South Florida: The Land That Whispers

If you were raised in the eastern half of the North American continent, the following scene should appear quite familiar:

You are home, and the sun has departed. Not in the familiar way as at the end of a day; rather in what feels like an eteneral abandonment that we call “winter.” What follows is an almost instinctive desire to search for heat — perhaps in the form of tomato soup, or a warm cup of coffee,

or a trip to southern Florida.

As North American as the Yukon or the Mississippi River, winter adventures to Florida are ingrained in all of us from a very young age. Being that Charleston was to experience temperatures in the low teens (our washing machine froze…), my sister and I decided to migrate south for a few days.

Our mission was simple: scope out south Florida for future entire-family sized trips, see what is worth our time and what is not. Unfortunately that goal was made nearly impossible because as it turns out, nearly all of south Florida is worth experiencing.

Our base of operations would be Homestead, FL. 30 or so minutes south of Miami, Homestead is relatively centralized between our two primary targets: Everglades & Biscayne Bay National Parks. Our four day itinerary is as follows:

Day 1. Driving 9 hours from Charleston, SC to Homestead, FL.

Day 2. An initial visit to Everglades — where the weather would not cooperate, and an improvised one day trip to Key West (3hr drive each way)

Day 3. Canoeing at Nine Mile Pond in Everglades National Park followed by an assortment of short “hikes” (walks, Florida is flat)

Day 4. A ferry ride to Boca Chita Key and Stiltsville in Biscayne Bay National Park and an 8 1/2 hour drive home.

I’ll go over the changes I would make if I were to do this trip again (there are a few) in a bit, for now here is how it went down!

Our initial stop was the Everglades, though after arriving in the early morning it was apparent the weather was not going to cooperate. We made a quick decision to send it south to see the Keys, which was not in our initial plan. We worked our way to Key West, oftentimes stopping along the way, only for me to realize that

The Keys do not have beaches.

I’m not sure if this is common knowledge or not, but I have known from a very young age that the Florida Keys did have beaches. This was implied by every institution and person I have ever come in contact with. With that in mind, I have a few recommendations to those looking to vacation in the Keys.

The proper way to explore the Florida Keys is in a dedicated, ideally week long adventure, where you work from Key Largo to Key West (North to South) stopping along the way. The beauty of the Florida Keys is to be found in the waters around them, rarely the islands themselves — with some exceptions. In any sense, my go-to activities would be snorkeling, diving, paddle boarding, and similar. The water is astonishingly clear & inviting and during late December was at a balmy 75º Fahrenheit — easily warm enough for swimming assuming a decent air temperature.

Of the activities to be found on land, there are a two I would lobby for and against.

Firstly, you’ll best be served by not attempting to take a picture at the iconic southernmost point buoy in Key West. The lines are genuinely insane, not to mention it isn’t even the southernmost point...

You should watch the sun set at Fort Zachary Taylor State Park (which is coincidentally further south than the buoy). The above sunset picture is from there. It is an absolutely beautiful place with an entrance fee of around $7.00.

The following day was dedicated in its entirety to Everglades National Park. In such symbolic fashion as with the rest of south Florida, the Everglades are deeply misunderstood. To understand why, let me explain what the Everglades are.

America’s Everglades Summit

The Everglades are a RIVER. To the naked eye the land may look like a still swamp, but it is not, it flows at about one mile per week. The value in Everglades National Park is not in the landscapes grand beauty, but instead in its unseen purpose. The majority of south Florida is built inside, quite literally, a flowing river.

When you visit the Everglades, you are visiting a bastion of what was once the entirety of southern Florida. A land that is no longer, now high rises and sky scrapers and interstates. It is only through that perspective, by setting your feet on the land, that you will understand the importance, and perhaps even moreso the simplistic beauty, of the Everglades and the importance of cherishing and protecting God’s creation.

In that same vein of the unseen, my sister & I had planned on canoeing around Nine Mile Pond — a four to five hour adventure. Unfortunately our sporadic drive to Key West left us drained, and we decided instead to sleep in and meander around the park until the afternoon.

What you are looking at is a picture of a nuclear missile base inside Everglades National Park circa 1965.

Just as the beauty of south Florida lies in the unseen, so does the history. This place is Nike (pronounced the same, yes) Missile Site HM69 (Battery A) built over the course of 3 years following the Cuban Missile Crisis. The history here is absolutely fascinating, especially the fact that this is inside the national park. In order to truly understand this story, I would highly recommend taking the free Ranger-guided tour that departs daily from the Daniel Beard Research Center at 2pm, weather/season dependent. Though in short, the story goes as follows:

In 1965, the Army Corp of Eng. finished construction on a new missile site in Everglades National Park. Equipped with Nike anti-aircraft missiles, a quarter of which were nuclear-speared, the purpose of this site was, in response to the Cuban Missile Crisis, to have the capacity to shoot down any Russian bombers that could, theoretically, make the quick jaunt from Cuba to Florida. The nuclear missiles were built such that one missile could hit it’s target, and the nuclear portion would detonate with 3x the force of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima thereby destroying the entire enemy squadron.

