Flamingo Magazine

No.

6

ATTENTION BEACH LOVERS: THIS SUMMER’S MUST READ THE

Travel

ISSUE

For Floridians. By Floridians.

FINDING PARADISE LAND SEA SKY WILD MAN

GABRIEL GRAY T H E U LT I M A T E E X P L O R E R RESCUES RIVERS ( and people)

FARE j REMEMBER: WATERMELON SALAD MANGROVE SNAPPER & RHUBARB PIE

by

,

&

Exclusive:

Inside

JACKIE O’S PALM BEACH

GO N THE FLO

SEAPLANE SAFARI MICANOPY HAUNTS STUART STOPOVER

OUR NEXT GOVERNOR A ROWDY ROUND-UP

Uniquely grown in its native forest environment, Guayaki Yerba Mate is cherished as a sacred beverage.

Reach deep into yerba mate culture and you’ll discover people have long gathered to imbibe mate to awaken the mind, perform extraordinary feats and to exchange confidences.

Even Yari, the mythical goddess of mate decrees it the symbol of friendship.

Guayakí’s 2020 mission is to steward and restore 200,000 acres of South American Atlantic rainforest and create over 1,000 living wage jobs.

Yerba Mate, organically grown in the rainforest by locals.

— S ummer 2017 —

CONTENTS

F E AT U R E S

36

48

60

72

WALKING ON WATER

SIREN SONG OF THE SEA

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

BY NANCY KLINGENER

BY CRAIG PITTMAN

THE MICANOPY PARADOX: SECRETS & SANCTUARY

BY MICHAEL ADNO

A travel writer takes a seaplane adventure and discovers the hidden treasures of Vero Beach and the Indian River Lagoon.

Dr. Beach includes Florida in his annual list of the world’s most beautiful beaches. But will environmental threats wash our shores’ beauty away?

The untold story of Micanopy and Moses Levy, who built a plantation refuge for Jewish immigrants

Cover Photography by DESIRÉE GARDNER On the cover: Conservation expeditionist Gabriel Gray glides through a coastal dune lake near Panama City Beach on his stand-up paddleboard loaded with gear.

This page: Herlong Mansion, in Micanopy, is an Old South manor and bed-and-breakfast.

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FLAMINGOMAG.COM /// S U M M E R 2 0 1 7

PHOTOGR APHY MARY BETH KOETH

Gabriel Gray is saving Florida’s rivers one paddle at a time with his stand-up paddleboard expeditions from the Panhandle to The Keys.

B Y T E R R Y WA R D

D E PA R T M E N TS

11

33

88

WADING IN

COLUMNS

ON THE FLY

12 /// THE SLICE: News snippets to inspire

travel plans 14 /// FLAMINGLE: A private jet full of highflying Floridians 17 /// THE SPREAD: A North Florida rice farmer

shares his killer shrimp curry and paloma recipes perfect for a summer soiree.

21 /// M ADE IN FLA: Cool stuff made and

designed by Floridians

26 /// F LEDGLINGS: The indie duo from

Orlando making surf music

28 /// J UST HATCHED: Noteworthy new

restaurants, boutiques and hotels

33 /// CAPITAL DAME: Diane Roberts

on the cast of characters running for governor

84 /// MY FLORIDA: Lisa Unger takes a

transformative hike through the Everglades.

102 /// F LORIDA WILD: Carlton Ward Jr.

talks timing and low tide in Cedar Key.

91 /// P LUME: Meg Cabot recommends

vacation reads. Plus, an exclusive excerpt from the latest Jackie Kennedy tell-all and an interview with its author

96 /// BIRD’S EYE VIEW: A watercolor map of

our favorite spots in Stuart, the sailfish capital of the world

97 /// G ROVE STAND: Chef Jason Stocks of

Distric Table & Bar elevates the culinary scene in his hometown

104 /// THE ROOST: Houseboats to dream about 108 /// THE TIDE: Road trip–worthy events 112 /// FLORIDIANA: The story of the fabled

domes in Ten Thousand Islands

S U M M E R 2 0 1 7 /// FLAMINGOMAG.COM

3

EDITOR’S NOTE

P

eople often ask me for travel recommendations. It’s true, I’m always on the hunt for fabulous hotels and restaurants to highlight for our readers, but I’m more interested in discovering those authentic Florida experiences that aren’t manufactured and created for the masses.

As a family, we try to embrace a spirit of adventure in our travels. Stripping back the veneer of the state’s shiny tourism industry and focusing on those imperfect spaces and places gives us some of our best days.

This spring my husband and I took our family on a two-day trip to Palatka, an old Florida town, via the St. Johns River.

We loaded up our 25-foot Boston Whaler Guardian with our two daughters, one canvas tote and a couple of blankets. That morning, the wind whipped our faces and the sun warmed our backs as we zipped out of the city, past EverBank Field and under the Main Street Bridge.

The St. Johns is Florida’s longest river and one of only a few in the country that flows northward. The headwaters begin near Vero Beach, about 300 miles south of Jacksonville, cutting a winding corridor through the upper half of the state. For two hours we buzzed along the brackish water, lined with pine forests and stately homes. No cellphones or iPads. Just watching the world go by.

