I love discovering the historical markers around Ft. Lauderdale which give insight into its rich…read morehistory. This marker is along A1A in front of Bahia Mar at the spot where Native Americans used to haul over their canoes from the New River into the Atlantic Ocean. Some of the other history related to this site includes a fort built in 1838 during the Second Seminole War named for Major William Lauderdale, a House of Refuge in 1876, and a Coast Guard base in 1926 that was active against Rum Runners during prohibition and which searched for U boats off the Florida coast during WWII. In 1947 this land became a public yacht basin and park. Marker F-285 was erected in 1978 by Bahia Mar Hotel and Yachting Center and Fort Lauderdale Historical Society, Inc. in cooperation with Department of State.

If you ever walk along the Ft Lauderdale Riverfront in Esplanade Park near the performing arts…read morecenter, you have probably come across this statue. The Lone Sailor is a seven foot, 809 pound statue of a sailor along the Riverwalk in Ft.Lauderdale. The sailor has his back to the city as his gaze looks out to the New River. He wears a sailors signature pea coat with his duffel sack at his feet. City commissioners along with volunteers from the Navy League of the United States spent four years raising funds for the statue. It was dedicated on October 14, 2006. The original Lone Sailor is at the Navy Memorial Plaza in Washington DC. There are now 18 Lone Sailor statues around the world. The statue signifies all of the men and women who have served or are serving in the Navy, past , present, and future. The statue stands for honor, courage, and commitment. Ft. Lauderdale was a major military base during WWII and many former military personnel retire here for the warmer climate, This statue recognizes their contributions and our history as a seafaring community. You can learn more about Ft. Lauderdale's role in WWIi at the Naval Air Station Museum in Ft. Lauderdale.

The Gil Blas Anchor is a piece of history mounted in Roy L. Rogers Family Park also known as…read moreHillsboro Inlet Park. The anchor came from a Spanish merchant brigantine, a two mast square rigged cargo ship, the Gil Blas, which was driven aground by a September hurricane in 1835. The ship was 90 feet long and carried 200 tons of sugar and cigars as cargo. The Gil Blas sailed from Havana and was bound for Spain before it beached near the Hillsboro Inlet. As the ship was driven ashore an anchor was thrown overboard offshore, and the hull was not badly damaged. On January 6th 1836 while William Cooley was salvaging the cargo in the middle of the Second Seminole War, Seminole Indians massacred his settlement on the New River and killed his wife and children. Most of the able-bodied men were with Cooley retrieving the cargo of the Gil Blas. After the attack the ship was left abandoned. In 1977, the Marine Archeology Advisory Council claimed to have found the remains of the Gil Blas north of Hillsboro Beach. The Marine Archaeological Council excavated the Gil Blas and another wreck right next it in the 80's and again in the 90's. Vone Research's program called Touching History, introduces high school students to Broward County's maritime history. Vone Research worked with Pompano Beach High School to conserve and identify the anchor believed to have come from the Gil Blas. The anchor was then put on permanent display in Hillsboro Inlet Park.

This made me sad. Apart from a sign to state its history, there was nothing else to see. This…read moremade me sad, really? all that history, all these pour should and bodies that were originally buried here, and that's the best you can do? Very sad. Nothing to see apart from an area, taken over, possibly avoiding the truth the history just be forgotten in the name of what? progress? life? life carrying on? According to records there were 525 people buried in the land, many of whom were Black and Bahamian labourers that helped develop Miami in the early 1900's. Discovered in 2008, the Lemon City Cemetery is believed to be one of the oldest burial sites of people of color in Miami and was designated a historical site in November 2009. In April 2009, Carlisle Development Group and Biscayne Housing Group were in the beginning stages of developing a series of low-income housing buildings, when human remains were found while digging the land. At the time, the city had no records of the cemetery's existence. An examination of the remains and the land concluded that the construction site was indeed a cemetery, believed to date back to the early 1900s. (This is so freaken sad - how can this be so????) Further examination of the human remains concluded 525 souls were interred in the cemetery, the majority of whom were of Black American and Bahamian descent. Many of them were laborers who helped with the construction and development of Miami. see this for more information - https://www.miamitimesonline.com/faith_family/to-be-laid-to-rest-historical-markers/article_93f90568-bc1d-11e8-a548-fbaebc0ed876.html

Lemon City is an unincorporated area that predates Miami. It was a farming community that sprang up…read morein the 1850's, 26 years before the founding of Miami. The community took their name from the unusually sweet lemon trees that grew in the area. By the time Miami was incorporated, Lemon City already had a population of 300. Lemon City had the areas oldest school, the Lemon City School, and the first library, the Lemon City Library. Lemon City was segregated with Black families living in three neighborhoods, Nazarine, Boles Town, and Knightsville. The exact boundaries of Lemon City have been lost to time since it was never incorporated. During the 1980's many Haitian immigrants made what was once Lemon City their home. The area has now been designated as Little Haiti which upset some of the descendants of the pioneers of Lemon City who thought the name change was insulting to their history. To be more inclusive of all of the history of the area, 10 historical signs marking the history of Lemon City were erected by the Mayor's office. Markers were placed at the Lemon City Train Station, Lemon City Pharmacy, Lemon City Library, the Lemon City Port, and here at the Lemon City Cemetery. In April 2009 while doing construction on the Village Carver Apartments, an affordable housing development off Northwest 71st Street near Fourth Avenue, workers who were digging discovered bones. According to the city, they were not aware that the 2.4 million dollars worth of land held a cemetery. It turned out that a total of 525 lemon City residents were buried there, most of whom were black Americans of Bahamian descent. Burials in the Lemon City Cemetery are documented from 1911 until 1935 when African-Americans were buried here during segregation. Eventually the city lost track of the location of the cemetery. Concerned citizens united to prevent building from taking place on the cemetery. Led by local historian Enid Pinkney, they formed the Lemon City Cemetery Community Corporation. In November 2009, the City of Miami designated the cemetery a historical site. The developers offered to move the remains buried here but ultimately gave in to the demand to leave them. Instead a memorial was constructed in 2011 and the cemetery was left as a garden. The memorial is on private property and contains 500 names but where everyone is exactly buried is lost to time. In 2018 a historical marker was placed her to explain the history of the cemetery. It is one of the sadder chapters of Lemon City but thanks to the City of Miami and community leaders this cemetery was rescued from being a housing development. It now provides 2 acres of green space to an area that is otherwise paved over.

