I was taken a beautiful late afternoon drive down A1A when I discovered this historic marker in…read morefront of Nancy Higgs Park in Melbourne Beach. The Smith Family Homestead marker is part of the Florida 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 schools, forts, roads, archaeological sites, battlefields, cemeteries, churches. and historic homesteads like the one. Historic marker F-641 was installed in 2008 by Brevard County Historical Commission, Brevard County Tourism Development Council, and the Florida Department of State. This homestead is a Florida Heritage Site. In 1887, brothers Robert Toombs Smith and Charley Smith came from southwest Georgia to Florida after the Civil War to start over and take advantage of the United States Government Homestead Act of 1862. They claimed 158.79 acres on Mullet Creek where they cleared the land, built a structure to live made out of palmetto cabbage logs, and planted crops that included beans, sweet potatoes, collards, and later citrus. Their produce was shipped all the way to the White House during the presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Robert bought out his brother's interest in the homestead and married Elizabeth (Bessie) Wells from Missouri. In 1899 they built a two-story Florida Cracker "I" house with a wrap around porch on three sides. The house was made from heart pine and featured clapboard siding and tongue and groove floors rests on coquina pilings. A separate kitchen structure was attached. On March 17, 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt signed the deed to their homestead. Honest John was the third of Robert and Bessie's eight children. He disliked farming and instead became a commercial fisherman. He holds the Honest John's Fish Camp trout record of 13 lbs. 4 oz. Honest John died in 1994 just before his 90th birthday, but his fishing legacy lives on. His daughter, Barbara Smith Arthur holds seven IGFA world records for sea trout and one for black drum. Barbara and her husband, Roger, have three sons who operate the fish camp today that sits on the banks of the Indian River Lagoon at the mouth of Mullet Creek. Also located on the site is a sugar cane mill, barn/net house and railroad depot used as a packing house for citrus grown on the property.

In 1919 when Vero Beach was incorporated, the population was 800 souls. Downtown existed primarily…read moreat the intersection of Osceola boulevard and Seminole Avenue. It is fun to check out all of the historic buildings from Vero's early years. Many of the buildings date from the 1920's during Florida's land boom years. During this time period there was a tradition of naming buildings and streets after Native American tribes like in the case with the 1918 Seminole Building. The first county offices of Indian River were located on the second floor of the Seminole building until the Indian River County Courthouse was built in 1935. Today the building houses Napier and Rollins, family law attorneys and the Treasure Coast Newspaper. Nice to see the old building still has life left in her.

I love historic abandoned buildings so I was so excited to find this amazing 1914 Catholic School…read moreon Orange Ave. in Ft. Pierce. The school was built by James P. McNichol, a senator from Philadelphia who used to come to Florida in the winter to fish. The school, a wood church, rectory, and convent were built to serve around 30 Catholic families in the area. A pastor rode into town once a month. McNichol's deceased wife was named Anastasia, so the school was named for St. Anastasia. The first pastor of the church was Father Rupert Gabriel. The high school remained in the building until the fall of 1965, when the last of the students moved to the new St. Anastasia High School. In 1978, the Miami Diocese sold the property for $120,000. The church, rectory, and convent buildings have since been demolished. Today only the school remains and it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on August 10,2000. The school suffered damage Hurricane Frances and Jeanne. In 2008 a new roof was added by REG Architects and Summit Construction of Vero Beach LLC. They were able to stabilize the building. New windows were added in 2014 on the buildings 100th anniversary. Some of them have since been smashed. Ft. Pierce is currently looking for someone to take over the property and perhaps turn it into some kind of center for the arts.

This historic theater building opened on October 20, 1924 in Vero Beach. It was previously known as…read morethe Vero Theatre or Florida Theatre. The 800-seat theatre was designed by architect F.H. Trimble and was the city's first motion picture theatre. The building was designed in Mediterranean Revival style that was popular in Florida during the land boom years in the 1920's. It has the stucco exterior walls and terra cotta decorative tiles that were popular style elements of the time. On opening day, the first feature film shown was The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Even a potential hurricane with torrential rain could not stop people from coming out even though the rain resulted in the flooding of the theatre's $10,400 pipe organ temporarily putting it out of commission. This theatre is directly responsible for the creation of Indian River County. In 1925, St. Lucie County Sheriff J.R. Merritt began Sunday raids of the theater to enforce the county's blue laws which restricted certain businesses and activities on Sunday. Farmers enjoyed taking their families to town on Sunday to watch a film and pointed out that blue laws ere not enforced in St. Lucie. The theater manager William Atkin, ticket seller William Frick and theater operator Henry Metz were all arrested. Eventually even the first mayor and part theatre owner Rep. A.W. Young was also arrested. in response Vero representatives went to Tallahassee to form their own county, The Legislature approved the bill in May, naming Vero the county seat of the new Indian River County. Governor John Martin signed it into law in June 1925 creating Indian River County. The last film to be shown in the theatre was Desperately Seeking Susan. The theatre closed shortly after due to competition from larger, more modern movie theaters. This was the only movie theater in Vero Beach before World War II, and is one of the last commercial buildings from the 1920's in downtown Vero. In 1990, the building was purchased and turned into apartments upstairs and retail stores on the ground level. Over the years, there have been intermittent efforts to refurbish the inside of the theater. On April 28, 1992 the historic theater was added to the National register of Historic Places. Today new life is being brought to the old building with the opening of businesses like Downtown Dippers, an ice cream shop.

there is a rude, fat black lady who can't stop eating who works here named Josalan, she wouldn't…read moreaccept my package because I apparently had the wrong tape, which I've already used multiple times at the same location, so I came back with different tape on my package, and when I took down her name she became even more rude, and instead of accepting my package she THREW IT ON THE GROUND and DAMAGED IT, costing me 12 dollars for shipping and refund to the buyer. and her coworker who saw this happen didnt do anything about it. 0/10 worst post office I've ever been to.

The old Fort Pierce Post Office was built in 1935 by the Works Progress Administration, a New Deal…read moreagency created by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1935 to put Americans back to work after the Great Depression. The post office was designed by Louis A. Simon in a Mission Revival style. In addition to serving as a post office, the building also held civic functions for the town. On February 11, 2092 it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. The post office closed in 2001 in order to push traffic towards two newer locations. Fort Pierce purchased the property from the U.S. Postal Service in 2002. The city was looking for someone to operate a business in the building in keeping with their Orange Avenue plan which requires new businesses that open to support museums, art, culture, or music. In 2017, Ft. Pierce sold the Post Office for $139,000 to Fort Pierce residents who planned to capitalize off the Fort Pierce market and use the building to turn it into a 5 day a week local goods market inside. Construction of the market was supposed to have begun in the summer of 2017. The city turned down other offers from people who didn't have a concrete development plan. So far nothing has been done and the building remains empty.

Definitely sign up and do the turtle walk with them select days in the summer. We had a great time…read morelearning about turtles and walked the beach and watch a mom turtle lay eggs and go crawl back in the ocean! The volunteers and those that put everything on were kind and did a great job

Barrier Island Sanctuary is located inside the Archie Carr National Refuge which was established by…read moreCongress in 1989 to protect sea turtles that are threatened with extinction throughout the world. Archie Carr was a graduate professor of ecology and an award winning author of natural history books and articles. In 1959 Dr. Carr founded the nonprofit Caribbean Conservation Corporation to study and protect sea turtles and their habitats. In honor of his contributions to the study of sea turtles, this refuge was named in his honor. The refuge includes 20.5 miles of beach that is home to the most important sea turtle nesting habitat in the United States. More loggerheads nest within the Carr Refuge than anywhere else in the Western Hemisphere. There has also been a significant increase in green turtle and leatherback nesting. The protection that this beach provides is essential to the survival and recovery of these three species. Barrier Island Sanctuary is 34 acres of the Archie Carr National Refuge. In April of 2005 it was renamed Doc Ehrhart Sanctuary in honor of Dr. LLewellyn "Doc" Ehrhart. Doc Ehrhart and his team were instrumental in collecting sea turtle nesting data for the designation of nesting beaches in the Archie Carr Refuge. One if the highlights for visitors to Barrier Island Sanctuary is the Barrier Island Center which is the primary visitor and education center for the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge. The center has interactive exhibits, an auditorium, gift shop, classroom, and observation deck. Some of the programs held here include summer camps, turtle walks, and special events. Barrier Island Sanctuary also has a nature trail and beach access. This park is a stop on the Great Florida Birding and Wildlife Trail, a network of more than 500 premier wildlife viewing sites across the state. The coolest thing happened as I was leaving. A bobcat ran out from this park and crossed the street before disappearing into the undergrowth. A boardwalk connects Barrier Island Sanctuary to Bonsteel Park. Even if the gate to the parking at Barrier Island Sanctuary is closed you can still walk over from Bonsteel Park and see the outdoor exhibits as I did or possibly even catch sight of a sea turtle.

It is so fun to discover public art and this guy put a smile on my face. Patriot is a 10 foot high…read morefiber glass horse that has been a fixture in Pocahontas Park in downtown Vero Beach since the 1960's. It is believed that the horse came from Florida Wonderland's Dodge City once located in Indian River City in northern Brevard County. The park had the horse displayed outside its entrance along with two others. Horses made from this same mold can be found all over the country. In 2003 the beloved downtown park mascot was named Patriot by Mrs. Creech's 5th grade class from Rosewood Magnet School. In 2009, the statue underwent a 10 week renovation by Vero Beach resident and auto body specialist Todd Biron who has become Patriot's caretaker. In 2017 he did further repairs on Patriot after Hurricane Matthew ripped the statue off of its mountings and blew it over the surrounding picket fence. It was rescued from a nearby sidewalk with a leg and tail broken off and puncture wounds. Patriot underwent extensive repairs and today he looks no worse for wear as he continues to delight the families visiting the park.

I discovered this historic marker while driving through Fellsmere to the St. Sebastian River…read morePreserve State Park. This marker is part of the Florida 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 schools, forts, roads, archaeological sites, battlefields, cemeteries, churches. historic buildings and roads like this one. Historic marker F-404 was installed in 1999 by the St. Johns River Water Management District, Indian River County Historical Society, and Florida Department of State. The Fellsmere Grade is an old road that was a vital transportation route in the early 20th century, connecting Fellsmere to the surrounding areas. Promoted as the Fellsmere-Tampa cross state road, this road allowed travel between the interior and the coast by crossing over the St. Johns River marshes. This allowed access to the town by sportsman who were vital for Fellsmere economy. In the late 1940's the Fellsmere Grade bridges burned across the river and the road ended in the marsh six miles from this site. Today this road serves the public as access to the Fellsmere Grade Recreation Area which is a part of the head waters of the St. John's River. This area was created to help restore the river's functions while providing flood protection down stream. Farmlands were turned back into marshland, nearly eliminating fresh water discharges into the Indian River Lagoon from the C-54 canal. This 10,000 acre wetland is one of the largest wetland restoration projects in history, giving b back lost habitat to wildlife, waterfowl and fish.