Unity; Uniqueness
The Historical Society is a portal for Key Biscayne’s identity and brand. The very fact that our history and local culture is so interesting is itself a source of value to the community. That’s because the resulting attention, study and appreciation sharpen and reinforce a collective identity, in turn building a sort of unity; a sense of uniqueness. Is there value in stimulating a broader and deeper appreciation for our history and culture? Is it a useful and positive initiative to help make new and deeper friendships, to expand local knowledge, to build a videography library of the old-timers and their stories? Of course it is. And, apart from personal and civic enrichment, this promotes our one-of-a-kind island identity, here and across the bridge.

The Nickel Tour
One might ask: how much is there to research and talk about? Well, we could start with the fossilized reef at Bear Cut, carbon-dated to near the time of Christ. Carbon dating aside, it is no exaggeration to claim a long historical line. In fact, our purely local time-line goes back at least to the edge of the European experience of the New World – the first exploration of the Americas by European snowbirds. About 15 years after Columbus sailed the ocean blue, a European in the person of Juan Ponce de León stumbled upon Key Biscayne. A few years ago, at the Turtle Pond Plaza, we celebrated the 500th anniversary of Ponce de León’s landing. History suggests that he named Key Biscayne “Santa Marta,” claiming it for the Spanish king, and by invoking a saint, perhaps suggesting that he was pleased with this particular landfall and the restorative fresh water springs and pond they found. How lyrical is it to think that the fabled fountain of youth might have been a fountain of fresh water on Key Biscayne, revitalizing parched sailors after a sea voyage.

Human wayfarers on Key Biscayne predate Ponce de León by a long time. Archeological evidence of Tequesta settlements date back a thousand years or so. Fast-forwarding, we can see a precursor to our earliest industry – salvage from shipwrecks – in the 16th and 17th century maps depicting vividly the dangers around and about Cape Florida’s reefs and shallows. We come to the first Spanish Land Grant in South Florida and the subsequent early homesteading on Cape Florida in 1805. Then onward to the Davis family matriarch – Mary Ann Davis – who in the 1820s purchased the original tract from the sovereign grantee and later sold a few acres to the federal government for an army base and a warning light for passing ships. Then to the 1825 Cape Florida Lighthouse, said to be the oldest man-made structure in South Florida, and the focus of the 1836 Seminole attack on Key Biscayne.

The KBHHS values original research and scholarship in establishing facts and information. In the 1990s, while researching for her book, Key Biscayne and the Cape Florida Lighthouse, our most eminent and beloved local historian, Joan Gill Blank, tracked down Davis family heirs, gleaning new or forgotten historical facts and records. As Joan reported, Waters Smith Davis built Key Biscayne’s first waterfront home, Cape House, in the 1890s. Although Cape House no longer stands, burned to the ground in the 1950s, the Cape Florida Lighthouse still guides wayfarers – now joggers and walkers in the Key Biscayne Lighthouse Run, itself historically significant in its 44th consecutive year as Florida’s longest continuous road race event.

History Under Foot
After visiting the Pop-up Museum, those inclined toward a more aerobic encounter with our distinctive Island heritage would do well to explore the Heritage Tail, discussed in greater detail in the Historical Society’s 2020 Lion’s Club article. For a quick and easy reminder, the Heritage Trail is a self-guided tour from Bear Cut to Cape Florida and from Ocean to Bay, featuring 26 bronze plaques mounted on oolitic limestone rocks, and marked by the fertile image of a sprouting coconut palm – a new tree from seed. This symbol of renewal in the tropics brought to mind our incorporation as the Village; an unlikely new municipal life emerging from the husk of County indifference and even opposition.

Walk, bike or scooter the Heritage Trail and track the footsteps and footholds of prehistoric Tequesta, early planters, shipwreck speculators, entrepreneurs, and homesteaders drawn to our Island Paradise. Explore Cape Florida, an important place-name in the earliest history of the Americas.

On your way to the Lighthouse, visit the old iron cupola, originally installed by an army engineer, George Meade, who raised the height of the existing tower and whose career-path placed him in command of the Union army at Gettysburg only a few years later. Ready yourself for a hike up 109 steps to the top of the Lighthouse and gaze towards the Gulf Stream, imagining sailing ships racing to wreckage on the shoals or safely pursuing commerce in the Caribbean and beyond. Visit the Keeper’s Cottage and Cookhouse, and watch the informative video produced by our wonderful Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park historians. Check out the marker for the Davis family park, former site of the Island’s first waterfront residence and its caretaker’s cottage, the recorded birthplace in the early 1900s of the Island’s first known children of African descent. Follow the natural paths traversed by the Tequestas through native hammocks of gumbo limbo, cocoplum, buttonwood and seagrape. You may spot some of the same types of migratory birds John James Audubon cataloged around Cape Florida in 1832. Rest at No Name Harbor, a wildlife ecosystem and refuge for pirates, smugglers and happy hour.