If you are a history buff, like me then you should visit here. It is located in Downtown Miami so…read morenear plenty of other places of interest. There are two entrances and it makes for a very pleasant walk from one entrance to the other. Other people have listed a lot of information already about the history, but I found this little nugget..see below. The most puzzling grave in the cemetery is the one belonging to Carrie Miller, a room-size monolith that reads, "THE BODY OF CARRIE BARRETT MILLER WAS MOULDED IN THIS SOLID BLOCK OF CONCRETE--DECEMBER 4TH.1926. AFTER THE BODY HAS GONE TO DUST HER SLEEPING FORM WILL REMAIN."

I love history and what better way to experience it than to visit the final resting place of some…read moreof Miami's pioneers. This is the oldest cemetery and the only municipal cemetery in Miami Dade county. On January 4, 1989 this cemetery was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. I have been running all over Miami visiting some of it's most historic places like Fort Dallas and Arch Creek Park and this cemetery has been long on my list. Somehow October seemed the appropriate month to visit. One year after Miami was incorporated this cemetery was built in 1887 a half mile out of the city limits along a wagon road. The 10 acre piece of land for the cemetery was sold to Miami by Mary Brickell for $750. It was considered a " rocky wasteland" not suitable for building. With the growth of the city the cemetery is now between downtown and art loving Wynwood. The first burial in the cemetery was an elderly black man on July 14, 1897. H. Graham Branscomb, a 24 year old male from England who died from consumption was the first caucasian burial. Whites were buried on the east end of the cemetery and African Americans were laid to rest on the west side. Today 9,000 souls are currently laid to rest here. The graveyard is maintained by the city but not very well. Many of the mausoleums have been stripped of their bronze and now just have plywood. The graves themselves are to be maintained by the families of the interred who owned deeds to their plots. It is one of the few cemeteries where the owners of the plot hold the deed to the land. Some of the graves date back to the 1800's although there are much newer burials. Around a thousand burial spots are left and ten to twenty burials still take place every year but restrictions are strict. You must either be a deed holder or family of the deed holder. The graveyard has different sections, one for African American pioneers, a walled and gated Jewish section, and veterans of the Civil War, Spanish-American War, and World War I and II. Some of the famous names that are familiar to South Floridians that are buried here include Burdine, Peacock, Tuttle, Duval, Sewell and Jackson. The grave of Carrie Miller bears the following inscription "The body of Carrie Barrett Miller was moulded in this solid block of concrete--December 4TH.1926. After the body has gone to dust her sleeping form will remain." The cemetery contains the only known five oolitic limestone gravestones worldwide. Shady trees and tropical plants make this a beautiful resting spot for some of Miami's most famous former residents.

Another iconic building in Downtown Miami. Definitely worthy of a visit. If you do go, hit the…read morebutton to the top in the elevator, to see sweeping views. The public are allowed to go there. Once you are up there, you can see this area of Miami from a different wow factor insight. Check out my pictures for a taster.. The Miami Tower is a 47-story, landmark office skyscraper in Miami, Florida, United States. It is located in central Downtown. It is currently the 16th tallest building in Miami and Florida. Add to your "must see" list for Down town Miami.

Newly renovated "Sky Lounge" is awesome! The gym is nicer than some gyms you have to pay for. Staff…read moreis nice and the building is clean.

This is the best department in south Florida. The best brotherhood and group of firefighters ever!read more

