I love fountains. The flowing water is always so peaceful and they add a beautiful point of…read moreinterest wherever they are placed. I discovered the Historic Irons Manor Fountain on a recent visit to North Miami. It was built in 1925 out of limestone and it is the City of Miami's oldest public art. The fountain is actually older than the incorporation date of the City of North Miami. The Irons Manor Fountain stands at the entrance of the Iron Manors subdivision platted in 1926 by developer V. Earl Irons. who followed the principals of design of the then popular City Beautiful movement. The city restored the fountain and had a ribbon cutting ceremony in May of 2019. They added paved walkways, benches, and landscaping around the fountain to create a park setting. I loved discovering this cool piece of Miami history that over 20,000 cars pass by every day.

The Colonnade building was designed by famed architect Phineas Paist who often worked with Coral…read moreGables developer and founder George Merrick and his uncle, Coral Gables artistic director Denman Fink. Phineas Paist was known to Merrick because of his work with the local estate of Vizcaya. The building was completed in November of 1926 at 169 Miracle Mile, the historic four blocks of retail and restaurants at the intersection of Ponce de Leon Boulevard. The building was designed to be George Merrick's sales center for Coral Gables and his land office was located here. It was centerpiece of the shopping area. Like the many buildings in Coral Gables it was designed in a Spanish Colonial and Baroque style. In the 1920's different businesses in the Colonnade included a bank, pilot training facility, movie studio, and parachute factory. One of the signature features of the building is the oval-shaped grand rotunda ballroom in the main foyer which is three stories tall. It contains the original Spanish fountain. Clouds and blue skies are painted on the ceiling. Today the Colonnade building is the Hotel Colonnade. The building has been restored and it is part of the Westin Colonnade Hotel and office complex. The original building has been added on with a newer addition designed by Spillis & Candela. You can see the hotel rooms behind the historic building. The two story entry hallway to the hotel is at the rear of the atrium. The complex includes an Italian restaurant, a panini lunch cafe, and an antique dealer on the street level.

The Colonnade Building, 133-169 Miracle Mile, Coral Gables. It was built in1926, Original…read moreArchitects: Phineas Paist, Walter De Garmo and Paul Chafin. It is located right in the centre of Miracle Mile. The downtown commercial district, including Miracle Mile, was designed by George Merrick, who could boast that every business in Coral Gables was less than a two-block walk. The Colonnade Building at 133-169 Miracle Mile was designed in 1926 by Phineas Paist in collaboration with Walter De Garmo and Paul Chalfin in a mixture of Spanish Colonial and Baroque. The main purpose, in Merrick's planning, was to house his growing sales operation. Since the 1920s, the Colonnade has had many tenants including the Colonnade Movie Studios and a World War II parachute factory. The architecture is beautiful and very noticeable as you walk past. No 169 houses the Bac bank.

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.

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.

NOT JUST A BRIDGE…read more.. This bridge connects the City of Miami to Miami Beach with a 2.5 miles of breathtaking views over the Key Biscayne waterway. Julia Tuttle aka "Mother of Miami" assisted getting railroad travel to Miami Beach via Henry Flagler providing unexpected tourism in the early 1900s. Every tourist gets the opportunity not only to travel over a non-draw bridge but completely toll-free with the pictuesque views of the Miami Beach sky line and blue waters.

The Parker Vertical Lift Bridge is the historic bridge in Miami Springs that crosses the Miami…read moreRiver Canal and connects Hook Square and Okeechobee Road. It is easily recognizable by its twin spires. The bridge was designed and built in 1927 by the Champion Bridge Company, located in Wilmington, Ohio. The bridge is 74.5 feet high, 158.2 feet long, and has a span of 132 feet. The roadbed was once covered with wooden decking but it was replaced by asphalt. The twin towers on each bank provide support to a vertical lift structure that can be raised to allow larger boats to travel down the canal This bridge has a truss span that lifts the bridge up with sheaves, a system of cables, pulleys, and counter weights. This is the only bridge in Florida with a Parker truss design. It is the oldest of the remaining four vertical lift bridges still in Florida. . The bridge was originally located at 36th street but in 1954 it was placed on a barge that floated it down to this location to serve the larger amount of outgoing traffic. In the 1940's the Miami Canal was dammed and the bridges vertical lift truss span was no longer needed to allow the larger boats down the canal. In 1983 the 125,000 pound counterweights that were used to lift the truss span were removed since they were no longer needed. Today you can still drive over this beautiful and historic bridge as you leave the city of Miami Springs. If you like historic bridges, the Miami River Canal Warren Pony Swing Span Bridge is located nearby and it takes traffic from Hialeah into Miami Springs. Both bridges have been declared historic sites by the cities of Hialeah and Miami Springs. Happy

