Showing posts with label Historic Virginia Key Beach Park. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Historic Virginia Key Beach Park. Show all posts

Friday, December 17, 2010

Winter Solstice Drumming on Virginia Key

Catch the rhythms of the sea at the full  moon drum circle .
Celebrate the winter solstice on Virginia Key this weekend at the monthly drumming circle that takes places at the Historic Virginia Key Beach Park. 
There are two opportunities to join the “Full Moon” drumming circles - either as spectator or participant, all are welcome: 
Nighttime drumming:  Sat., Dec. 18 from 6  to 9 p.m.
Daytime drumming:  Sun., Dec. 19 from 2 p.m. to sundown.
This year the winter solstice is Dec. 21, which will also be marked by a lunar eclipse . Astronomically speaking, the winter solstice takes places exactly when the Earth tilts farthest away from the sun. Many cultures associate it with rebirth - the beginning of a new year.   
It is also tied to the earth and its ritual and rhythmic changes -- which makes drumming the right ritual for an island that is wild at heart, a refuge and natural garden on land and sea. 
As one participant put: “This is the place were connections with the natural world happen.”
Enjoy!


If you go:  Drums and other acoustic instruments are welcome. Show your drums at the park entrance to get the park entrance ($5) waived. Directions: the Historic Virginia Key Beach Park entrance is just before the Bear Cut bridge heading south toward Key Biscayne. Turn left at the traffic light. More info: Historic Virginia Key Beach Park, 305-960-4600.


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On Facebook: Join Friends of Virginia Key. 


Monday, November 22, 2010

What No One Talks About Needs to be Remembered on Virginia Key


The Historic Virginia Key Beach Park is on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Historic Virginia Key Beach Park is a park born of the legacy of segregation. 
It is a legacy that the late M. Athalie Range, founding director of the park’s Trust, wanted to make sure was not forgotten. 

In her recollections (reprinted in a park brochure), Range revisits both the joy and pain of the past to summon a call to action to a new generation:
"Virginia Key Beach was special to us because of the laws of segregation. It was ours. It was the only place that welcomed us and the only place where we could be free, in a way. It was not a very good feeling to have the coast of Miami as a beach with all this beautiful water around you and you couldn’t enjoy it during the days of segregation when blacks were not welcome. Signs on beaches said No Jews, No Dogs, and No Coloreds.
I remember the popcorn, corndogs and Nehi sodas. The hurdy-gurdy music of the carousel, the whistle of the beach’s mini-train. I remember how going to the beach was an all-day affair; families would pack blankets an enough food to feed a small army and while away hours at the beach dancing, swimming and fellowshipping.
There were several developers and entrepreneurs who wanted to build on the beach. When we found that out, through public meetings, we had to plead with them not to let this happen. That is when we made the push to revitalize the beach as it was in those days. People don’t know the history of South Florida. Nobody talks about the segregated beaches and golf courses.
Those were our lunch counters (at the concession stand). Those are the things that need to be remembered. I hope my 10 grandchild and 10 great-grandchildren will be able to enjoy the work we’re trying to accomplish today. There is a legacy here.”
Miami-Dade County opened the beach park in 1945.
Support the legacy: 
The Historic Virginia Key Park Trust will be holding a fundraiser next month. All proceeds from the Larry Little Annual Celebrity Charity Golf Tournament  to be held Dec. 2-3, 2010 at the Inverrary Country Club in Lauderhill, will benefit the restoration, operation and capital improvement projects at the Historic Virginia Key Beach Park.  For more info on this event and other ways to support the park, contact Ingrid Stuart at 305-960-4617 or email istuart@miamigov.com.


The park was restored and reopened in 2008 after extensive renovations spearheaded by the Historic Virginia Key Beach Park Trust. 
@Copyright 2010. All Rights Reserved.  Subscribe to viewfromvirginiakey.com for the latest articles on ecology, history, explorations of Virginia Key. Also on Facebook: join Friends of Virginia Key. 

