Cecil Goring gave me a tour of the museum and it was not just entertaining and enriching but his…read morethoughtful, knowledgeable, patient and insightful tour was educational, emotional and eye-opening on many different levels. A big 'Thank You' to Cecil and everybody who has worked on keeping the memory of the people who worked in this historic precinct alive in order to teach all of us so many valuable lessons.

On Nov 19, the Overtown Optimist Club planned an afterschool fieldtrip with 30 youth and adults to…read morevisit and explore the heritage within the Historic Black Police Precinct and Courthouse Museum. In a word, AMAZING. The history shared from Director Terrance CribbsLorant left our kids wanting more. The kids were engaged and continuously asked questions. What a gem of an experience. If you haven't planned a trip, you absolutely MUST. You will not be dissapointed. Kids were challenged to think about community and activism in a positive, humane and inspiring way. We are so very grateful to have such a masterful curator ... just a short walk away. Thank You Terrance! We will be back.

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.

This cottage is available to see at Pinecrest gardens. Listed below is information regarding this…read morecottage This cottage is typical of the pioneer dwellings built by homesteaders who settled in rural Dade County during the early 1900s through 1930s. It belonged to Carl Whilden, chief foreman at Fairchild Tropical Garderns. Whilden built the cottage in 1932 on land belonging to his wife Mary Carrier. The Carriers were an early pioneer family from Quebec, Canada, that homesteaded on 20 acres of pine woodlands located near Snapper Creek and Ludlam Road. The Whildens lived in this cottage from the Depression through the early 1970s. Their property included vegetable gardens, fruit trees, tropical specimens and native species bounded by oolitic rock walls and terraces. The cottage was designated a historic site by Miami-Dade County's Historic Preservation Board in 2000 and was relocated to Pinecrest Gardens in 2003.

Went to a show here a few months ago and it's a pretty nice place for an outing. I has the feel of…read moresmall-time hippie tree-hugger music show on a patio... which is pretty much what it was, when I think about it. Several musicians played nice music, there was good food at a couple of kiosks on the back, and a beer and wine vendor. Everything was in support of... so be honest, I'm not sure but it was about birds. I will be coming back to more shows here. It's a very nice way to spend an evening.

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. Fitch 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 discovered this delightful nature oasis and historic home in the middle of South Miami while eating lunch in the area. The gate is open so you can walk around what feels like a a secret garden. On Saturday, January 7, 1-2pm or 3-4pm the Tropical Audubon Society will host 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. The tour focuses on Arden Hayes "Doc" Thomas and Robert Fitch Smith and explores the 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. Come out and learn about this important ecosystem and the pioneers who lived here and built South Miami.

Several of the other Villages of Coral Gables are posted on these pages. They are the French City…read moreVillage, the Italian Village, The Florida Pioneer Village, and the French Normandy Village. Look at those posts to glean the history behind their design in the overall plans of George Merrick's City Beautiful in the mid 1920s. They have a fascinating history. Day trips into the Gables make a wonderful staycation for local residents or excursions for visitors to our community. A number of years ago, my long drive to work in the southern part of the county skirted the Gables. I noticed a set of tall, connected buildings along a stretch of LeJeune Road and wondered what they were. They are the Dutch South Africa Village, homes designed by Palm Beach architect Marion Sims Wyeth based on the farmhouses of wealthy Dutch colonists who settled in South Africa in the 17th century. The steeply pitched roofs are just one of the architectural characteristics. Take a nice morning and stroll around the block and maybe add another village to your day, then lunch in one of the Gables' many restaurants.

