Sometimes I think Old Florida is a bit more appealing than Current Florida. Case in point: Stiltsville. This community of houses on stilts in Biscayne Bay—and they are, quite literally, in the bay—has shrunk (thanks, hurricanes) down to seven structures accessible only by boat. Here’s my favorite:
(Sometimes I forget how pretty Florida can be.) Here’s another one:
The Cape Florida lighthouse—the oldest structure in Dade County—is in the background of this shot:
We took this trip back in Florida time with the Historical Museum of Southern Florida, which offers a bunch of other cool-sounding tours, some on land, some by sea.
More on Stiltsville here and here; awesome article (shown below) from 1941 issue of Life here:
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Fosho!
Those house look amazing!
This has always been my dream vacation house.
I’ll have to follow the link to see if you can rent these.
xo xo
VV, unfortunately you need to know somebody (who knows somebody) to get inside one! Aren’t they fabulous though?
Thanks for this post! I agree that sometimes it’s easy to forget how much beauty there is in Florida — and Stiltsville is a great reminder. My grandfather built one of the houses that was demolished by Andrew, and I grew up spending weekends there. My first novel, which is titled Stiltsville, is set there (and in Coral Gables — which is also very pretty) — it’s coming out next month.
Bizarrely, I grew up in Miami, then went to college and worked a few years in NYC, and now live in the Midwest. We are cancelling each other out.
–Susanna
These pics are so cool. I’m relatively new to Miami, and have been wondering about “old” Florida spots and getaways that I can check out? What would make your list? I’d love for you to email me some of your thoughts!
Hey Pashmina—I’ve heard good things about the Old Key Lime House but we never went there while living in FL, sadly! Now that we’ve been in LA for a year (whoa!) I’m drawing a blank on Miami spots…If more come to mind, I’ll get in touch. Enjoy the lovely Miami fall!