I was in the area a few weeks ago again for the first time since the very end of 2019. I lived most…read moreof my life in Miami Dade County, most of it in Hialeah and a few years of it in Homestead. I have years of memories crossing this bridge on my way back from FIU, on my way back from work, and so many different adventures and daily activities. May not look like much of a bridge, but for most of my life, seeing this bridge meant I was almost home. I definitely felt nostalgic crossing it to visit Hialeah and seeing some of the places I used to frequent growing up. It made me reflect on how so much had changed in my life. This bridge has been around since 1927, hope it lasts another hundred years.

The Florida Historical Marker Program is one of the Division of Historical Resources' most popular…read moreand 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. The U.S. Coast Guard Hanger is one of eight historical markers installed by the City of Miami Public Works in 2015. Joyce E. Nelson, president of the Coconut Grove Civic Club was inspired to get the markers installed after seeing a similar program during a trip to Charleston. What is unique and really nice about the Coconut Grove markers is that they include historic photos. During World War I and II Coconut Grove was a US naval base. In 1932 this seaplane hangar became a part of the first permanent United States Coast Guard Air Station in the country. Planes from the Dinner Key Coast Guard rescued people from the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935. During World War II, planes flew missions to spot U Boats off the coast and rescued sailors on ships targeted by the Nazi Navy. In the 1960's, the Coast Guard rescued Cuban migrants during mass immigration. This US Coast Guard hangar site was the busiest Coast Guard station in the country until operations were moved to Opa-locka Airport in 1965. In 1972 the hangar was turned into a gymnasium used for boxing and sailing programs. It was named in honor of local activist Elizabeth Virrick. The historic Coast Guard hangar suffered extensive damage during Hurricane Andrew in 1992. It was restored with a grant from the Florida Division of Historical Resources and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. Historic marker F-892 was added in 2015 by the Coconut Grove Civic Club and the Florida Department of State.

Another piece of Coconut Groves History can be found at the US Coast Guard Station Hanger…read more This seaplane hangar was a part of the first permanent United States Coast Guard Air Station in the country. Built in 1932, the hangar served as a crucial center for Coast Guard aviation in Florida. Planes from Dinner Key carried out rescue and evacuation missions alongside planes from other Coast Guard air stations in the Florida Keys following the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935. During World War II, aviators provided anti-submarine patrol and convoy support. In addition to aiding in the protection of the nation's coasts, aviators conducted rescue missions to help sailors from merchant ships targeted by the Nazi Kriegsmarine. The Dinner Key Coast Guard maintained an active presence in the community after the war and played an important part in search-and-rescue missions during the mass Cuban immigration rescue in the 1960s. By 1965, when the Coast Guard air station unit moved its operations from Dinner Key to the Opa-locka Airport, the station had evolved into the busiest air-sea rescue facility in the world. The U.S. Coast Guard Station Hanger is the oldest building associated with the air station. After the air station on Dinner Key was decommissioned, the City of Miami purchased the hangar in 1972 for use as a gymnasium. Named for local activist Elizabeth Virrick, the gymnasium originally hosted a boxing program for young men but has since been used for other activities including sailing and other water sports. After suffering severe damage from Hurricane Andrew in 1992, the building was restored with the assistance of a grant from the Florida Division of Historical Resources. The U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Hangar/Virrick Gym was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.

Exhibition 'On The Ban Wagon' curates a memorable experience, powered by The Black Archives and…read moreMUCE on banned books. Featuring "Walker's Appeal", a significant historical document written by David Walker in 1829. It's a powerful abolitionist pamphlet advocating for the end of slavery in the United States. Its bold message and call for justice made it controversial at the time and led to efforts to suppress it. Exhibiting Artists | Azizi DeSouza, Godwin Ferrier, Inna Malostovker, Lump, Nate Dee, Nica Sweet, Oscar Esteban Martinez, Tierra Armstrong...Showcase art pieces weaved in the concept of authors and books that have been banned. Depicting a message from the authors books or the authors personal story, the gallery glorifies the ancestral voices of African American history on book bans that certainly spark curiosity. They often challenge norms and push boundaries. It's a great way to explore the impact of censorship on literature and society.

Here is some info about this old style house in Overtown…read more Built for his bride in 1915 by the area's first black millionaire, real estate magnate D.A. Dorsey, the Dorsey House boasted electricity throughout. Now it is a rental property owned by the Black Archives.