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Volunteer to Restore Tropical Hammock with TREEmendous Miami

Help to “releaf and restore” the tropical maritime forest on Virginia Key with TREEmendous Miami, a volunteer tree-planting group,  on Saturday, Nov. 6, 2010 from 8 a.m. to 12 noon at the historic Virginia Key Beach Park. 
Continuous heavy coastal development has severely diminished the dune and forest habitats that once supported wildlife and maintained water quality in Biscayne Bay, say project coordinators. Restoring the tropical hammock on Virginia Key offers an  opportunity to begin reversing that trend. 
Volunteers will meet at the historic Virginia Key Beach Park (just before the Bear Cut Bridge across from UM Rosensteil School). The $5 entrance fee will be waived for volunteers. Bring sunscreen, closed toe shoes and a refillable water container.  If you have your own - also bring shovels, gloves, hard rake and pick axe. If not, some will be available, too. 
For more info and registration,  contact TREEmendous Miami at (305) 378-1863.
The historic 83-acre Virginia Key Beach Park on the island contains myriad critical habitats, including freshwater wetlands, mangrove wetlands, dunes and an enhanced hammock and mangrove area that includes red, white and black mangroves and green buttonwood. These mangroves serve to stabilize the shoreline as well as provide habitat for many endangered species. 
Before Hurricane Andrew the Virginia Key Hammock was a barren area, low in plant diversity and overrun by exotics, including Australian Pines and Brazilian peppers. Extensive restoration work has brought the area back to life, where it is a haven for migrating songbirds and native butterflies. 

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Drums in the Park Sunday at Historic Virginia Key Beach Park


Everyone is welcome at the “Drums in the Park” event this weekend at the Historic Virginia Key Beach Park -whether to play or listen - at the open drum circle.

The community gathering takes place from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 19 at the dance pavilion just steps away from the sandy shores of the beach park (also every third Sunday of the month).

This is a great opportunity for family and friends to hear some great music and also enjoy the beach park, which features a historic seaside carousel, miniature train, nature boardwalk and a restored sandy beach that has been replanted by volunteers with native dune vegetation.

Attention musicians: drums and other acoustic instruments are welcome. Show your drum at the park entrance, say “Drum Circle,” and voila - you get the park entrance fee ($5) waived.

Directions: This is the historic Virginia Key Beach Park after the Miami Seaquarium (just before the Bear Cut bridge heading south towards Key Biscayne). Turn left at the traffic light.

Resources: Virginia Key Beach Park, http://www.virginiakeybeachpark.net/home.htm; 305-960-4600.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Dancing on Bear's Cut Beach, Virginia Key 1918




Though the Historic Virginia Key Beach Park celebrates its 65th anniversary today, the area of Virginia Key officially designated in 1945 as a “colored” beach” actually had been recognized for decades prior as a recreational area for African Americans.

It was known as “Bear’s Cut,” now the name of the waterway that divides Virginia Key from Key Biscayne.

In fact, a 1918 survey map shows the location of a “Negro Dacing Pavilion” at the site of the current day Historic Virginia Key Beach Park.

The late City of Miami Commissioner Athalie Range, who was instrumental in creating the Virginia Key Park Trust that spearheaded the 2008 restoration of the park, recalled visiting the island during the Depression:

I’m among the very few who remembers the 1930’s. Where there was not a Virginia Key Beach, there was a place on the island which was called Bear’s Cut. And, this was the only place that blacks could actually go to swim, or were permitted to go to swim without interference from the law or others who saw us there. These were the days early on when fishermen who went out to make their living would take families or small picnics, church gatherings over to Bear’s cut for a picnic.



At the time there were no facilities - fresh water, bathrooms, picnic tables or lifeguards - and no way to get back to the mainland except with the same fishermen who would return at the end of the day.

By the 1950’s, the park was in its heyday, where weddings, baptisms and church picnics happened, and day cabanas and rental cottages were available, as well as a new dance pavilion, recalling the turn of the century structure marked in those early survey maps.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Fun in the Sun Youth Festival part of environmental tradition




The Historic Virginia Key Beach Park will host the second annual Fun in the Sun Youth environmental festival (FISY) from 12 to 8 p.m., Saturday, May 1, 2010.

Outdoor activities include environmental projects, ocean conservation talks, sea grass adventure tours, healthy cooking demonstrations and games and prizes.

Environmental education and awareness is part of the historic tradition of the park, which officially opened in 1945 as a county facility for blacks only during the era of segregation.

Planning with and for the unique natural environment on the barrier island has been integral part of park’s community-led restoration. To that end, the federally funded project that restored the interior wetlands, tropical hardwood hammock and coastal dunes was done in concert with restoration of the historic site and recreational amenities that now exist.