Marjorie Stoneman Douglas lived in this home in Coconut Grove. It was built in 1926 by George Hyde…read moreand is designed to look like an English Cotswolds country cottage. The house looks like it is out of a fairy tale. The house is extremely small, barely 900 feet. Marjorie considered it more of a workshop than a home. It is a single story wood frame T shaped structure with a stucco, brick, and half-timbered exterior walls and a sloping roof covered in wood shingles. The interior has hardwood flooring, plaster walls, and plaster ceilings with exposed beams. The interior has one large room that used to be dominated by Marjorie Stoneman Douglas's desk. The other rooms are a little bedroom and a tiny kitchen that only held a hot plate and toaster. Furnishings in the home were very simple. The house didn't have a driveway because she never learned to drive or central air conditioning. Marjorie did much of her writing in the home including the 1947 book The Everglades: River of Grass which spawned a movement to save the Everglades from development. The state of Florida purchased the house in 1991. Marjory was allowed to live out the rest of her life in her home which she did until she passed away at the age of 108 in 1998. The house was designated a national landmark in 2015. The house sits vacant as the people in the neighborhood have fought any attempts at turning the house into a museum fearing the traffic it would bring to the area. With the shooting that took place at the high school named in Marjorie Stoneman Douglas's honor in Parkland her name has been thrust back in the spotlight and there is renewed interest in finally doing something with the house. It seems like the neighbors may finally be coming around to allowing access to the house on a limited basis. Before that can happen the state needs to repair termite damage and mold caused by an air conditioner leak. Some of the ideas for the house are to turn it into a museum to honor Marjory or to allow a writer to live there in residence. A plan that has been scraped is to move the house to Fairchild tropical Gardens where there is a statue of Marjory Stoneman Douglas sitting on a bench. I am a long time Marjory Stoneman Douglas fan. As someone who loves the Everglades I appreciate her and everything she did to save it from development. I have seen many lovely pictures of her outside her home usually with a cat. Visiting her house was a thrill. I especially loved discovering the seahorse on the outside fireplace and the hand shaped doorknocker on the front door. I truly hope the neighbors and the state can come to an agreement to allow people access to the property. Right now you can easily park in front of the house and take a peek in the windows. Marjory Stoneman Douglas created a lasting environmental legacy and her home deserves to be protected and maintained. Maybe even more so after what happened in Parkland. The house belongs to all of us and we should be able to pay our respects to her there.

I love discovering old places, and if they are abandoned even better for me! It is surely worthy of…read morea trip - lets hope they GET ON WITH RESTORING IT, and stop wasting money on just maintaining it!! (its been owned by the state since 2007 after all!!!) Here is some more information and history about this house (sourced from https://www.visitflorida.com/en-us/things-to-do/arts-history/marjory-stoneman-douglas-house.html) Almost 68 years after Marjory Stoneman Douglas' "The Everglades: River of Grass" changed the popular conception of the Everglades from worthless swamp to treasured ecosystem, the Stoneman Douglas house in Miami's leafy Coconut Grove neighborhood will be designated a national historic landmark. During his first visit to Everglades National Park in April 2015, President Barack Obama declared the protective designation for the conservationist's modest 1926 cottage at 3744 Stewart Ave. No plans have been announced yet for opening the stucco-covered, wood-frame Stoneman Douglas house to the public, although fans still can go by the historic one-story home, now surrounded by million-dollar mansions. Preservationists and environmentalists have argued for years with neighbors over the fate of the bungalow and concerns that turning it into an education center or attraction would overwhelm the area with traffic and violate residential land use codes. A plan to move the house three miles from its South Grove location to Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden was scrapped in 2006. The Stoneman Douglas house and property have been owned by the State of Florida and since 2007 has been maintained by the Florida Park Service as a lasting memorial to a remarkable "woman who saved the Everglades." As a 34-year-old divorced woman living with her father, buying her own house represented independence to Douglas. In her autobiography, "Voice of the River," she wrote about her desire to have a place of her own. I didn't need much of a house, just a workshop, a place of my own. All I wanted was one big room with living quarters tacked on. I knew an architect, George Hyde, who drew up some plans. He mostly built factories, which was fortunate, because I hoped my little house would be as stout and as sparse as a factory with not much to worry about. Because she never learned to drive, the house had no driveway (or air conditioning, electric stove or dishwasher). Part Tudor Revival and part Medieval Revival in design, the house, created by well-known architect George Hyde, is noted for its hip roof, half-timbering, post-hurricane wood floors, elegant detailing, and cast bronze hardware. Starting out as a young writer working for her father at The Miami Herald in 1915 following her brief marriage, Marjory Stoneman Douglas eventually produced more than 100 short stories for popular magazines. "River of Grass," published in 1947, was her most influential work. Later in life, she became a relentless crusader for the natural preservation and restoration of the nature of South Florida. She recognized that the Everglades was a system that depended not only on the flow of water from Lake Okeechobee into the park, but also upon the Kissimmee River which feeds the lake. To add a voting constituency to her efforts, in 1970 she formed the Friends of the Everglades, and was active as the head of the organization. Dubbed the "Grande Dame of the Everglades," she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Upon her death at the age of 108 in 1998, The Independent in London stated, "In the history of the American environmental movement, there have been few more remarkable figures than Marjory Stoneman Douglas." Today, Everglades National Park, the largest subtropical wilderness in the United States, protects over 1.5 million acres. It's the third-largest national park in the lower 48 states, behind Yellowstone National Park and Death Valley National Park. There are three ways to access the park by car. The main entrance in Homestead connects visitors to the Royal Palm Area and the Flamingo Area of Everglades National Park. The Shark Valley entrance is in Miami and the Gulf Coast Entrance is in Everglades City.