Muhammad Ali helped make Miami and Miami helped make him. He came to the area after winning gold at…read morethe 1960 Rome Olympics. Back then he was known as Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. During his time on south Florida, he lived in many of Miami's neighborhoods, including historic Overtown. It was the end of segregation and the beginning of an integrated society. Ali would eat at Wolfie's, an iconic, 24-hour delicatessen that stood for 60 years at 21st Street and Collins Avenue and he trained at the famous Fifth Street Gym in Miami Beach. All of the greats from the 50's to the 80's worked out there including Roberto Durán, Sugar Ray Leonard, Sugar Ray Robinson. Even all these years later, interest in Muhammed Ali's time in Miami has not waned. Last year Ali was the subject of a photo exhibit at the HistoryMiami Museum. Most of the exhibit showcased him going about his daily life in the ramp up his first fight against Joe Frazier which was dubbed the "The Fight of the Century." Last years film One Night in Miami is a fictionalized account of a February 1964 meeting between Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, and Sam Cooke in a room at the Hampton House, after Ali's surprise title win over Sonny Liston. Ali won the heavyweight title from Sonny Liston at the Miami Beach Convention Center. Muhammed Ali lived in a modest home on the corner of NW 46 Street and 15 Court in the Allapattah neighborhood of Miami. While Ali lived there he had a young neighbor named Nelson Adams who idolized him. Ali kept in touch with Adams throughout his life and inspired by his hero, Adams grew up to be a doctor. Adams used to watch boxing movies outside with his celebrated neighbor. Ali returned to his old home for a visit in 2001 to relive a few memories with the current owners, the Ross family. Muhammed Ali passed away in 2016 at the age of 74. "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. The hands can't hit what the eyes can't see." No boxer was greater than Muhammad Ali. What a neat piece of Miami history.

This is the Former home of Muhammad Ali in Miami. He had a house in Miami's Allapattah…read moreneighbourhood. The modest home is at the corner of NW 46 Street and 15 Court. "It kind of hurt me when I heard about it," said current resident Kevin Ross about the champ's death. Ross has lived his entire life in Ali's home. Ross's parents bought the house from Ali in 1965. His father moved quickly to seal the deal. "Growing up, it was a big experience for me because everyone knew he stayed here," Ross told CBS4 Reporter Donna Rapado. "I had a lot of neighbours around here who lived here when he actually lived here. My friends all knew. So it was like a celebrity-type feeling."

Beautiful walking path and landmark. Easy, flat walk that is shady and surrounded by trees.read more

The Chinese Bridge is an iconic landmark in Palmetto Bay. The bridge is located on a pedestrian…read morestreet within a natural wildlife preserve of the Charles Deering Estate which is owned and operated by Miami-Dade County. The entrance to the trail that takes you to the bridge is a little past the Deering Estate. You can park your car on the side of the road and walk down until the road ends. That is where you pick up the trail that is only open to foot and bike traffic. Half way down the trail is the colorful bridge. The bridge was built in 1918 by Charles Deering who was a Chicago industrialist. The bridge was built to allow him to cross Cutler Creek to his retirement home. When Mr. Deering built the bridge he moved a portion of the original Cutler Road, which was located on the property he purchased that included the abandoned town of Cutler. The Chinese theme of the bridge reminded him of his travels in the Pacific as a young naval officer. I have wanted to find the bridge for quite some time. The hike to the bridge is an easy one that anyone can do. On my way to the bridge I saw a cardinal fly right past me. If you are in the area this is a very pleasant walk to take and this is a nice place to take a picture. I really like the history of this area which not only includes the Deering estate but ten thousand years of human occupation including 10,000 years of nearly continuous human occupation including Paleo-Indians, Tequesta settlements, Seminole hunting grounds, and Bahamian and Florida Cracker homesteads.

Most people drive past this place, but have you ever bothhered to actually lok at the beautiful…read morebuilding. Unlike today, when we assume that so much of it has to be big and ugly so we hide it and neglect it, Miami used to prize its infrastructure. For example, just like the swimming pools of Miami Beach, Miami created showplaces for its drinking water too, like the Bay Shore Pump House and the Miami Municipal Water Softening Plant. Built at 700 West Second Avenue, the water softening plant has been much expanded over the years, with its original coral rock structure surrounded by much more utilitarian-looking modern structures, snaking systems of water pipes, and chain-link fences, almost entirely forgotten but still there. The original building is still in operation.