This is another of Coral Gables "villages". It is called the Florida Pioneer Village/Colonial…read moreVillage. These homes are regal and HUGE and located right near or over looking the Biltmore Golf Course...or PRIME real estate. This thematic village was designed by the architectural firm of John Pierson, and John and Coulton Skinner.  Constructed in 1925-1926 to evoke the image of a New England streetscape of stately homes, the village includes 4320, 4409, 4515, 4520, and 4620 Santa Maria Street. In November of 2007 these homes were included in the Santa Maria Street Historic District.

George Merrick is the founder of the City of Coral Gables. His family came to Miami from PA two…read moreyears after Henry Flagler brought the railroad to Florida. It was the dawn of the development of Florida. George Merrick attended Rollins College in Winter Park and in 1922 he meticulously planned Coral Gables. The houses were so well made that they survived hurricanes before there were building codes and his architecture was so charming that Coral gables is called the city beautiful. He also created the University of Miami. At first he wanted his buildings to be strictly Spanish and later Mediterranean style. Eventually he expanded his vision to include seven unique villages inspired by different international influences. The villages were built during the land boom years in the 1920's. It was a joint venture between Merrick, The American Building Company and former Ohio Governor Myers Cooper. The original plan was for more 1,000 residences in a series of villages based on architecture from around the world. The plan was never fully realized when the housing boom crashed from two hurricanes followed by the Great Depression. In the end only seven villages were built including this Pioneer Village. By 1928 George Merrick was forced out of the city he founded and ended up in the Keys. He returned to the city two years before he died to serve as postmaster. You can learn more about George Merrick by taking a tour of his family home in Coral Gables. The Pioneer/ Colonial Village was designed by the architectural firm of John Pierson, and John and Coulton Skinner. It is located south of the Biltmore Hotel and it borders the Riviera Country Club golf course. The five homes were built in 1925 and 1926 And took their inspiration from the elegant New England houses of the late 19th- and early 20th-century. The homes were designed in a Colonial Revival style with two-story porches, symmetrical facades, and picket fences. New England architects at that time took elements from the Georgian-style buildings in Europe and England. The homes in this village have gone through renovations through the years but when you see one it is still an impressive sight. Homes in this village include 4320, 4409, 4515, 4520, and 4620 Santa Maria Street. They are not in a row so you have to look for them. In November of 2007 these homes were added to the Santa Maria Street Historic District. The properties in the villages rarely hit the market and they are highly sought after. Today there are 80 homes left. Since there are only five of the Pioneer Village homes, they are especially limited. Zillow estimates them to be around 4 million dollars. You can also get a peek at the interiors of these privately held homes there.

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

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.

As a fan of architecture and history I was delighted to spot this historic marker in the North…read moreShore neighborhood in Miami Beach. Stopping for a minute to read a historic marker is a great way to learn more about the history of an area. I have gained so much knowledge about Florida from these blue historical markers that can you find all around the state. This marker is on a median next to Tatum Park and it recounts the history of the mid century North Shore neighborhood. The North Shore Historic District in North Beach, Miami Beach is famous for having the most intact mid-20th century resort architecture (MiMo) in the Greater Miami area. The neighborhood was platted in 1929 and is bounded by 87th Street, Collins Avenue, 73rd Street, and Hawthorne Avenue. After WWII many GI's moved to Florida where the warmer weather was beneficial for helping to recover from their war wounds. A post WWII construction boom saw the creation narrow garden apartments with features designed to adapt to Miami. These architectural details included patios, loggias, flat roofs with broad overhanging eaves, exterior staircases, and catwalks. The architecture in the district is primarily Miami Modernism MiMo style featuring futuristic and modern elements, unique to Miami. Design features include acute angles, delta wings, pipe columns, sweeping curved walls, and soaring pylons. Other architectural styles reflected in the district, include Mediterranean Revival, Art Deco, and Moderne. The North Shore Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009. Marker F-1090 was erected in 2020 by The City of Miami Beach and the Florida Department of State.

These are the brainiacs they oversee the maintenance and facilities at this station. Coming from…read moreMiami Central Station to the Justice center should be straight forward easy. Nope. They have the stairs, escalator and elevator all down for maintenance. What does this mean for you. You either walk outside or legally you need to purchase a ticket for the metro rail / people mover just to pass through so you can use the egress in the government center. Who is ever overseeing maintenance really did. It think this through. I guess if you are a government employee, then perhaps you did think it through and are charging the people more just to pass through.

It's a Miami Metro station! Security staff was pleasant and helpful. Very quiet on a Sunday with a…read morelong wait time for the train. Overall a decent experience.

The city of Hialeah was named by a Seminole Indian named Willie Willie, When developer James Bright…read moreasked him to describe the property, he called it Hi-ale-ah, translating to pretty prairie or high prairie. Bright was from Missouri where he made his money in cattle. He came to Miami in 1909 and bought 640 acres of submerged land northwest of the city. He dug the Miami canal and pumped out the land. He joined with famed aviator and developer Glenn Curtiss and incorporated Hialeah in 1921. The Deer Creek neighborhood that this house is in was once an airfield for Glenn Curtiss. The H.R. Howell House is located at 2 Circle Drive in the Deer Park section of Hialeah. J.J. Mullins was the contractor and ground broke in 1922. The ornate Mediterranean Revival style house was built during Florida's land boom years at a cost of $22,000, a fortune at the time when a typical house was 8 or 9 thousand dollars. The home was built for H.R. Howell, the developer of Country Club Estates for Glenn Curtiss and James Bright company, Curtiss-Bright. The home is a private residence so you can only see it from the outside. It is nice to see it still standing and providing a home to a family today.

if you like to see and hear about a bit of history in Miami, visit this house. it is called H. R…read more Howell home and is located in the Deer Park section of Hialeah. It was built in 1922 by contractor J.J. Mullins at a cost of $22,000. It is located opposite the deer park, which is now been renamed as the Ken Mattingly park after an astronaut from Hialeah! (see my other review for that) H.R. Howell was the developer of Country Club Estates (Miami Springs) for the Curtiss-Bright Company. Black & white photos from State of Florida archives.

This historic marker introduced me to someone I had never heard of before, Judy Nelson Drucker. The…read moremarker is in front of Temple Beth Shalom. Drucker was born in New York in 1928. She developed her love of the arts from her mother Lillian Nelson who was a Metropolitan Opera singer, pianist, and teacher. Drucker was a musical child prodigy who studied piano at the New York College of Music and voice at the Juilliard School and the Curtis Institute of Music. In 1941 she moved to Miami Beach. In 1967 under the guidance of Rabbi Leon Kronish, Drucker started the Great Artists Series at Temple Beth Sholom. For decades Drucker brought the stars of concert music, opera and dance to Miami elevating its cultural profile. Some of the people she brought to Miami included Beverly Sills, Isaac Stern, Vladimir Horowitz, Yo Yo Ma, Leonard Bernstein, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Richard Tucker, Twyla Tharp, Zubin Mehta, Pinchas Zukerman, Daniel Barenboim, Wynton Marsalis and the Three Tenors. She also arranged for performances by many of the world's foremost orchestras and dance companies, like the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and the Bolshoi Ballet. Drucker staged performances at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami, the New World Center, what is now the Jackie Gleason Theater in Miami Beach and the Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale. Judy Nelson Drucker passed away on March 30, 2020 at the age of 91.Historic marker F-973 was installed in 2017 by Kristina and Mark Bryn and the Great Artists Series, and the Florida Department of State in front of Temple Beth Shalom.

The drop off mail in ballot drive-through was so easy and so fast. Staff was friendly and helpful.read more