In December 2000, the Virginia Key Civil Rights Task Force submitted a report to the City of Miami that stressed the significance of creating a “conservation buffer zone” as part of the “historic” experience. The report stated: "Oral testimonies, re-creations and photographic documentation indicate that these natural features were an integral part of the appeal of Virginia Key Beach Park and contributed significantly to its being considered a special place."

The festival is an attempt to reach out to a new generation of environmental stewards.

The late M. Athalie Range, the chairperson of the Virginia Key Civil Rights Task Force, described the challenges in reaching out to youth and newcomers:

“The fast-changing world in which we live makes it very difficult for our younger generations and for those who arrived in Miami in more recent years to appreciate why Virginia Key beach is such and important and special place to restore and preserve. Certainly for African Americans who remember it as ‘the only place we could go’ during the segregation area, there are no words that can summarize or describe what it meant to have this beautiful gathering place which brought together baptisms and religious services, courtships and honeymoon, organizational gatherings, visiting celebrities and general family recreation. This experience would be shared by some of the earliest arriving Cuban refugee families, and eventually, after desegregation, by everyone who could enjoy this precious natural retreat located right in the City, yet serene and free from view of large buildings. ...We have become even more aware of the Park’s unique and fragile natural environment and how valuable it is to a city with no other large-scale natural preserve.”


The historic Virginia Key Beach Park is located at 4020 Virginia Beach Drive, Miami (second beach entrance right before Bear Cut Bridge as you’re heading south towards Key Biscayne). The event is free; parking fees still apply.

Virginia Key Beach Park also has a children’s playground, nature trails in restored wetlands and along sandy dunes, picnic areas and barbecue stands. Vintage amusement rides include the Biscayne Virginia Rickenbacker Central Miniature Train Ride and the Allan Herschell Vintage Carousel (separate fees apply for amusement rides).

More info on the park: http://www.virginiakeybeachpark.net/
FISY event video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PQR6DEFtoU

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Deed Restrictions: Historic Virginia Key Beach Park



In 1945, it was known as the beach created for blacks only.

By 1982, it was simply known as the "Old County Park," every vestige of its past obliterated in the official deed dated April 5, 1982 when Miami Dade County conveyed the 82-acre park to the City of Miami.

The deed states:
The COUNTY grants all the real property noted in this Deed to the City as long as the City utilizes the said property for public park purposes only. The City agrees to keep the property open to the public, provide maintenance and a level of service equal to or exceeding that which was provided by the County.

....In the event the City does not use the property as a public park, or conveys or attempts to convey all or a portion of the property, then the property described herein will revert back to the County or its successors or assigns at the option of the County....”


After getting the park, the City of Miami promptly closed it. More than a decade later, the City floated the idea of developing a private resort on the land.

Thanks in part to an intrepid community activist who dug up the 1982 deed, those particular development plans began to unravel.

Thanks to the efforts of hundreds of more activists, a public park reopened on the site.

Today, it is known as the historic Virginia Key Beach and Civil Rights Park. And it definitely exceeds what the county had originally provided.

2010 Copyright. @All Rights Reserved
On Facebook: Friends of Virginia Key

Monday, March 29, 2010

"Legacy on the Land"



Two generations have kept historic Virginia Key Beach Park in public hands.

Known to a past generation as the “Colored Beach,” the historic Virginia Key Beach Park, an 80-acre public park on the 1,000-acre island, was created in 1945, only after members of the black community staged a protest, a “wade-in” at Baker’s Haulover County Park.

“It was the only place in Miami where African Americans were allowed to use the public beach and recreational facilities and it came at a price,” recalls Audrey Peterman in a new book co-written with her husband Frank, Legacy on the Land: A Black Couple Discovers Our National Inheritance and Tells Why Every American Should Care.

It was close to a garbage treatment plant, and the currents were known to be very treacherous. But the black population of South Florida turned Virginia Key into a paradise. The small island, covered with greenery including sea grape and coconut trees, looked out over the glittering bay. It become the central meeting place for people from all over Miami and Broward County, with picnics and dances and Easter Morning Sunrise Services that continue today. There was a carousel and a bandstand and cabins were available for people to stay overnight. It become the entertainment and spiritual hub of South Florida’s black community.”


Among those with personal memories of this special place was her husband, Frank, who played there in his childhood.

But the prospect of sharing that special place with future generations was threatened in 1999 when - after keeping the park closed for more than a decade -- the City of Miami proposed to transform the once-segregated Virginia Key Beach into an upscale eco-resort.

