Capt. Rufus Beaujean When Capt. Rufus Beaujean first stepped foot off the Indian River steamboat in January 1888, Brevard County undoubtedly looked a lot different than it does today. Dirt roads, pineapple plantations and fierce swarms of mosquitoes were a far cry from the four-lane highways, shopping centers and love bug season todays residents have come to know. Better known as the Rockledge, the side-wheel steamboat landed the 45-year-old New York-native in Melbourne, where he then sailed a small vessel across the 2-mile-wide Indian River lagoon toward the tiny settlement known as Melbourne Beach. It was shortly after his arrival that Capt. Beaujean wrote about enjoying his first surf-bath, and how he was instantly drawn to the quaint area, serving as one of the towns first settlers. Last year, Melbourne Beach historian Frank Thomas discovered the personal diaries of Capt. Beaujean at one of the University of Miamis libraries, which documented five years of the settlers life. Ann Downing, director of the docent committee for the towns history center board, and Martha Remark, chairwoman of the towns history preservation board, then spent several days photographing, copying and arranging all 816 pages of the memoirs into a unique display for all residents to enjoy. The diaries will be exhibited at the Old Town Hall History Center in Melbourne Beach every Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. throughout the month of August. Mrs. Downing, who devoted many hours to the project, said shes extremely excited about presenting the display to the public. My hope is that the exhibit will help everyone to know that the diaries are great, very interesting and an important part of the town of Melbourne Beach, she said. Capt. Beaujean, who served as a carpenter, boat-builder and photographer, among other professions, came to the area at the urging of his brother-in-law, Alfred Wilcox, Mr. Thomas said. A businessman, Mr. Wilcox made a deal with early founder Maj. Cyrus Graves to develop several-hundred acres of land in Melbourne Beach, which Maj. Graves had purchased for $1.25 an acre, beginning in 1883. In his diaries, Capt. Beaujean discusses personal accounts of his trip from New York and the many trains and boats he boarded, the building of his sailboat, the handful of other town residents at the time and the struggles settlers faced with heat, mosquitoes and crop cultivation. Upon arrival in Melbourne Beach, the Capt. and his family stayed in one of the towns first hotels, while searching for a suitable dwelling for he and his wife, Adelaide, and their sons, Claude, 8, and Don, 6, Mr. Thomas explained. In the next dozen years, Rufus kept a detailed record of every structure he built on Ocean Avenue - which was just about all of them, Mr. Thomas said, many of which still stand today in one form or another. Capt. Beaujean was often humorous in his accounts, recording an occurrence on Christmas Day 1989 of a man named Jacob Fox, who was touring the settlement prior to building a home. Mr. Fox and family and all Melbourne Beach turned out, and we all went Surf Bathing, Capt. Beaujean wrote. Mr. Fox lost his pants in the water. They washed up on the shore, and I had to help him put them back on. In addition to the diaries display, guests of the exhibit will also have an opportunity to watch a video interview from several years ago with the Meehans, who are fourth generation of Capt. Beaujean. Melbourne resident Dennis Meehan, who is featured on the video alongside his siblings Ron and Barbara, said he is looking forward to seeing the exhibit. Rufus was my great-grandfather, Mr. Meehan said. He died five years before I was born, though I always felt he was a great influence on my life by the way my mother, Mary Beaujean-Meehan, and her sister, Grace Beaujean-Mercier, always talked about him.
Posted on: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 02:41:41 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015