OK. YES, IT'S AN OLD BRIDGE…read more.. I drive over this ancient swing bridge alot and never knew it had historic value. The unobstructed River and Yacht views from each side of the bridge are dramatic. This bridge connects Sailboat Bend to the New River Park. Never observed it in swing use but plenty of vehicular, bicycle and pedestian traffic is common. It provides me an alternate route to one of my favorite Riverside Market and Pizza Spot. Like I said, its a bridge.

Another historical gem. The Snow-Reed Swing Bridge is one of the oldest bridges in the Fort…read moreLauderdale area, and one of the few remaining swing bridges in Florida. The bridge connects the neighborhoods of Sailboat Bend and Riverside Park. In 1989 it was officially renamed and designated a historic landmark. The Champion Bridge Company was a well-known builder of truss bridges. The bridge is a truss bridge with an approximately 100-foot span. To open the bridge for marine vessels, an electric motor drives a pinion gear which engages a ring gear in the base of the bridge. If the electric motor is not working, the bridge can also be opened manually using a large wrench. The bridge was originally designed only to be operated manually, a gasoline motor was installed in 1930. The electric motor was installed in 1954. I walked across it. I was hoping to see it in action, but unfortunately not this time.

The Bank of Dania is a historic Neoclassical building built in 1923. The building has a gold brick…read moreexterior and white fluted columns along the front of the building. The building was designed by architects John Peterson and J. L. Hardgrove. Cost of construction was $35,000. After the bank moved to s new location the building sat empty until 1966 when the city purchased it. Along with several other Dania Beach pioneers, A.C. Frost founded the Bank of Dania on May 1, 1912. The first location for the bank used to be where the Pirates Inn was. It moved to 2 South Federal in 1926 where it remained until 1956. Most recently the building was an antique store. There is a sign in the window that says it will become a window treatment business. It's a shame that the city doesn't turn into a historical museum like some of the other cities have done with their historic but small town halls and courthouses. It would be the perfect place to put in a display about the history of Dania Beach.

This is a historic bridge located in Tarpon Bend, one of the oldest neighborhoods in Ft. Lauderdale…read morethat it is bounded by the New River, South Andrews Avenue and Davie Boulevard. The neighborhood also contains its namesake river, the Tarpon River, a naturally flowing river that meanders through the Tarpon River, Downtown, and Rio Vista neighborhoods. Many ancient artifacts from the Tequesta people have been found in the neighborhood and it was the site of the second Fort Lauderdale during the Seminole Wars. There is a display about the Tequesta artifacts in nearby Lewis Landing Park. Today the neighborhood is prized for its charming historic homes, beautiful parks, and its proximity to the City of Ft. Lauderdale. The bridge was built in 1928 and rebuilt in 1968. It won an Ocean Environmental Design award in 1984. In 1997 City Commissioners renamed the Tarpon River bridge after the late Broward Sheriff Ron Cochran. Cochran was Fort Lauderdale's police chief before becoming sheriff. Today the bridge continues to carry vehicles, bikers, and pedestrians over the Tarpon River. Its bright blue color and paintings of tarpon on the bridge make it an instantly recognizable landmark of Tarpon Bend. It is an easy walk across the charming bridge where you can get a view of the Tarpon River and Lewis Landing Park is just a short stroll away.

I was checking out the new signs that are part of Sailboat Bend walking trail when I noticed this…read morehistoric marker for Rivermont. It 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 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 buildings, schools, forts, roads, battlefields, cemeteries, churches, historic districts, and archaeological sites like this one. Historic marker F-1228 was installed in 2023 by the City of Ft. Lauderdale and the Florida Department of State. Rivermont is an archaeological site on the north bank of the New River in the Sailboat Bend Historic District. Around 700 BCE this was a thriving village and ceremonial complex for the Tequesta, the prehistoric inhabitants of this area. The Tequesta were an indigenous people who inhabited southeast Florida from Boca Raton to Key West, and in the Everglades. They lived on fish, shellfish, berries and small game and were well adapted to the environment of South Florida. They thrived for 2,000 years until they were victims of war and disease brought by Europeans in the 1500's. By the 1800's they had all died out. In 2006, a Seminole blue glass trade bead was discovered indicating that Seminoles used this area during their trips on the New River in the 1800's. Rivermont is the best preserved prehistoric site in eastern Broward County. It has one of the deepest surviving black earth middens on the New River. Middens are a kind of ancient garbage dump that can tell you a lot about the people who lived here. Rivermont's existence has been known since the 19th century. It was mentioned in an 1896-1897 guidebook for Dade County, which later became Broward County. Prominent American archaeologist Mark Raymond Harrington, who conducted some of the earliest archaeological investigations in Broward County, visited the site in 1908. In 2016, the Rivermont House from which this site takes its name was demolished. You can still see the masonry wall, gate posts, and paved tracks of a road. The City of Fort Lauderdale designated Rivermont as a local archaeological site in 2021 and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2022. Today Rivermont is Tequesta Park across the street from another significant historical site, the first Fort Lauderdale.