Well now, have you just ever heard of this in your life?! Apparently there were so many shipwrecks along the coast of FL during the late 1800s, the government in their infinite wisdom decided to build Houses of Refuge which would be staffed by a family who could come to the assistance of shipwreck survivors by providing sustenance and clothing (heavy wool garments sent down from the north) :D In a couple instances the houses were used for just that purpose. But most remained quiet, the isolation broken only by the barefoot mailmen who spent a night there on their way up or down the coast. There were five built initially, with another five built ten years later. Only one remaining House of Refuge survives, Gilberts Bar on Hutchinson Island. - summarized from Tequesta #28, 1968. Pictured below are Houses of Refuge at Bethel Creek, Biscayne Bay, Orange Grove, and Mosquito Lagoon from Florida Memory Project.
Posted on: Mon, 04 Aug 2014 20:19:17 +0000
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