Coral Gables offers a charming blend of history and architecture for visitors to enjoy. The tower…read morestands out as a true masterpiece, capturing the attention of photography enthusiasts looking for the perfect subject.

in a sophisticated residential area, this attraction may seem modest at first glance, yet it…read moreundeniably offers a tranquil and exquisite setting. The ambiance is calming and inviting, making it well worth a visit. On this particularly gorgeous day, the clear blue skies served as the perfect backdrop for capturing stunning photos, some of which I have shared for you to appreciate. If you enjoy what you see, feel free to show your approval by liking this post!

The kids and I had so much fun swinging through parrot jungle together! The frozen lemonade was…read morehelpful given how hot it was. They have really cool outdoor parks and a few cool animals you get to encounter as you stroll the park. Luckily for me I caught two love birds sharing a pec

I love a historic building and this storybook looking structure was once the site of the original…read moreentrance into the attraction Parrot Jungle. 1936 an Austrian named Franz Scherr rented the site of a former nudist colony for $25 a year. He used to visit Monkey Jungle offering unsolicited advice until the exasperated owner told him to open his own jungle. He did just that charging 25 cents to tour his garden and visit his birds. Parrot Jungle did very well for many years especially through the 1970's. Famous visitors include Winston Churchill, US President Jimmy Carter, and Steven Speilberg. During its 66 years of operation, a million people visited the attraction. It was eventually designated a historical landmark making it difficult to make changes to the park to keep up with the changing tastes of consumers. Attendance began to drop due to hurricanes and larger theme parks opening. The decision was made to move the park to Watson Island where it opened in 2003. It has struggled ever since, never finding the following it once had in Pinecrest. Jungle Island closed to visitors during the pandemic and never reopened except for events in the ballroom and camp groups. The land for the park is owned by the city and the operators of the park are unable to pay back the millions of dollars of debts it owes. I have heard many rumors surrounding Jungle Island like plans to turn it into an action park and to build a hotel on the property. What a sad turn of events for the once beloved attraction. Meanwhile back in Pinecrest on December 17, 2002, the Village of Pinecrest, with grant assistance from the Florida Communities Trust and Miami-Dade County were able to purchase the former Parrot Jungle site and turn it into a lovely garden which opened on March 8, 2003. In 2011 this site was added to the National Register of Historic Places as the Parrot Jungle Historic District. Although the parrots are gone the winding paths and beautiful plants remain along with the Parrot Bowl which now hosts community performances. You can still see the original attraction entrance on Red Road as you drive up to the gardens. It was built from Dade County pine, impervious to termites and it had a palm-thatched modeled after the roofs on the Seminole chickee huts. In the 1940s, the roof was replaced with clay tiles and the building front was covered in natural coral rock. According to the historic marker out front, the entrance was damaged by fire in 1994. It is nice to see that although the birds are gone, Franz Scherr's gardens still thrive.