We bypassed Black Creek’s storied rope swings because the water was still too cold for cannon balls. Hungry, we pit stopped in the tiny town of Green Cove Springs, where we stumbled upon three huge abandoned docks that were part of the Lee Naval Air

Station used for a mothball fleet of warships after World War II. We tied up our vessel around the corner from the former military outpost, scaled the railings of the closed city dock (damaged by Hurricane Matthew) and grabbed homemade sandwiches and chocolate chip cookies at Sweet Sensations.

We ambled through the historic downtown and shopped for antiques.

Once in Palatka, we took in the sleepy town’s impressive murals of wildlife and historic figures. The kids climbed on an enormous live oak, and we ordered milkshakes at Angel’s, a vintage dining car known as Florida’s oldest diner. We laughed. We ate good food. We explored a part of Florida with a long history, a struggling economy and a boat load of personality.

As the sun began to set, we headed back to our Whaler for more wind in our hair and peaceful hang-time. We spent the night at a river-front lodge popular with fishermen. It had a small rectangular pool out back, and we sprung for the suite—$100!

The next day we headed home in a light rain. The kids and I bundled up in blankets and raincoats, and my husband navigated northward. It was far from glamorous. But I felt more refreshed after that mini vacation than I had in a long time.

In this travel issue, we focus on bringing you stories that take place off the beaten path, with the hope of sparking your desire to discover a piece of real Florida by land, water or sky.

Editor in Ch ief & P u blish er

let us know what you think. Email me at jamie@flamingomag.com

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PHOTOGR APHY BY INGRID DAMIANI; ST YLING BY ALIX ROBINSON; BEACH BY SK Y REALT Y PRODUC TIONS

Take Me to The River

ISSUE

FLAMBOYANCE

6

For Floridians. By Floridians.

O UR FLO C K H AS S P OKEN

• FOUNDED IN 2016 •

— s u m m e r 20 1 7 —

[posted with Spring 2017 cover pic] When it’s raining outside and you need a little sunshine #flamingomag #lillypulitzer #jelliesbejammin #resort365 #rainydays #alwayssunny @lizreuth Elizabeth Reuth, Sarasota

[SPEC Gala] Wow! Thank you Flamingo and Jamie for your support. Here’s to new friends and going back in time to create many new adventures! @jenquinnmontoya Jennifer Quinn Montoya, Coral Gables

Editor in Chief, Publisher, Founder JAMIE RICH jamie@flamingomag.com Executive Director Partnerships Marcy Stoudt marcy@ flamingomag.com

Executive Editor Christina Boyle Cush christina@ flamingomag.com

Consulting Creative Director Holly Keeperman h o lly @ f l a m i n g o m ag.com

Great photo Flamingo Mag and Katie Hendrick. I have been to the Ringling multiple times and never see Ca d’Zan from this angle. @wwbrown19 Will Brown, Flemming

Seriously, guys, my life is made. Always wanted to be a caricature!

LOL #gratefulplateful @grownmiami, xo Shannon Allen, Miami

Island

[On Coquina: Glass from the Past] We didn’t know where the red glass came from! Great article.”

Marybeth Scott,

[On Ca d’Zan feature] Beautiful story in this issue. It’s a great magazine which I have just discovered thanks to Carlton Ward.

Susan Willis,

[On the Dadgummitt Bobby Bowden! feature] @jaime_maurice Amazing illustration! I’ll be on the lookout for this issue! #foreveraseminole Jaime Maurice, Ft. Lauderdale

Satellite Beach

Lakeland

Senior Designer Ellen Patch e ll e n @ f l a m i n g o m ag.com Cont ributin g Writers Michael Adno, Meg Cabot, Steve Dollar, Katie Hendrick, Erika Vidal Holmes, Nancy Klingener, Victor Maze, Kathy McKeon, Sabeen Perwaiz, Craig Pittman, Laura Reiley, Diane Roberts, Lisa Unger, Carlton Ward Jr., Terry Ward, Maddy Zollo Rusbosin Contributing Photographers & Illustrators Leslie Chalfont, Desirée Gardner, Beth Gilbert, Mary Beth Koeth, Stefanie Keeler, Stephen Lomazzo, Jessie Preza, Libby Volgyes, Carlton Ward Jr. Copy Editors & Fact Checkers Brett Greene, Marcy Lovitch, Katherine Shy Social Media Strategy Christina Clifford Advertising Sales Robert Kohn, robert@flamingomag.com Tiffany Goddard Snyder, tiffany@flamingomag.com Janet Hynes, janet@flamingomag.com

Letters to the editor There is no other publication that captures the spirit of Florida like Flamingo magazine. Will and I stumbled across this gem last summer and we’ve been obsessed ever since. There are very few magazines that are must-reads for us, but this one hits the mark every. single. time. I mean, with articles on Janet Reno, Lilly Pulitzer, sea turtles and Bobby Bowden? Then add in a sprinkle of arts, culture and shopping and dining

local? It doesn’t get more Florida than that!

Whitney Brown, Fleming Island

Flamingo! I thoroughly enjoyed the Lilly article in the Flamingo icon’s issue.

Lilly fever has definitely hit the frozen tundra. Perhaps because an impressive Lilly store resides 20 minutes away in the King of Prussia Mall, or, likely in the midst of the fridgid snow, the vivid prints are reminiscent of the vibrant Florida

sunshine and Floridian way of life I have missed since moving back to PA. Gina Colley-Holgate, West Chester, PA

Thank you for letting me know I could still get Flamingo issues 1 and 2.

