today this road serves the public as access to the Fellsmere Grade Recreation Area which is a part of the head waters of the St. John's River. This area was created to help restore the river's functions while providing flood protection down stream. Farmlands were turned back into marshland, nearly eliminating fresh water discharges into the Indian River Lagoon from the C-54 canal. This 10,000 acre wetland is one of the largest wetland restoration projects in history, giving b back lost habitat to wildlife, waterfowl and fish.

This building was originally used as the public school in Fellsmere. It was added to the national…read moreregister of Historic Places in 1996 because it is the oldest masonry school in Indian river County. The building was constructed in 1915 and 1916 for a cost of $40,000. It was designed by architect Frederick Trimble and built by contractor Arthur Sander. 136 students in grades 1-12 began school in the building on Oct. 2, 1916. The school operated until 1982. When the town wanted to restore the building thirty years later they raised $650,000. A hurricane tore the roof off the building ruining everything they had done but they were able to restore it again with FEMA and insurance money. The FAU design department suggested placing city hall in the historic school building to combine Fellsmere's past with it's future. The Boys and Girl club needed a home so they moved into the building too. In 2010 the building once again reopened to the public. There is a marker out front of that relates the historical significance of the building. I had the opportunity to explore the building when I attended an event by Indian River Hauntings. We began our paranormal historic tour at the building and ended it there as well. During our initial presentation we could hear loud clanking by the elevator and no one was over there. Also the people sitting at the top of the stairs swore they could hear footsteps behind them in the hallway when again no one was there. I don't know for sure if the building is haunted but there were quite a few stories about it. In any case the building is exquisite.They don't build them like that any more. The wood work and windows were amazing. My favorite part of the building was the auditorium with the art deco detail on the side of the seats that were original from 1915. The old school is a beautiful historic building in quaint old Florida town.

This historic theater building opened on October 20, 1924 in Vero Beach. It was previously known as…read morethe Vero Theatre or Florida Theatre. The 800-seat theatre was designed by architect F.H. Trimble and was the city's first motion picture theatre. The building was designed in Mediterranean Revival style that was popular in Florida during the land boom years in the 1920's. It has the stucco exterior walls and terra cotta decorative tiles that were popular style elements of the time. On opening day, the first feature film shown was The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Even a potential hurricane with torrential rain could not stop people from coming out even though the rain resulted in the flooding of the theatre's $10,400 pipe organ temporarily putting it out of commission. This theatre is directly responsible for the creation of Indian River County. In 1925, St. Lucie County Sheriff J.R. Merritt began Sunday raids of the theater to enforce the county's blue laws which restricted certain businesses and activities on Sunday. Farmers enjoyed taking their families to town on Sunday to watch a film and pointed out that blue laws ere not enforced in St. Lucie. The theater manager William Atkin, ticket seller William Frick and theater operator Henry Metz were all arrested. Eventually even the first mayor and part theatre owner Rep. A.W. Young was also arrested. in response Vero representatives went to Tallahassee to form their own county, The Legislature approved the bill in May, naming Vero the county seat of the new Indian River County. Governor John Martin signed it into law in June 1925 creating Indian River County. The last film to be shown in the theatre was Desperately Seeking Susan. The theatre closed shortly after due to competition from larger, more modern movie theaters. This was the only movie theater in Vero Beach before World War II, and is one of the last commercial buildings from the 1920's in downtown Vero. In 1990, the building was purchased and turned into apartments upstairs and retail stores on the ground level. Over the years, there have been intermittent efforts to refurbish the inside of the theater. On April 28, 1992 the historic theater was added to the National register of Historic Places. Today new life is being brought to the old building with the opening of businesses like Downtown Dippers, an ice cream shop.