Guard dogs kennel & training area; missile barns behind in background

The site was used until 1979 when it was locked behind its gate and the army left. The land was the Park Service’s, though no one cared much about the site; rangers used the berms for target practice and the barns for storage, until…

September 11, 2001. Which is when a Sgt. Carter, previously a line cook at a military installation which he did not even know the purpose of, became curious of that sites purpose.

So he researched it online and found nothing about this specific site. He drove to three other batteries in southern Florida, and then quite simply drove up to the locked gate at this site, as any man would do.

That was when a ranger approached and asked if he could answer any questions, and Sgt. Carter laid out his story and shared his feelings on the status of the site. That ranger put him in contact with the park superintendent, and the process of opening the site to the public began.

During this time though, the site lacked a particularly important item: a Nike Hercules missile.

The NPS found a defunct missile in an army yard in Alabama, purchased it, brought it to south Florida, and then had a local high school come clean & paint it.

In 2009 the site was opened to tours, and the rest is history.

On our final day of our adventure, we had two goals: explore Biscayne Bay National Park and… drive 9 hours back home.

The first was far easier: my sister booked Biscayne National Park Institute’s Boca Chita Island Experience. This tour left from Coconut Grove, just south of Miami. There is an hour long ferry ride to Boca Chita, perhaps the most important island in the park (though 95% of the park is water), followed by a tour of the famous Stiltsville houses just north — which have a fantastic story of their own.

But first, the history of Boca Chita.

The Boca Chita lighthouse

It is the 1930s:

Alcohol is illegal, your last name is Honeywell, and you invented the home thermostat. You like extravagant parties.

So you buy an island off of the coast of Miami, out of police jurisdiction (prohibition, remember?), and do a few things. First, you build a lighthouse; how else would you signal that the party is beginning to all your friends in Miami and Coconut Grove? Second, you build a guest house and an electrical generating station.

Third, after construction of the light house is completed, you’d ask the Coast Guard if you could install a light. To which they promptly say: no. But you, being Honeywell, inventor of the home thermostat, do not like that answer, so you buy a cannon. Instead of having a light signal to the elite that the party has begun, you shoot the cannon; the exact cannon in the above picture.

For reference, below is a picture of the cleats used by those coming to the parties, perhaps it will give you an idea of the size of the yachts being used.

Honeywell’s original cleats

Of course, parties are not exactly encouraged now that this is a national park. Instead, one travels to this quaint island by private vessel or ferry to experience the serenity and beauty a few miles off the Miami coast.

Included in this tour was a visit to Stiltsville, a community built on the waters of Biscayne Bay, again, around the time of prohibition.

Our ferry “Stingray” preparing to leave Boca Chita for Stiltsville

Stiltsville is so quintessentially Floridian. During prohibition, a gentleman named Crawfish Eddie decided to build a stilt house in the shallow waters of Biscayne Bay to sell both bait & his crawfish chowder, and to also allegedly sell booze and facilitate gambling.

The entire history of Stiltsville is incredible, from letters of endorsements from the Florida governor to police raids. I would highly recommend reading the entire Wikipedia page by clicking here. In short, that is how Stiltsville began and at its peak it consisted of 27 buildings. Today, the community is composed of 7 (though I only saw 6…) buildings inside Biscayne Bay National Park. I have heard conflicting stories, firstly I heard that the buildings are controlled by the Park Service and the “owners” are extremely restricted, sometimes not even allowed to repair the structures.

But what I also heard, and what I believe to be the truth, is that the buildings are, yes, regulated by the Park Service, but that they are still privately owned and routinely accessed by said owners. Furthering that belief is that one of the buildings is owned by a local yacht club which uses it as the launching point of their yearly fishing tournament.

Like most things, information I’ve read is conflicting. The latter story seems more righteous to me though, so I prefer that one.

Following our return to Coconut Grove, my sister and I became a bit to acquainted with the seats of our Honda Civic on the 8.5hr drive home.

But in closing, south Florida is worth your time. I would separate south Florida from the Keys, being that each of those likely requires a week around themselves. In any case, we all head to this region for warmer weather, so be sure to spend as much time in & on the water as humanely possible.

Until next time,

Bryce C