Blog
Lincoln Memorial Park Cemetery; deserving of restoration
One of the oldest black cemeteries in Miami-Dade County is Lincoln Memorial Park at 3001 N.W. 46th Street. Luminaries and many black pioneers who helped shape the cultural landscape of early Miami are laid to rest there. On the 20-acre property, there are thousands of...
Moncrief Cemetery District; abandoned and forgotten
Walking through the cemetery you must watch where they are stepping as it is entirely possible to step into one of the many open graves. Headstones are sideways, fallen backward and large tree branches lie across graves. With rotten wood and only half-standing, a...
Old Dixie Highway’ organized in December 1914 in Chattanooga, TN
Carl G. Fisher of the Lincoln Highway Association came up with the idea of The Dixie Highway in December 1914 in Chattanooga. The planned route would go from Chicago to Miami and was part of the National Auto Trail system, which grew out of the earlier Miami to...
The rebirth of The Ambassador Hotel in downtown Jacksonville
First, as upscale apartments in downtown Jacksonville, the Ambassador Hotel opened in 1924 on 310 West Church Street. By 1943, it was converted into a hotel by a personal friend of Ed Ball, the executor of the DuPont Estate, Charles Griner. Wanting nothing to do with...
Fort Clinch an exciting and interesting historical attraction on Amelia Island
A 19th-century masonry coastal fortification, Fort Clinch was built as part of the Third System of seacoast defense by the United States. The fort is located on a peninsula near the northernmost point of Amelia Island in Nassau County, Florida. It lies to the...
S. H. Kress building in Tampa now on the Historical Register
H. Kress & Co. better known as a “five and dime” retail department store was established by Samuel Henry Kress in 1896. Until 1981, the were hundreds of stores on “Main Street” in cities and towns across the United States, with their ornament architecture. Opening...
Once forgotten and abandoned; now restored to its original beauty
With his wife, a Coca Cola heiress, Anne Bates Leach, businessman Willaford Leach in 1936 purchased Mt. Elizabeth and the surrounding property in Martin County. After he built the Mediterranean Revival home, he named it Tuckahoe, a Native American term for Welcome....
Used during the Cold War; the Yellow Water Nuclear Weapons Storage Area
During the Cold War and just before the United States entered into World War II, the United States government purchased a 2,600-acre tract of land from Duval County Florida. Immediately construction began on what was to become the U. S. Naval Auxiliary Air Station,...
The Robert Hungerford Vocational High School; abandoned since 2010
Founded by Professor and Mrs. Russell C. Calhoun in 1897 in Eatonville, Florida was the Robert Hungerford Preparatory High School. Eatonville was one of the first African American towns that incorporated in the United States. Both of the Calhoun’s attend Tuskegee...
Baghdad of Dade County; Opa-Locka Company Administration Building
Glenn Curtiss during the Florida land boom of the 1920s found the Opa-Locka project on 4.2 acres in Miami-Dade County. “Opa-tisha-wocka-locka” was the name of the development, which meant “a big island covered with many trees and swamps.” Soon, he shorted the name to...
On the National Register of Historic Places; the Lockett Estate
Steeped in Old Florida history, the Edna Pearce Lockett Estate consisting of 16.77 acres on U. S. 98 and County Road 721 was auctioned off by the South Florida Water Management District in February 2017 for $265,000. Purchased by Paul “Butch” Thompson with his desire...
Moulton & Kyle Funeral Home; Jacksonville’s first funeral parlor
Back in 1851, Calvin Oak after being diagnosed with tuberculosis was told he had six months to live and decided to move his family from Vermont to Jacksonville, Florida. At the time Florida was known as a sunny, exotic and healthy destination. Apparently, that...