Then a thing happened which hadn’t happened for many, many years. The people spoke up. The voices of those with personal memories and those who wished to honor the sacrifices of prior generations united.

And what had seemed like a done deal was undone. The resort never happened.

Today, Virginia Key Beach Park has been preserved as a living museum to tell the story of a unique part of American history, a “symbol of the ongoing struggle of African Americans for equal rights and social justice.”

The struggle continues. And only community involvement - vigilance, perseverance, organization - can protect all of Virginia Key - and keep it in public hands for future generations.

Resources:
Legacy on the Land: A Black Couple Discovers Our National Inheritance and Tells Why Everyone American Should Care by Audrey Peterman and Frank Peterman, (Earthwise Productions, 2009) is the story of the Peterman’s eight week journey to America’s National Parks and it carries a powerful message: “All Americans have a role to play in the protection of our public lands, and that our environment can only be ‘saved’ when all of us are included and committed to the effort.” Audrey Peterman is a board member of the member of of the National Parks Conservation Association, (www.npca.org) and was recently appointed to the board of the Association of Partners for Public Lands (www.appl.org). Frank Peterman is Director of Public and Political Awareness for the Wilderness Society’s Southeast region, steering the “Keeping It Wild Program,” (www.keepingitwild.org).
http://www.earthwiseproductionsinc.com/legacyontheland
http://www.legacyontheland.com/

Virginia Key Beach Park: http://www.virginiakeybeachpark.net/

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Also on Facebook: join Friends of Virginia Key

Monday, March 22, 2010

Worthy of a National Park



Biscayne Bay National Recreation Area. Virginia Key National Monument. Virginia Key Visitor Center at Biscayne National Park. Virginia Key Heritage Corridor, national seashore, refuge, wilderness area.

Or any combination of the above.

Miami should be so lucky to have any of these become a reality.

This past weekend, the man who could get that going was in Miami. National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis was on Virginia Key, in fact -- looking and listening to Miamians talk about how to make America’s National Parks more relevant and accessible.

“What is the role of the National Park Service in the next century? It is deeper than stewardship.” Jarvis told the audience of about 100 environmental educators and activists at a stakeholder meeting held at the University of Miami Rosensteil School library last Friday, March 19.

“We’re interested in making the connections (with the American people), particularly where we have this urban/wild interface,” he said. That morning Jarvis had explored parts of the island, including the historic Virginia Key Beach Park.

Jarvis traveled to Miami with the Deputy Director for Communications and Community Assistance Mickey Fearn, Regional Director David Vela and the Superintendent of Mt. Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota, Gerard Baker. The diverse contingent conveyed the park system’s commitment to increasing the diversity of visitors, in part by bringing the parks closer to the people but also, by educating the public about the different kinds of park properties.

“The National Parks are not just about majestic places,” said Deputy Director Fearn. “They are educational institutions, spiritual places and science centers. And they are about places that tell the story of America."

Virginia Key would certainly seem to fit that descripton.

Certainly it would be one of the nation’s most beautiful and unique additions, making Miami an urban gateway to the National Park System. Wild, yes, with its sea turtle-nesting beaches, manatees and dolphins, rare songbirds, and critical habitats of hammocks, mangroves and dunes. And urban, too. So urban, in fact, you could walk to it from downtown Miami.

And the stories it could tell - from Tequestas to the Civil Rights Movement to the cultural legacy of MiMo (Miami Modern) architecture embodied in the historic Miami Marine Stadium.


The Virginia Key Visitor Center of Biscayne National Park and in Biscayne National Park, steps from downtown Miami.

Now that's an "urban/wild interface."

Monday, March 1, 2010

Dade Heritage Days events on Virginia Key




Virginia Key plays front and center during “Dade Heritage Days,” the annual trek through historic neighborhoods and landscapes. The two-month festival is sponsored by the Dade Heritage Trust, the nonprofit established in 1972 to “preserve the best of the past for the future.”

Here’s the March line-up:

Tropical Hardwood Hammock Trail Walk: Take a walk on the Wild Side of Virginia Key in a naturalist-led tour of the Virginia Key Coastal Hammock Trail. 10 a.m. to 12 p.m, Sun., March 21. FREE. Learn about the endangered and threatened native plants and animals that call this 1,000 acre barrier island home by visiting this 13-acre coastal hammock that is considered the best example of this forest type in Miami-Dade County. Bring your own picnic lunch and stay for an optional afternoon planting or exploration of another part of the island.  Get a head start on the tour by downloading the trailbook, http://www.virginiakeybeachpark.net/guidebook.pdf .  Sponsored by Urban Paradise Guild, Friends of Virginia Key and Virginia Key Coalition groups. Contact: sam@urban-paradise.org; http://www.urban-paradise.org/WalkWild2010.

