Slow Boat to Stiltsville

Saturday morning was a perfect day to take a boat ride. A group of people gathered on the dock at Bayside waiting to embark on Dr. George’s boat tour. On this tour they would see not only Key Biscayne and the Cape Florida Lighthouse, but also the community of houses set on stilts in the middle of the beautiful waters of Biscayne Bay that came to be known as Stiltsville. With the breathtaking views and the beautiful weather, Dr. George did not disappoint.

Stiltsville’s first structure was built in the early 1930s. The current community is comprised of seven homes. In its heyday, there were up to 25 structures present in the bay’s waters. Begun as a hangout for local fishermen, it has transformed into a well-known part of Miami’s skyline.

This tour was a great opportunity to sit back, relax and learn about a hidden gem of South Florida’s history!

Views from the Stiltsville, Cape Florida Lighthouse and Key Biscayne Boat Tour

This view: Stiltsville, ca. 1980. Miami News Collection, Historical Museum of Southern Florida, 1989-011-15650.

-- Molli Songco, Assistant Curator of Exhibits

An Epidemic Stampede

Recent news, filled with fears of a pandemic, brings to mind earlier epidemics. Settlements in hot and humid Florida, for example, endured a number of Yellow Fever outbreaks until about a century ago.

In this 1888 illustration, a woman on a train has fallen ill. Her terrified fellow passengers, believing her contagious, are stampeding out of the railway car. Yellow Fever had broken out in Jacksonville in July, and most of the city’s inhabitants fled, fearing for their lives. Of the nearly 14,000 who remained, confined by a quarantine, 4,700 sickened and 430 died before the epidemic ended with the arrival of cold weather in November.

A few years later, Miami also endured a Yellow Fever epidemic. For three months the tiny, new city was quarantined. Of the less than 2,000 residents, more than 200 people fell ill and 14 died. The crises passed with the arrival of cool weather in January 1900.

Returning to this picture, I wonder. Has the woman caught Yellow Fever or has she fainted from a too-tight corset?

“Scene on a Refugee Railway Train in Florida—a Case of Yellow Fever: the Stampede,” from a sketch by James Mott. In Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, September 28, 1888. Image 2005-271-1.

-- Rebecca A. Smith, Curator of Research Materials

Tropees Tour Versace Mansion

It was an afternoon of high fashion and high fun on Saturday, April 18th, as the Tropees, our young professional members, enjoyed an exclusive tour of the landmark Versace Mansion on Miami Beach’s famed Ocean Drive. Guests enjoyed champagne and mimosas while being swept away in the lavish oasis, formerly home to couture fashion designer Gianni Versace—now the swanky Casa Casuarina, a members-only private club and luxury boutique hotel.

In 1930 the mansion was financed by architect, philanthropist, author and political reformer Alden Freeman, designed by by Henry LaPointe and built by Hubbell & Hubbell, as homage to the oldest existing house in the western hemisphere, the "Alcazar de Colon" in Santo Domingo. In 1992, on a trip to Miami, world-renowned Gianni Versace encountered Casa Casuarina for the first time, and, although it had fallen into great disrepair, he purchased the mansion. Versace restored the property and made significant changes to propel Casa Casuarina to international fame.

It was an exciting opportunity to learn more about the history of such an incredible landmark!

Pictures of Tropees at Casa Casuarina

— Kara Sincich, External Relations Coordinator