The history of Cuba is deeply intertwined with that of Miami. With the recent indictment of Raúl…read moreCastro, Fidel Castro's brother, for his alleged role in the 1996 shootdown of two civilian aircraft operated by Brothers to the Rescue and the murder of four Americans it seems like an appropriate time to revisit another pivotal chapter in Cuban and Miami history: the Bay of Pigs invasion. In April 1961, Miami served as a central hub for U.S. intelligence and anti Castro operations. More than 1,500 Cuban exiles, known as Brigade 2506, were recruited, trained, and equipped in Miami for a mission to liberate Cuba from communist rule. The invasion took place at the height of the Cold War. However, President John F. Kennedy ultimately declined to provide the level of U.S. military support many believed had been promised, fearing escalation of hostilities with the Soviet Union. The operation ended in failure, resulting in more than 100 deaths and the capture of approximately 1,200 members of the brigade. In the years that followed, many Cuban Americans, feeling abandoned by the Democratic administration, shifted their political allegiance toward the Republican Party. In 2009, the Bay of Pigs Air Memorial at Miami Executive Airport was designed and constructed. It is maintained by the Cuban Pilots Association. The memorial honors the Cuban and American aviators who lost their lives during the April 1961 invasion. The memorial design resembles a waving Cuban flag, with blue and white stripes painted across the ground and a tall stone monument rising from the location of the flag's star. A centerpiece of the memorial is a retired Douglas B-26 Invader, the light attack bomber flown by many of the aviators during the operation. The Invader was originally developed during World War II carrying the B-26 designation. Miami is home to several other Bay of Pigs memorials, including monuments in Little Havana, Bay of Pigs Memorial Park, and the Bay of Pigs Museum. However, this is the only site where visitors can see an actual aircraft associated with the invasion. If you find yourself near Miami Executive Airport, the Bay of Pigs Air Memorial is well worth a stop.

I searched and found this memorial to learn more about the Bay Of Pigs invasion while I was in…read moreMiami. To my surprise and honor, I met Captain Amado Cantillo, an 85 year old veteran of the actual invasion from 62 years ago! Luckily for me, he was leading maintenance of the memorial this morning. Captain Cantillo led the creation of this monument and shared his personal story as a frogman in the Bay of Pigs invasion. It was my honor to meet him, learn his story and respect his passion for freedom. Life is good and respectful with a personal story of important history.

Coral Gables is known for it's numerous plazas, entrances, and fountains from 1920's. That's why I…read morefind it so interesting to see what current works of art are being added. Anything new needs to harmonize with the beautiful features that George Merrick added in when he created the city. In 2014 the city approved two sculptures to be installed at the traffic circles along Segovia Street. They were designed by New York-based artist and sculptor Alice Aycock. The two installations are the first public art pieces to be added since George Merrick was alive. The sculptures are inspired by the passion flower and are constructed of more than 4,000 pieces of metal. The two sculptures are different. The sculpture on Biltmore is larger and has two flower designs. The Coral Way sculpture is designed to mimic a flower flowing in the breeze. More than 180 submissions were judged before a panel selected Aycock's design. The flowers have received mixed reviews from the community. Many feel that the modern art is not in keeping with the look of the city. A group of residents tried to have the sculptured removed but did not muster enough signatures for the ballot. Some of the complaints are that the sculptures are not Mediterranean and that accidents have increased at the traffic circles since the sculptures were installed. Others complain bitterly that they are not even able to choose a paint color for their house yet the city has moved away from the Mediterranean look of the city without consulting them. The city has decided to keep the sculptures despite the protest of some people who do not care for the look of modern art in their 1920's Mediterranean Revival city.

Interesting new metal art located near the golf course and situated on two roundabouts. There are…read moretwo pieces one on each roundabout - They are passions flowers. Other people here have told the history about them so I will leave it at that. However what I did read about on the net and thought was amusing - was some local residents were not very happy with them, thinking they did not represent Coral Gables mediterranean image, so they started a petition to get them remove. They did get over a thousand signatures but no where near enough to make an impact and get them removed. Looks like they are here to stay. I was not too keen when I first saw them and had a little chuckle to myself as the largest one is situated in front of a plastic surgery office (HE HE)...(apt? - you decide). However after walking around and actually really looking at them, the location, the area, they started to grow on me!...Let me know what you think - when you go for a look!