Black Seminole Perspective Featured in History and Cultural Series

The Historic Virginia Key Beach Park Trust will kick off its History and Cultural Lunch Series Friday, Nov. 19,  12 noon to 2 p.m.,  4020 Virginia Beach Drive, Virginia Key with a presentation on Florida’s Black Seminoles by historian Dr. Anthony E. Dixon.

Dixon is the former historian and curator for the Historic Virginia Key Beach Park, which is on the National Register of HIstoric Places.

 “Black Seminoles” is used today to describe the descendants of free blacks and slaves who fled from coastal rice plantations in South Carolina and Georgia into Spanish Florida in the 17th century. Eventually, some traveled down the U.S. peninsula to the reach the last  barrier island of Key Biscayne (past Virginia Key) to board ships bound for the Bahamas and freedom.


 Historian Joan Gill Blank recalls this journey in her book, Key Biscayne: A History of Miami’s Tropical Island and the Cape Florida LIghthouse:

 It is estimated that just before the lighthouse was built at the southern end of Key Biscayne, in the early 1820s, that three hundred brave men and women, with their children, left Cape Florida to take asylum in the Bahamas ....The escapes did not all occur at once. Five years before the lighthouse was illuminated, one traveler reports seeing sixty Indian and sixty runaways and “27 sails of Bahamian wreckers” preparing to leave uninhabited Cape Florida.”

The lecture series is made possible by a grant from the Florida Humanities Council to explore the diverse cultural heritage of Floridians, concentrating on Native Americans, African-Americans, South Americans and the Caribbean. 

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Explorations by water

Waterplay

A blustery day is perfect for windsurfing on Virginia Key.  Windsurfer's Beach (aka Sewer Beach)  is found just past Jimbo's. At the beach park, you'll find picnic areas, a children's playground and a tropical hammock.  

Kayakers can also  launch off Windsurfer's Beach. Enjoy great views of the restored dunes and tropical hammock on a paddle  along the shoreline towards the Historic Virginia Key Beach Park. Or check out the fossilized mangrove reef  across the cut  at the Bear Cut Preserve in Crandon Park on Key Biscayne. 

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Lighthouse Run Honors Black Bears of Virginia Key

Do it for the Black Bears that once roamed Virginia Key’s coastline raiding sea turtle nests. 

The mascot of the 33rd Annual Key Biscayne Lighthouse 10K/5K Run that takes places Saturday, Nov. 13 is the Florida Black Bear. 

Bear Cut, so-named for the bear, is the channel that separates the two barrier islands of Key Biscayne and Virginia Key. 

It’s believed both islands were once connected. Erosion and a powerful 1825 hurricane made the cut and hence, the need for the Bear Cut bridge. 

There’s still time to register for the race, which starts and ends at the Cape Florida Lighthouse in Cape Florida State Park on Key Biscayne. Go to the race website or Island Athletics store on Key Biscayne to register. 

Though the sea turtles are still with us on Virginia Key, its been awhile since anyone spotted a Black Bear in the vicinity. Today, the Florida Black Bear is on the threatened species list. 

Photo: Virginia Key's beaches are essential sea turtle nesting habitat. Bear Cut bridge in background.


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Also on Facebook: Friends of Virginia Key 

Virginia Key Kayaking Trip Offers Window to Wilderness of Bear Cut Preserve

One kayaker who participated in the recent Virginia Key kayaking meet-up trip told his story to View from Virginia Key:

By 9:30 a.m. there was a array of two dozen kayaks in bright hues - blue, yellow, green - lined up on Virginia Key beach. Everyone was busy getting their gear in place and mapping out our route out to sea.

The morning started out somewhat overcast with a slight breeze coming in off the water. The water was calm that early in the morning, with few motorboats in Bear Cut, the water body that divides Virginia Key from the tip of Key Biscayne.

Across the Cut, you could see the green horizon of the Bear Cut Preserve, to the north lay Fisher Island.

Even through I’d always heard Bear Cut had a powerful current we paddled across easily and reached the reef in about a half hour.

The fossilized reef - which are actually fossilized mangrove roots from an ancient forest -- looks like giant, jagged rocks from a distance. Up close, the jags and cuts are more ominous. You have to be careful because if your kayak hits one, you’ll run a ground and I was afraid it could even slice my kayak.

We settled into a spot south of an observation overlook in the Bear Cut Preserve, which is a designated natural Environment Study Area in Crandon Park. The area includes various ecosystems - dunes, mangroves and coastal hammock and seagrass beds -- that, together with Virginia Key’s natural areas, are nesting and feeding areas for migrating songbirds, hawks and sea turtles.


The water was about 2-3 feet and crystal clear. With the sun out, you could see clear to the sandy bottom, which is lined with seagrasses. The reef is full of life: live conch, small tropical fish in brilliant hues of purple, yellow and blue. The seagrass beds where we were snorkeling are home to mangrove snapper, parrotfish, crabs, shrimp, sea stars and puffer fish.

The cool water felt good as the heat of the day rose.

It was hard to leave but eventually we headed out to sea to look for the Half Moon underwater archaeological site, where the remains of a schooner that sank in the 1930s has created an artificial reef.

We anchored near a channel marker about a half hour paddle out to sea.

All the kayaks linked together with a rope, since only some of us had anchor. After about 10 minutes of looking, a storm started to materialize off the ocean and we had to pull out quickly.

We ended up paddling back in a light rain, as the seas got rougher. But the storm never reached a fevered pitch and we landed back on Virginia Key safely, ready to tackle Bear Cut another day in search of the Half Moon.

Green or Gritty

In the 1946 movie “It's a Wonderful Life” there are two visions of the future: charming small town of shade trees and friendly neighbors or the reviled Pottersville of drunkards and gamblers where garishness and poverty predominate.

Likewise - there are competing visions in Virginia Key’s future: public park greenery, preservation of cultural and historic sites and structures, harmony with nature. Or, marine industrial buildings, mega-marinas, commercial development of the public waterfront.

Or can both visions co-exist?

Absent clear design principles, core values or even a designated “program,” planning proposals unveiled for Virginia Key so far have attempted to mix it up, managing to satisfy no one in the process.

A fishing pier that looks like a Hollywood premiere. A marine-themed shopping center. An “organized” boat storage facility that rises five stories high and stretches the length of four-five football fields. And parking garages, lots of them and various stories high.

The public park amenities are vague and lacking in dedicated funding or management.

The commitment to restore, preserve and interpret the cultural and historic sites are tenuous, seemingly tied to extensive commercial development of surrounding public properties.

What should be so hard about creating a master plan for Virginia Key? The hard part is hard-wired and has been taken care of by mother nature: aqua-marine waters, sandy beaches, green forests filled with rare songbirds.

There’s even a model to go by: Cape Florida State Park. At the far end of Key Biscayne is one of the state’s most beautiful and popular state parks. Nature trails, fishing platforms, bike and boat rentals, a historic site, group campgrounds, excellent restaurants, a waterfront promenade and accessibility by land or water.

Now that’s a vision that would be truly wonderful.

Photos: Cape Florida State Park entrance to one of several nature trails, fishing platform overlooking Biscayne Bay, waterfront boardwalk and bicycle trail.

Resources:
More on “It’s a Wonderful Life,” the 1946 Frank Capra movie: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It's_a_Wonderful_Life

Cape Florida State Park, Key Biscayne: http://www.floridastateparks.org/capeflorida/
photo gallery: http://www.floridastateparks.org/capeflorida/PhotoGallery.cfm

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