Walking Tours of the Historic Virginia Key Beach Park: Established in 1945 as the only public beach for the “exclusive use of Negroes” in Miami-Dade County, historic Virginia Key Beach Park was closed by the City of Miami in 1982 but reopened in 2008 thanks to the efforts of concerned citizens who successfully fought off plans for a resort development in the 82-acre public park. The park is now on the National Register of Historic Places and there are plans underway for a civil rights museum to commemorate the struggle of those who fought segregation. Free tours by appointment. Contact Historic Virginia Key Beach Park, 4020 Virginia Beach Drive, at (305) 960-4600. www.VirginiaKeybeachpark.net

Miami Marine Stadium presentation: Built in 1964, the Miami Marine Stadium is an icon of 20th century Modern architecture, site of concerts, church services, community meetings. The stadium was closed by the City of Miami in 1992 after Hurricane Andrew and has been severely vandalized. Since 2008, Friends of Marine Stadium (website: www.marinestadium.org), has secured inclusion in the City of Miami’s proposals for a new master plan of Virginia Key.  The stadium has also received national recognition by the National Trust and the World Monuments Fund. Learn about efforts to restore and reopen the stadium to community uses and secure National Historic status for the stadium and surrounding land and lagoon. Presentation by Friends of Marine Stadium co-founder Don Worth scheduled for Wed. March 10, 6 to 8 p.m. Design Within Reach, 927 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach. Reception follows. FREE. RSVP to 305- 531-6470.


Miami Marine Stadium/Virginia Key Public Planning Charrette: The public can help shape the future of Virginia Key and the historic Miami Marine Stadium at a charrette sponsored by the University of Miami and the Urban Environment League (www.uel.org)  Students from UM’s School of Architecture, under the guidance of architects Jorge Hernandez and Hilario Candela, will present their designs followed by public input. Saturday, March 27, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m., Rusty Pelican Restaurant, 3201 Rickenbacker Causeway, Key Biscayne. FREE.  For more info, call DHT, 305-358-9572.

For complete schedule of all Dade Heritage Trust events, go to www.dadeheritagetrust.org

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On Facebook: Friends of Virginia Key

Friday, February 26, 2010

The Last Stand for Rare Plant Species of Virginia Key














The first stop in the Virginia Key Coastal Hammock Trail is a “transitional” zone, created to show how attractive native plants can be in the landscape as well as demonstrate how planting natives like Sea Grape, Gumbo Limbo, and Wild Lime helps heal a land once overtaken by exotics.

Restoring the native landscape has also created critical habitat for rare and endangered wildlife species. Migrating songbirds that can be found here include rare migrants like the pine siskin, Tennessee warbler, Swainson’s thrush and indigo bunting. These species travel down the Atlantic coast flyway and use this maritime hammock for food and shelter.

The 13-acre site, accessible from the parking lot of Virginia Key Beach (beyond Jimbo’s across from the Sewage Treatment Plant) is the best example of this forest type remaining in Miami Dade. The following list of the rare plant species that call Virginia Key home underscores just how important it is to protect Virginia Key’s spectacular but fragile wilderness areas.

This is the last stand.

Rare Plant Species of Virginia Key
Locally rare: Balloon vine, Beach-tea, Sevenyear apple, Ocean morning glory, Mangrove rubbervine
Locally imperiled: Florida vente conmigo (I love that name!)

State protected: black mangrove, white mangrove, red mangrove, sea oats

State endangered: beachstar beach-peanut, mangrove mallow

State threatened: Florida silver palm, maidenberry, darlingplum, inkberry, Biscayne prickly-ash

Federally endangered: beach clustervine

Federally threatened: Johnson’s Seagrass

Commercially exploited: coontie





Resources:
To learn more about which natives are right for your yard, see the native planting tool at:
http://www.regionalconservation.org/beta/nfyn/default.asp
More info:
http://regionalconservation.org
http://www.abettersouthflorida.org/Revive.html

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On Facebook: Join today! Friends of Virginia Key

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Drumming and Discovery Day




The drumming could be heard as far as the toll booth entrance, a faint rhythmic call to the dance pavilion of the historic Virginia Key Beach Park.

Family History Day on Sunday, Feb. 21, drew lots of people to the beach park on a windy winter afternoon. This day it was not so much about the beach-- though it sparkled blue in the surrounding distance - but about the drumming, and the barbecuing, and the smiles on the children riding the seaside carousel and the whisking away into the wilds on a mini-train that emerged from the mini-tunnel to reveal the dense tropical foliage of a hidden hammock and the panorama of a broad, white dune glistening in the sun.

The historic Virginia Key Beach Park is located on Virginia Key, a 1,000-acre barrier island in Miami. For more information on its unique history and future as a civil rights park and museum, go to: http://www.virginiakeybeachpark.net/

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On Facebook: Friends of Virginia Key

Sunday, February 14, 2010

The Honeymoon Cottages of Virginia Key Beach



“With its scant four-tenths of a mile of actual shoreline, the (Virginia Key Beach) Park was the only bathing beach in the county legally available to African Americans at that time. In spite of these restrictive limitations, however, Virginia Key Beach Park was a cherished “Paradise” and a vibrant recreational locale which united all neighborhoods and social classes as a center of Black life.”
Virginia Key Park Civil Rights Task Force, December 2000


One of the most cherished aspects of Virginia Key was the availability of bathing cabanas and overnight cottages.

Former Miami-Dade County Parks Director A.D. Barnes recalls in his History of the Dade County Park System how the honeymoon cottages came to be there:

“The Dade County Port Authority had just purchased a piece of land in Virginia Gardens to enlarge Miami Airport. There were several houses on the property and the Port Authority agreed to transfer any of the buildings the Park Department needed...One, a rather substantial and not too unattractive single family house was selected for the cabana area at Crandon. Another substantial three living unit building was selected for Virginia Beach...It was refurbished with one unit set aside as living quarters for the Virginia Beach Maintenance Foreman...the other two units were furnished with beds and items common to efficiency apartments and rented out....”

Though long gone, the so-called “honeymoon cottages” live on in the memories of those lucky enough to have spent time there. And they are part of impetus behind the idea of considering the entire historic Virginia Key Beach Park a Civil Rights Museum:

Artist and writer Dinizula Gene Tinnie spoke of this in the landmark essay, “Politicized Memories in the Struggle for Miami’s Virginia Key Beach,” by University of Miami Professor and Historian Dr. Gregory Bush, in To Love the Wind and the Rain: African Americans and Environmental History, (Univ. of Pittsburgh Press, 2005).

“One of the strategies that we have to have is looking at our sacred sites, places that have been consecrated by, labored by, the struggle. There are too many people with too many fond memories, too many people who have been baptized out there; had their honeymoon’s out there, had their first love affair out there. I said that was a place that brought together an entire black community. It was the only place we could go.”




Read excerpts from To Love the Wind and the Rain, including "Politicized Memories in the Struggle for Miami's Virginia Key Beach," at:
http://books.google.com/books?id=-rAXz2l92mkC&source=gbs_navlinks_s


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On Facebook: Friends of Virginia Key

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Playtime at Historic Virginia Key Beach Park





When the ocean water is too cold for a dip, there’s still lots to do at the historic Virginia Key Beach Park.

Kids, especially, will enjoy a seaside carousel, mini-train and elaborate playground with seaside theme. There’s also a boardwalk (accessible from the parking lot) that overlooks restored wetlands. Beachside picnic tables with grills dot the palm-shaded landscape.

The Virginia Key Beach Park, which reopened to the public in 2008 after a major renovation, is located at 4020 Virginia Beach Drive, at the entrance closest to the Bear Cut Bridge across from the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. (RSMAS). It is one of two public beach parks open on Virginia Key. The third (undeveloped) beach is on the North Point).

In 2002, Historic Virginia Key Beach Park was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a place of significance in African-American history. More on the history, including photos and videos, are posted on the park’s website, www.virginiakeybeachpark.net.

The park is open from sunrise to sunset 7 days a week (except Thanksgiving & Christmas). There is an entrance fee for parking.

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On Facebook: Friends of Virginia Key

Friday, February 5, 2010

Photo Friday: Three Virginia Key Beaches





Photos 1-3
North Point Beach
Virginia Key Beach (Windsurfer's Beach)
Historic Virginia Key Beach Park