I’m so excited! Today I waited 20 minutes at Boca Barnes & Noble for the latest issue to be unpacked and put on the shelf. I’m still enjoying printed mags and snail mail.

Marolyn Duffit, Boca Raton

General inquiries: ads@flamingomag.com Contact Us Phone: (904) 395-3272 Email: info@flamingomag.com TO GET A YEARLY SUBSCRIPTION (4 issues) go to flamingomag.com or send a $30 check made out to JSR Media, P.O. Box 3253, Ponte Vedra Beach, FL 32004 All content in this publication, including but not limited to text, photos and graphics, is the sole property of and copyrighted by JSR Media and Flamingo. Reproduction without permission from the publisher is prohibited. We take no responsibility for images or content provided by our advertisers.

JSR MEDIA

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!

Join the flamboyance (a group of flamingos) and like us on Facebook at facebook.com/flamingomag Follow us on Instagram @TheFlamingoMag and on Twitter @TheFlamingoMag

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Catching Art in The Keys L

apis water and the treasures within—coral reefs, shipwrecks, sports fish, and crustaceans—lure visitors to The Florida Keys year after year. Above the surface awaits a dynamic cultural scene teeming with museums, theaters, concert halls and art studios. Here are just a few of The Florida Keys’ cultural highlights, from north to south: In KEY LARGO, catch a ride aboard the African Queen, the original steamship featured in the 1951 cinematic classic of the same name. Each year, Key Largo honors the film’s star at the Humphrey Bogart Film Festival, an event with roundtable discussions, celebrity meet-and-greets and open-air showings of Bogie’s most famous movies. While in town, visit The Gallery at Kona Kai. Nestled amongst lush botanical gardens, it captivates inside and out. The curated collection features premier international and local artists, including French sculptor Dominique Pollés and renowned Florida landscape photographer Clyde Butcher.

In 2010, a visionary trio including an artist, a gallery owner and a CPA saw in ISLAMORADA’s Industrial Road a blank canvas for a space where curious minds can mingle with creatives, learn a skill and shop for original art. Thus, Morada Way Arts and Cultural District was born. Painters, sculptors, ceramic artists and gallery owners, notably aquatic painter PASTA PANTALEO, contribute to this vibrant nucleus, which runs between mile markers 81 and 82. Locals flock to the community’s monthly art walk to peruse artists’ booths and enjoy live music and street food.

Above from left: Two paintings, ‘‘The Boats’’ and ‘‘Medusa,’’

by Pasta Pantaleo; Fine art and sculpture at Key West Pottery

Below clockwise: Local pottery at an open-air market; Inside the Adderley House; The Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum

MARATHON’s Crane Point fosters an appreciation for the local ecosystem and the way early settlers lived off it. Two-and-a-half miles of trails crisscross this 63-acre oasis of hardwood trees, mangroves, marsh pools, fragrant flowers and butterflies. Don’t miss the Adderley House, where Bahamian immigrants homesteaded in the early 1900s; a museum detailing the history of island natives, explorers, pioneers and developers, illustrated with artifacts that date back to the 1400s; and a wild bird center.

Whether your style leans more classical or whimsical, you’ll find something to cherish at the Artists in Paradise Gallery on BIG PINE KEY. Founded in 1994 by 14 local artists, this cooperative has more than 40 members representing disciplines, from watercolors and fused glass to gourd art and Gyotaku (a Japanese tradition of fish printing). The group’s social calendar includes juried art shows, $99 sales and classes.

America’s southernmost key has been a stomping grounds for many legendary writers, including Judy Blume, Tennessee Williams and Robert Frost. But no literary figure looms larger in KEY WEST than Ernest Hemingway. Each July, the island celebrates “Papa” with a week of festivities. The Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum and its famous six-toed cats welcome guests 365 days a year. Tour the novelist’s living quarters, writing studio and pool or go on a self-guided adventure using the museum’s app.

For an in-depth list of events, organizations, artists and venues, go to fla-keys.com/arts-culture. •

Every day is another masterpiece.

With painted skies, radiant sunsets and water that’s an ever-changing shade of blue, it’s no wonder so many artists and so many galleries have blended into The Florida Keys landscape. fla-keys.com/culture 1.800.fla.keys

CONTRIBUTORS

A freelance travel writer since 2000,

TERRY WARD

graduated from the University of Florida and calls South Tampa home. She has written for many travel magazines and websites including Traveler, Scuba Diving and Endless Vacation.

Her favorite Florida pastimes are scuba diving, sailing and hanging out with her husband, Javier, and baby son, Nico, on any lonely East Coast beach. This is her second time sharing her travel tales with Flamingo readers.

Award-winning journalist CRAIG PITTMAN is now an award-winning author, having recently snagged a gold medal from the Florida Book Awards. “The awards dinner was a lot of fun,” says Pittman. “I took my 18-year-old son and introduced him around to all the celebrities, including writer Edna Buchanan.

He wants to go to law school, so she invited him to come to Miami-Dade County to practice—but then she mentioned all the lawyers who’d been killed there, so I don’t think he’s taking her up on that. Then I flew out for the Los Angeles Times Book Festival.

I was on a panel with people who’d written books about UFOs, ghost stories and nudist resorts, so Oh, Florida! fit right in.” Amidst all this excitement, and while writing his next book, he found time to report his fourth feature for Flamingo.

