The Barnacle Historic State Park
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The Barnacle Historic State Park is a five acre Florida State Park located on Biscayne Bay, in Coconut Grove at 3485 Main Highway. It preserves the oldest home in Dade County, Florida in the original location. Activities include touring the historic site, picnicking, and wildlife viewing. The park is open from 9:00 am till 4:00 pm, Friday through Monday, year round.
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[edit] The Barnacle Historic State Park
This beautiful house with a whimsical name dates to a quieter time. The Barnacle, built in 1891, offers a glimpse of Old Florida during The Era of the Bay. Situated on the shore of Biscayne Bay, this was the home of Ralph Munroe, one of Coconut Grove´s most charming and influential pioneers. The Florida Park Service acquired the remaining five acres of Munroe's original 40-acre homesite from his descendants in 1973.
Ralph Middleton Munroe first visited South Florida in 1877 while on vacation from New York. His next visit to the area was not as pleasant. In 1881, doctors told Munroe that his wife, Eva, had contracted tuberculosis and indicated that a radical change of climate was their best and only hope. Munroe immediately remembered beautiful Biscayne Bay, and at once prepared to take her there. Despite his efforts, illness took its toll. Eva passed away at their camp on the Miami River. Munroe was then faced with news of their infant daughter's death upon his arrival back in New York.
He returned to South Florida in 1882 to visit his wife's grave and to help open an hotel on Biscayne Bay. First known as Bay View Villa, the hotel became Peacock Inn and went on to have a long and profitable history.
Ralph Munroe purchased 40 acres of bayfront land in 1886 for $400 in addition to one of his sailboats, Kingfish, valued at an additional $400. His boathouse was built in 1887 and he lived on its upper floor until his main house was completed in 1891. The house, a one-story structure, was raised off of the ground on wood pilings. Its central room was octagonal in shape and Munroe came to call his home "The Barnacle," presumably because it resembled one. It remained a bungalow until more space was needed in 1908. At that time the whole structure, as it stood, was lifted and a new first story inserted below. The Barnacle survived the disastrous 1926 hurricane and Hurricane Andrew in 1992 with only minimal damage.
Ralph Munroe's principal passion in life was designing yachts. Boats were the major form of transportation in the early days and yachting a popular sport. Many South Floridians commissioned Munroe to design their yachts. In 1887, a group of residents formed the Biscayne Bay Yacht Club, electing Munroe as Commodore, a title that he held for 22 years. In his lifetime, he drew plans for 56 different boats. Micco, the last of Munroe's boats in existence, was displayed at the park until Hurricane Andrew reduced the 101-year-old vessel to fragments. Egret, a replica of Munroe's 28-foot modified sharpie, is now moored offshore.
The autumn of 1894 marked a new beginning for Ralph Munroe. He met Miss Jessie Wirth while on a cruise with friends. They were married the next summer, and began a long and happy home life at The Barnacle. In 1900, Jessie gave birth to a daughter, Patty, who was followed two years later by her brother, Wirth. The family took frequent cruises on the bay and the children learned to sail at a very early age.
As a seaman, civic activist, naturalist, and photographer, Commodore Munroe was a man who cherished the natural world around him. A walk into the park passes through a tropical hardwood hammock. In the 1920s, it was representative of the original landscape within the city of Miami. Today, it is one of the last remnants of the once vast Miami Hammock.
[edit] Timeline: Early History of the Site
Before 1846: Largely unused, like most of South Florida, until the Seminole Wars forced Seminoles into this area. Spanish expeditions may have explored the bay on mapping expeditions, but any inland explorations are purely speculative.
1846: Land first surveyed.
1868, November 14: Edmund Beasley files claim for site under the Homestead Act. May have dug well on site. Built a small house later called the Three Sisters Cottage about this time.
1870: Beasley dies, leaves site to his wife, Anna.
1872: Site rented to Dr. Horace Porter.
1873, January 6: Porter establishes a post office, which he calls Cocoanut Grove.
1873, July: Porter unsuccessfully attempts to claim site under the Homestead Act, claiming that it had been abandoned by the Beasleys.
1875, May 20: Mrs. Beasley gains clear title to the site.
1877: Mrs. Beasley sells site to John W. Frow, lighthouse keeper at Cape Florida, for $100.00.
1886: Ralph Munroe purchases 40 acres for $400.00 plus the boat "Kingfish" which he values at $400.00.
[edit] Timeline: History of the Barnacle
1887: Ralph Munroe builds boathouse with living quarters on upper floor and workshop on lower floor.
1891, Summer: Ralph begins constructing the Barnacle house.
1895: Ralph marries Jessie Wirth.
1900: Daughter, Patty, born. Jessie's sister, Josephine, joins household to help with child.
1902: Son, Wirth, born.
1903: Northwest corner of house expanded.
1908: House raised and first floor added.
1913: House electrified and library added.
1916: Indoor bathrooms added to northeast corner of first floor and area off of Mr. & Mrs. Munroe's bedroom with water tank on second floor.
1926: Original boathouse destroyed in hurricane. House sustains minor damage. Boathouse later rebuilt along lines substantially like those of original.
1928: House assumes present day form by enclosing porches on sides of house on both floors and extending library and kitchen.
1932: Patty marries William Catlow, moves to New Jersey.
1933: Wirth marries Mary Poore.
1933, August 20: Ralph dies at age 82. Buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, MA.
1940: Jessie dies, Wirth and Mary move into house and raise two children, Charles and William.
1959: Josephine Wirth (Aunt Dodie) dies.
1968: Wirth dies.
1973: Munroe family sells site to the State of Florida.
1992: Hurricane Andrew heavily damages boathouse, destroys only hithertofore surviving Munroe boat, the "Micco," but house receives only very minor damage.
[edit] Hours of Operation
The Barnacle is open to the public 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Friday through Monday with guided tours at 10:00 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1:00 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. The park is open Tuesday through Thursday for group tours with advance reservations. The park is closed New Year's, Thanksgiving and Christmas days.
[edit] Driving Directions
The Barnacle is located in Coconut Grove (Miami) at 3485 Main Highway.
[edit] Park Fees
Admission to the park is $1.00 per person age 6 and over; under 6 are free.
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- The Barnacle Historic State Park at Florida State Parks
- The Barnacle State Historic Site at Absolutely Florida
- The Barnacle State Historic Site at Wildernet
