Episode 18 - Pioneer Days
In the final days of the last frontier of Florida, we dive into what life was really like for those who blazed the trail.
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Episode 18 - Pioneer Days
Members of the pioneer community gather for a group portrait at the Cocoanut Grove home of Kirk and Mary Barr Munroe, ca. 1886.
Top (left to right): Ellen Munroe (Ralph Munroe's mother), Ms. Flora McFarland (first official schoolteacher in Dade County), Mary Barr Munroe (Kirk Munroe’s wife, who was known for turning her face away during photos), Edward A. Hine, Mrs. Thomas Hine.
Middle: Dr. Tiger, Ralph Munroe, Mrs. E. P. Brown, Miss Brown, Charles E. Stowe (son of Harriet Beecher Stowe), Thomas A. Hine, Count James L. Nugent, Rev. E. P. Brown.
Bottom: Kirk Munroe (author of boys' books), Count Jean D' Hédouville, Alfred Munroe (Ralph Munroe's uncle).
Source: State Archives of Florida
The Barefoot Mailman, by Steven Dohanas, ca. 1940 for the West Palm Beach Post Office. The mural depicts James “Ed” Hamilton, one of the “beach walkists”, later known as “barefoot mailmen.” Hamilton disappeared on the barefoot route in 1887. It is theorized he was eaten by alligators.
Source: floridasbigdig.me
Biscayne House of Refuge, constructed in 1876 on Miami Beach, near today’s 71st Street. This photo was taken several decades after its construction.
Source: Miami Beach 100
Settlers living in temporary palmetto tents, ca. 1880. Newly arrived settlers constructed makeshift habitations to live in while they worked to clear the land and chop down trees to build more permanent wooden homes.
Source: State Archives of Florida
John Addison, a veteran of the Third Seminole War, with his wife, Mary, at their homestead in South Dade near today’s Deering Estate.
Source: Parks, Arva Moore, Miami, The Magic City, Miami, Florida, Community Media, 2008
Lemon City residents in costume for the performance of Aunt Jolly’s Wax Works, an original play put on to raise funds for the building of a Baptist church.
Source: Parks, Arva Moore, Miami, The Magic City, Miami, Florida, Community Media, 2008
Carrie Barnes Johnson, resident of Nazarine, one of Lemon City’s black communities, and one of the first black women in the area to register to vote.
Source: Parks, Arva Moore, Miami, The Magic City, Miami, Florida, Community Media, 2008
The Jimmy family standing on the bayfront in Coconut Grove near the two famous coconut trees.
Source: Parks, Arva Moore, Miami, The Magic City, Miami, Florida, Community Media, 2008
Community picnic organized by Isabella Peacock to support her Sunday school. The picnic was attended by Coconut Grove’s pioneer families, including the Peacocks, Frows, Pents, Alburys, and Thompsons. Standing in the background is Coconut Grove’s first black resident, Mariah Brown.
Source: Parks, Arva Moore, Miami, The Magic City, Miami, Florida, Community Media, 2008
Ralph Middleton Munroe, also known as “The Commodore.”
Source: Parks, Arva Moore, Miami, The Magic City, Miami, Florida, Community Media, 2008
Charles and Isabella Peacock sitting, surrounded by their sons.
Source: Parks, Arva Moore, Miami, The Magic City, Miami, Florida, Community Media, 2008
Ned Pent, left, with his brother John.
Source: Parks, Arva Moore, Miami, The Magic City, Miami, Florida, Community Media, 2008
Dick Carney, the joker of Coconut Grove, who on one occasion switched two sleeping babies in their cots while their parents were at a dance.
Source: Parks, Arva Moore, Miami, The Magic City, Miami, Florida, Community Media, 2008