SABEEN PERWAIZ lives in

A first-generation American, MICHAEL ADNO grew up on the Gulf Coast of Florida and now lives in New York. He travels home to Sarasota frequently to visit family and report stories. His work has appeared in The Surfer’s Journal, Oxford American, and At Large magazines, among others. The New York University alumnus was invited to the Hermitage Artist Retreat and nominated for the Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship this past year.

“I’m an avid angler and surfer and have spent huge swaths of time in my life stalking my favorite fish, permit, from Sarasota to Key West and searching out new haunts to surf from British Columbia to South Africa,” he says. This is his debut feature for Flamingo.

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FLAMINGOMAG.COM /// S U M M E R 2 0 1 7

Jacksonville and has covered travel and culture for several regional publications and television news programs. The avid journeywoman has lived on three continents and traveled to 36 countries, with the goal of visiting at least 100 in her lifetime. Perwaiz recently received the OneJax 2017 Acosta-Rua Young Professionals Award honoring her work as a humanitarian promoting respect and understanding in the community. In her premier contribution to Flamingo, the Executive Producer of TEDxJacksonville explores where to go and what to do in the northern region of the state.

— f lor idians, far e, f inds —

WADING IN

— THE SLICE —

F a c t s a n d I n s p o f o r S u m m e r Tr i p s

— FLAMINGLE —

A Cabin of Jetsetting Floridians

— THE SPREAD —

A Savory Summer Supper with Florida Rice and Mayport Shrimp

— MADE IN FLA —

Sailcloth Satchels, Chic Shorts and Coastal Fabrics

PHOTOGR APHY BY JESSIE PREZA

— FLEDGLINGS —

A L a n d l o c k e d D u o ’s S u r f Tu n e s

— JUST HATCHED —

New Places to Eat, Stay and Play

S U M M E R 2 0 1 7 /// FLAMINGOMAG.COM

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WADING IN :THE SLICE

A N OTE WO RTHY NUMER ICAL TAKE ON OUR STATE

100 years of science!

Looking for one-of-a-kind treasures to add personality to your space? Join the peninsula pickers that zip to flea markets across the state.

NORTH: DEFRANCE ANTIQUES in Fort Walton Beach has been family-operated since 2012. DeFrance has furniture-painting classes on this summer’s docket, if you want more than a walk-through of the 13,000-squarefoot space with approximately 100 vendors.

CENTRAL: RENNINGER’S FLEA & FARMER’S MARKET in Mount Dora is a 117-acre bucolic haven for over 500 dealers hocking fresh produce and meats, pets and pet supplies, clothing, jewelry and more. It has both air-conditioned options and outdoor pavilions.

SOUTH: SWAP SHOP in Fort Lauderdale draws more than 12 million travelers a year with its 80 acres of shopping and 2,000 vendor booths, meshed with entertainment including some amusement rides, a video arcade and a mega-sized drivein movie theater.

defranceantiques.com

renningers.net

floridaswapshop.com

21“LEAGUES”

UNDER THE SEA

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FLAMINGOMAG.COM /// S U M M E R 2 0 1 7

It’s party time for the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, which this year celebrates a century of educating visitors about the Sunshine State’s biodiversity and ecosystems.

The Florida Museum has a fascinating collection of permanent exhibits, such as “Florida Fossils: Evolution of Life and Land,” and temporary expos, such as “Frogs: A Chorus of Colors,” which hops along in September.

Jules’ Undersea Lodge in Key Largo requires that you be scuba trained or take the hotel’s inlagoon scuba class.

But the reward is worth it! Diving 21 feet below water level, through the tropical mangroves that surround the Emerald Lagoon, you’ll approach a distinctive underwater hotel. After you get settled in your room, you can even order pizza or take a hot shower. jul.com

$205 million

space

odyssey Blue Origin, Amazon mogul Jeff Bezos’ rocket firm, started building a $205 million manufacturing plant in Brevard County in 2015. The billionaire recently announced that his plans for the company include space tourism from Florida’s Space Coast starting in 2018. blueorigin.com

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WADING IN :FLAMINGLE A FLO C K OF FASCINATING F LOR IDIANS

JET SETTERS These big wigs know how to fly in style

DEREK JETER Big Baller

Splashy Starlet

The Tampa native and Florida State Seminole left college and sorority life in the late ’90s to chase her dreams of becoming an actor. It wasn’t long before she landed a role as Reba McEntire’s daughter on the hit show Reba from 2001 to 2007. Reba even stood as a bridesmaid in Garcia’s real-life wedding at the Breakers in Palm Beach to baseball star Nick Swisher.

More recently, the 37-yearold jet-set mother of two girls has played roles such as Betty Grissom in The Astronaut’s Wives Club and Ariel in Once Upon a Time.

Real-princess style, she pals around with Hollywood royalty like Hilary Duff, Lea Michele, Lance Bass and John Stamos.

FROGGY

Radio Riot

Scott Langley, 41, aka Froggy of the nationally syndicated Elvis Duran and the Morning Show, lends his voice (and dirty jokes) to the famous New York radio crew from his home station, Y-100 in Miami. The Florida Gator fan got his start in radio on Tampa’s 93.3FLZ in the ’90s and took over the Magic City mic in 2002.

The beloved host is also a survivor of acromegaly, a rare pituitary disease, which caused bone growth in his feet, hands and forehead—and changed his moneymaker, his voice. Froggy underwent corrective brain surgery at UF Health Shands Hospital in 2010 and regularly speaks about his experience.

BEAU TURNER Happy Camper

The third son of media mogul and superenvironmentalist Ted Turner is a globally respected conservationalist in his own right. The avid hunter and outdoorsman manages his family’s 900-acre rural swath of longleaf pine forest and grassy plains in Lamont, about 25 miles from Tallahassee. The property is one of many owned by the family’s land holding group, which holds a portfolio that encompasses about 2 million acres, and Beau oversees its wildlife-related endeavors. This father to son Beau Jr. also operates the Beau Turner Youth Conservation Center, a hunting and fishing camp where kids learn to respect nature.

BELINDA STRONACH Horse Player

The glamorous 51-yearold president and chair of Stronach Group, which owns Gulfstream Park in Hallandale and five other horseracing properties in the U.S., inaugurated the world’s richest thoroughbred race in Florida this year. With a $12 million purse, the Pegasus World Cup Invitational attracted the sport’s top steeds, including Arrogate, the 2017 Pegasus winner.

Each horse owner paid $1 million to have their hooves at the starting gate. This spring, Stronach announced plans to increase the 2018 purse to $16 million. In her previous careers, the Ontario native served in Canadian Parliament and ran Magna, her family’s automotive empire.

ILLUSTR ATION BY STEPHEN LOMAZZO

After his 2014 retirement from 20 years in MLB, New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter didn’t retreat to his 30,000-square-foot Davis Islands home. He fussed with ordinary stuff, like keeping nosy neighbors away—seeking Tampa City Hall’s permission to install a taller front gate. Number Two, as he’s known, is also striving to be No. 1 in media by making big plays with Jeter Publishing and in sports writing with The Players’ Tribune. He’s changing diapers, thanks to his baby with cover model wife Hannah Davis Jeter.

Rumors are swirling that he may change clubhouses.

Will he and Gov. Jeb Bush be the Miami Marlins’ next dynamic duo?

JOANNA GARCIA

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From our many parks and natural areas, to historic homes and vibrant downtowns, you can explore everything from unique wildlife to exciting nightlife. So, grab your family and friends and start exploring West Volusia County. Conveniently located between Daytona Beach and Orlando.

Download our Visitors Guide at VisitWestVolusia.com | 1-800-749-4350 | #GetAwayAndPlay S U M M E R 2 0 1 7 /// FLAMINGOMAG.COM

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WADING IN :THE SPREAD FLOR IDA-F R ESH BITES & BEVS

By Chr i s t in a C u sh • P h o t o g ra p h y b y S t ef a n i e K eel er

Against the Grain SIMMER A FLORIDA CURRY IN THE HOT SUMMER? WHY NOT! SERVE IT ON A BED OF THE FRESHEST MILLED RICE AROUND

F

Above: A one-pound bag of fresh-milled grainy goodness from Congaree and Penn

ifteen miles from Jacksonville’s urban core, blacktop highways turn into dusty country roads that lead to five one-acre rectangular rice paddies on a 220-acre farm called Congaree and Penn.

This sprawling slice of rural heaven, lined with Spanish moss–covered live oaks and hopping with feisty, multicolored chickens, has been lovingly tended since January 2014

by Scott and Lindsay Meyer, college sweethearts who met at Texas Christian University.

After graduating with degrees in field biology and printmaking, respectively, Scott went back to school in Wyoming to learn about food production. Though he was born and raised in Jacksonville, he was surprised “a thousand percent” to end up back there as a farmer. But it was time to put that education to work to help his dad, who had bought this promising farmland years ago to grow landscape trees and then wanted to do something different with it. “We knew that the soil was rich, and that the soil held water well, and that rice had once been grown in Northeast Florida back in the 1700s, so we figured why not give it a shot,” Scott recalls.

Congaree and Penn—named to honor Scott’s grandfather, who captained the USS Congaree in World War II and Scott’s mother, who went by Anne Penn—grows medium-grain Jupiter rice. “We mill it fresh every week, so it is superior. All the rice you buy in the grocery store is stale. We have so many chefs and farmers market shoppers in Florida who use our rice, taste the difference and are repeat customers,” Scott says. Though

S U M M E R 2 0 1 7 /// FLAMINGOMAG.COM

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WADING IN :THE SPREAD FLO RIDA-F R ESH BITES & BEVS

it’s not certified organic yet, Scott is striving toward that goal. “We don’t use herbicides or pesticides.”

CONGAREE Many of Congaree and Penn’s employees are AND PENN passionate about the integrity of the products. “We — LOCATION — have a UNF student who helps out on the farm and 11830 OLD KINGS RD., JACKSONVILLE at markets occasionally. He tells people to ‘Have a — SHOPPING INFO— AVAILABLE AT SELECT FARMERS MARKETS IN rice day’ when they buy from us at farm stands and NORTH FLORIDA AND IN GROCERY STORES, RESTARAUNTS, AND HOTELS ACROSS FLORIDA such,” Scott explains. congareeandpenn.com Married since June 2014, the Meyers just remodeled their house, situated under an oak on farm’s dairy operation. The Meyers are excited to entertain friends in their new kitchen, where the property, originally built in the 1930s as the they whip up all sorts of creative meals that incorporate their rice products.

At the end of a long summer’s day in the rice paddies, Scott says, the couple makes his Florida curry dish“to do something different than grilling outside and making a side of grits or fish frying with our rice flour. Shrimp and coconut, that’s tasty stuff and easy to make, even for dinner on a Tuesday.”

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[

Above: A tasty bowl of Congaree and Penn’s Florida curry with Mayport shrimp and Jupiter white rice

Florida Curry with Mayport Shrimp and Congaree and Penn Jupiter White Rice S e rv e s 5 2 roasted red peppers, peeled, seeds and stems removed 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed 1/2 shallot 1 can Florida coconut milk 1 small can Florida coconut cream 1/2 inch segment of ginger, peeled 10 sprigs thyme, washed and stripped, leaves only 4 ounces sour cream 1 tablespoon high quality fish sauce 3 2 /3 cups water 4 tablespoon coconut shavings 3 limes, juice and zest 1 pound bag of Congaree and Penn Jupiter White Rice Salt and pepper to taste 1 pound or 12 to 15 head-on Mayport shrimp, legs and middle shell removed, and deveined 4 tablespoon Congaree and Penn pecan oil 1 potato, peeled and cut into 1/2” dice 2 carrots, peeled, and cut into 1/2” dice 1 leek, trimmed of dark green top, and cut into 1/2” dice

Jorge Antonio Falla

]

{El Amparo, Huila, Colombia}

THE FACES OF BOLD BEAN

At Bold Bean Coffee Roasters, there’s a story – and a face – behind every cup of our selectively sourced, farmer direct, specialty coffees. Faces such as that of Jorge Antonio Falla, another one of our growing community of Bold Bean producer partners.

PREPARE THE SAUCE: In a blender, add roasted peppers, garlic, shallot, coconut milk, coconut cream, ginger, thyme, sour cream and fish sauce, and blend smooth.

Season to taste with salt and pepper, and reserve, covered at room temperature.

PREPARE THE RICE: Add water, coconut shavings, and lime zest in a sauce pot, no smaller than 4 quarts. Bring liquid to a boil, add the rice, and stir. Once liquid comes back to a boil, stir rice once more, then cover and let simmer over low heat for 15 minutes. Turn off heat, remove lid and fluff rice. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Reserve, covered and warm, until plating.

PREPARE THE SHRIMP: Warm a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Season shrimp with salt and pepper, and add 2 tablespoons pecan oil to pan. In batches, sear shrimp in the hot pan, without cooking them through. Remove from pan, and keep at room temp until plating. Keep drippings in pan to finish the sauce.

FINISH THE SAUCE: Add 2 tablespoons pecan oil to the shrimp pan, and return to medium-high heat. Put the diced potato, carrot and leek into the pan, and caramelize over medium-high heat for a few minutes. Lower the heat, add the sauce base and lime juice. Gently simmer until the vegetables are slightly soft. Add shrimp to sauce to finish cooking. Serve over the rice.

Jorge’s Finca La Candela is indeed a glowing example of what can be accomplished when one is powered by passion and an unyielding determination to make the best better. By embracing new technologies and innovative farming practices, coupled with his strong and lifelong commitment to environmental stewardship, Jorge is demonstrating daily that great coffee doesn’t just happen.

RETAIL • WHOLESALE • ONLINE Select Coffees Shipped Direct to You SUBSCRIBE TODAY!

THREE JACKSONVILLE LOCATIONS

Riverside • Jax Beach • San Marco

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WADING IN :THE SPREAD FLO RIDA-F R ESH BITES & BEVS

By Chr i s t i na C u sh • P h o t o g ra p h y b y S t ef a n i e K eel er

Vintage Fruit Cocktail!

WET YOUR SUMMER WHISTLE WITH A UNIQUE MAYHAW PALOMA, MADE WITH CLUB SODA, TART JUICE FROM A FLORIDA BERRY AND TEQUILA

F

ruit pioneers Scott and Lindsay Meyer are bringing mayhaw back in a big way—in addition to being successful rice croppers at Congaree and Penn in Jacksonville. The fruit, with pinkish to deep red skin, looks like a tiny little apple or a big berry—the biggest one, less than an inch in diameter.

“Mayhaw, from the hawthorn tree, is one of the only native fruit trees in the Southeast,” says Scott. “We’re trying to pioneer more mayhaw trees, fruit and juice in the marketplace,” he says.

But don’t bite into the teensy fruit expecting a sweet treat.

“It’s very, very tart,” says Scott.

Native Americans ate it to settle their stomachs, as the berry is more acidic than vinegar. Once the right amount of sugar was added to the juice, Scott says, “a unique flavor of cranberry with a grape finish became sought after in rural areas.”

Since Scott put his first hawthorn in the ground in February 2015, he’s sprouted 1,800 trees and plans to start selling them to the public in the fall. For now, you can buy Congaree and Penn’s mayhaw juice, jelly and shrub, a vinegar-based syrup made from the juice. Scott has even bigger plans for the shrub.

“We’re experimenting with a sorbet,” Scott says. “The shrub is so versatile. It’s the easiest way to get mayhaw flavor into

20

all sorts of things, like a salad dressing or a cocktail.” Hey, did somebody say cocktail? Great idea! Since the Meyers met in Texas, they’ve been tequila fans.

“It’s hot on the farm in the summer and tequila seems to be a good choice,” Scott says.

FLAMINGOMAG.COM /// S U M M E R 2 0 1 7

Mayhaw Paloma S e rv e s 1 1 1/2 ounces tequila 1 ounce mayhaw shrub 1/2 ounce fresh grapefruit juice PREPARATION: Shaken and poured over ice, topped with club soda.

WADING IN :MADE IN FLA H IS

Party Pants PHOTOGR APHY BY JESSIE PREZA (ABOVE); VAN ENRIQUEZ (BELOW)

A brightly patterned Miami menswear line puts a touch of prep in your step

HOBY BUPPERT ALWAYS

had an affinity for statementmaking pants. Inspired by his father’s well-chosen Lilly Pulitzer wardrobe, Buppert followed suit in college and had a tailor creating bold, one-of-akind pants for him. It was only after a 16-year career in the beverage industry that Buppert decided to pursue fashion.

“I got to thinking that I could design my own print,” says Buppert, originally from Baltimore but now living in Miami. Soon

Preppy Pimp, a men’s line with an emphasis on formal wear and swim, was born. Drawing inspiration from waves on South Beach and Cuban tiles around town, his textile patterns reflect Miami’s vibrancy. He also offers a custom collection for which he creates designs based off clients’ monograms. Recently, Buppert crafted pants for screenwriter Jaie Laplante to wear at the Miami Film Festival by transforming the festival’s poster artwork

Above: Men’s swimsuits in prints

like Miami Leaves, Flamingos and Cuban Camo

into a fashion print. “There are very few cities where you can have an apparel brand and make it all in one place, but Miami is one of those cities,” he says.

“We print it, cut it, sew it and create everything, down to the shipping boxes in Dade County.” preppypimp.com

—Maddy Zollo Rusbosin

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WADING IN :MADE IN FLA HERS

A Sarasota-based sailcloth bag company catches wind

Stroud’s weekends revolved around taking her children to the beach, to the pool and on the boat in the waters of Sarasota Bay. It was then that the Gainesville native realized there wasn’t a bag that covered all her packing needs: something durable, functional and on-trend. Deciding she couldn’t be alone in this struggle, Stroud created bag brand Hayden Reis— named for her son, Hayden, and her daughter, Reis.

“I chose sailcloth as the material since it’s resilient and water-resistant. Unlike other companies who use recycled sails, my bags are made from new cloth to avoid mildew,” explains Stroud. “I also wanted to use bright, contemporary colors, so the line’s more fashion-forward than nautical.”

The carry-alls come in a wide range of sizes and hues, have travel-friendly zip closures and include pockets for organization.

Their practical design has caught the attention not only of Ritz Carltons and boutiques across the state but also of boat and yacht owners, who use Hayden Reis’s customization service to order bags embroidered with their vessel’s name or logo. The brand’s reach has even gone global: “The bags are also carried in Bora Bora and Germany,” says Stroud. haydenreis.com —MZR

Sailor Made

Above: Bucket bag with

seersucker accent

Inset: Large tote in

banana leaf pattern

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PHOTOGR APHY BYJESSIE PREZA

AS A YOUNG mother, Emily

WADING IN :MADE IN FLA HOME Below: Fabrics from Perron’s

Vero Beach collection

Beachy Keen

Textiles inspired by the Treasure Coast bring the shore home

WHEN KIMBERLY PERRON traded in

PHOTOGR APHY BYJESSIE PREZA

her engineering career for interior design, the founder of Resort at Home quickly learned she had to walk a fine line to capture the essence of the Sunshine State through decor. “You want beachy, not Hawaiian hotel room,” says Perron. “But it was difficult to find a variety of sophisticated patterns.”

So, when she stumbled across a new technology that let her both create designs and print them onto fabric, Perron saw her solution.

“I picked three cities with the most personality in my local area—Vero Beach, Stuart and Palm Beach—and from there made distinct collections based on each,” she explains. Palm Beach’s bright, juicy hues mirror the electricity of Worth Avenue, and Vero brings a soft yet luxe blue-andgreen color palette, while Stuart’s sunset scheme reflects its vibrant, sporty aesthetic. “I spent a lot of time in the cities taking everything in to guarantee the fabrics stayed true to the place,” says Perron.

Next up: a collaboration with Vero Beach’s David Francis Furniture and fall collections that will give customers the chance to bring an air of Miami Beach, Naples and Islamorada into their homes. resortathome.com —MZR

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WADING IN :MADE IN FLA B y Vi ct o r M a ze

So Hot, You’re Cool An Orlando wine-lover’s chilling discovery launches a hot business: keeping drinks cold

A

chilled glass of wine on a sunny Florida afternoon may be one of life’s greatest pleasures. Just be sure to sip quickly; during summer’s triple-digit temperatures, that refreshing rosé can turn from tasty to tepid in a hot second.

Orlando entrepreneur and winelover Ben Hewitt had been battling this problem for years when, in 2010, he decided to experiment with a solution.

Finding it cumbersome to use ice buckets, he wondered why no one had tried putting something inside the bottle to keep it cold?

Working out of his garage, Hewitt started by cutting open a freezer pack and squeezing the contents into a long plastic test tube. After gluing a cork to the top of this makeshift chiller and freezing it, he popped the tube into an open bottle of Kendall Jackson Chardonnay and waited.

“I had fun testing it—and it worked,”

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Above: In 2010 Hewitt

designed the first Corkcicle, which chills wine from inside the bottle, in his garage.

Hewitt says. This rudimentary prototype kept the bottle cold for about an hour— long enough for an al fresco dinner.

Over the next few weeks, Hewitt shared his idea with two pals: Stephen Bruner, a marketing whiz with whom he had worked before, and Eric Miller, a sales manager for a medical technology firm. Both friends were immediately sold on the concept and agreed to partner

FLAMINGOMAG.COM /// S U M M E R 2 0 1 7

PHOTOGR APHY BY JESSIE PREZA; DYLON YORK / CORKCICLE (LOWER LEFT)

with Hewitt. lines to include beer chillers, canteens, whiskey glasses, tumblers and water Bruner even bottles—each with a very buzzcalled him later worthy design. that evening with a thought: “Every year we try to launch one or The name should combine the two things that the market has never words “cork” and “icicle.” That night, seen before,” Hewitt says. the Corkcicle brand was born.

Although Corkcicle products are In 2011, with a more refined prototype sold online and through independent in hand, the partners scheduled a meeting and specialty retailers around the with Orlando-based ABC Fine Wine & world, the Florida lifestyle continues to Spirits to gauge interest in the product. inspire its designs.

To their delight, the retailer The canteen, for instance, placed an order that same day. was created with boaters “That was the proof of CORKCICLE in mind. concept we needed from — FLA RETAILERS — GRETCHEN’S HALLMARK “The last thing you want people in the industry,” BUNULU to do is take a glass bottle of Hewitt says.

CURL SURF FRANCESCA’S wine onto a boat,” Hewitt Corkcicle’s success quickly — PRODUCTS SOLD AT — says of the versitle container. snowballed as the wine chiller corkcicle.com “They roll around, and debuted at several national everyone is barefoot. If trade shows, eventually selling a bottle falls and breaks, 300,000 units that year. you’ve got a problem.”

Corkcicle was also named the best For this reason, the company new tabletop product at the designed its canteen to have flat sides, 2011 New York International preventing rolling, and to taper at Gift Fair; the following the bottom, allowing it to fit most cup year, sales spiked holders. Offered in tropical hues as following a mention bright as a row of Key West cottages, on Oprah’s “Favorite the canteen looks as cool as it keeps Things” gift list. its contents.

As sales grew, the Corkcicle currently employees company broadened its product 23 people, 19 of whom are in its O-town headquarters, where the Below: Corkcicle founder Ben Hewitt company’s main operations—including design, marketing and sales—are based. As the business continues to grow, Hewitt says Corkcicle’s reputation for innovation, combined with Central Florida’s laidback lifestyle and favorable cost of living, makes it relatively easy to attract talent from all over the country.

“Orlando is a beautiful place to live. People are extremely nice,” he says. “And we have amazing attractions for our kids to visit.”

Above: 16-oz.

canteens keep frozen margaritas cold on the beach.

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WADING IN :FLEDGLINGS FLO RIDA MUSICIANS ON THE R ISE B y S t eve D o l l a r

Come Sales Away

Fresh off the success of their debut album, meet two decidedly un-salty Florida musicians making surf music (never mind that they don’t swim) with an upcoming record and U.S. tour.

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HOW HAS LIVING IN ORLANDO INFLUENCED YOUR MUSIC?

LM: We agree that Orlando in particular is a great environment for us to focus without distractions. It is home—and we know what is going on and we both have tunnel vision here. We like writing here.

HOW DID YOU KNOW IT WAS TIME TO TOUR?

LM: From the beginning, Jordan and I have treated this like a business. We didn’t tour until it was a calculated risk. I’ve heard too many stories of bands eating Taco Bell for three months and coming home with

FLAMINGOMAG.COM /// S U M M E R 2 0 1 7

nothing to show for it. Last year, I quit my job as a cashier and I’m making a salary now. With music, which is crazy.

THE NEO-PSYCHEDELIC INDIE POP BAND ANIMAL COLLECTIVE WAS A BIG INSPIRATION FOR YOU, ESPECIALLY THROUGH ITS 2009 ALBUM MERRIWEATHER POST PAVILION, WHICH HIT NO. 13 ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS. HOW SO?

LM: When it came out, I said, “Jordan!

Let’s go outside and play drums on the ground and, like, yodel!”

JS: It was after all that that the sound of Sales happened.

Below: Jordan Shih and Lauren Morgan of Sales, chilling on the road

PHOTOGR APHY BY BR ANDON McCL AIN

I

s it hard to be taken seriously in the music world when you’re from Florida? The answer is yes, according to Lauren Morgan, who, with Jordan Shih, makes up the Orlando-based pop duo Sales.

“You get categorized as a novelty.

A writer called one of our tunes ‘sunburnt’.

We are not Salt Life. Jordan can’t even swim,” Morgan says. “Our music has been described as ‘surf rock’, but we are in no way, shape or form ‘tropical’ or ‘beachy’,” she adds.

The performers’ musical skills are evident, though. They met while students at Winter Springs High School and collaborated for years before Sales came into being, during which Morgan (a 2012 Florida State University graduate) studied creative writing and Shih briefly attended the University of Central Florida.

Their songs are characterized by the dreamy lilt in Morgan’s voice and guitarist Shih’s clever use of low-key, lo-fi electronics.

Starting in late 2013 with their debut single “Renee,” the duo became popular on YouTube and music websites like Stereogum. They still tour more outside of their home state than within it, hitting the road about twice a year, playing clubs and theaters, and turning down gigs that aren’t headliners. However, they have a strong allegiance to the Sunshine State as their top creative destination. The pair took a break from recording their new album to talk with Flamingo about their sound evolution, