1/1/2024 0 Comments Key biscayne national parkThe houses at Stiltsville are owned by Biscayne National Park. Today, only seven houses-all vacant-remain, the rest being demolished by fires and hurricanes over time. Eventually, Stiltsville became the South Beach of its day-the "anybody who is anybody" place to be seen.Īt one time, there were 27 houses. presenting a perfect opportunity for looting. The 1950s brought gambling, legal booze, money, private clubs, party huts-it was the American Dream, Miami-style. His brilliance caught on and other houses popped up shortly thereafter, quickly turning the area into a Prohibition-era stopover for rum purchased in the Bahamas on its way to the United States. In the 1930s, a community of squatters took hold of the houses, and then commenced the heyday of shipwrecking, when pirates would dim the nearby Cape Florida Lighthouse causing ships full of booze to wreck on the shores. The first house was built in the 1920s by a well-known fisherman named Crawfish Edie. ![]() The collection of colorful and battered buildings at Stiltsville, a small community of houses built on Stilts as the name suggests, lives in the shallows on the northern end of Biscayne National Park. ![]() Both were so incredibly special that we thought they'd earned a special spot on this page. South Beach is not exactly the kind of place you'd imagine to set out from on a National Park adventure, but it is exactly where to go to launch to one of the parks' most iconic, special places with the top operator in the area. Learn more about how you can become part of the park system for a day or longer on the official site. Volunteer opportunities are at play at nearly all of the U.S. National Parks. If volunteering isn't your thing, have no fear-this water lover's national park provides vast and diverse ways to explore it and the warm climate welcomes all throughout the year. Sailing, pontooning, yachting, parasailing, jet-skiing and every other kind of water sport is at play in the park- and adjacent waters paddling, snorkeling, diving, and boating are favorites nearer to shore as they do not disturb the fragile seagrass and reef systems.Īt Biscayne, I'd expected to learn everything about what was happening beneath the surface of the water-the marine biology and science of the living reefs-but what I found instead fascinated me more: the culture of park preservation occurring above the surface. And there stood the two of us- volunteers for a day- documenting the park through video and photography. There were other volunteers waiting at Boca Chita when we arrived, also there to share information with visitors, clean up trash, monitor wildlife, and perform other, cool, ranger-esque functions. what a wealth of information driving us through the majestic waters! He talked about the function of the nuclear power plant that has lived inside the park boundaries since before the park was officially established, and the crocodile habitat that resided at its hip and so interesting to me, he storied remnants of "chug" boats found in the waters that at one time carried refugees from Cuba to Florida. ![]() He schooled me of the legend of the African pirate, Black Caesar, who'd evaded capture for years in the Florida Keys during the 17th century by turning his mast sideways so as to not be spotted on the horizon. Paul, a boat captain for three decades, recanted stories to me while careening the choppy waters from the VC to Boca Chita. They were true snowbirds, coming down from Massachusetts for 6 months each year, spending their retirement in the sun and contributing to the community through the Park Service. At the Dante Fascell VC in Biscayne, you can get info on where to dive and snorkel, and where to push off by paddle from the shores of Convoy Point.īut the real heart of Biscayne lies in the Outer Keys, and to get out there, you need access to a boat-not having one, we needed to get creative. Enter Paul and Carolyn, National Park volunteers at Biscayne for more than 12 years, who let us hitch a ride to Boca Chita Key where they would open the iconic lighthouse for visitors to explore. The best way to get the lay of the land at any of our National Parks is at the Visitor Centers (VCs) where park staff recommends their favorite areas to experience. Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.
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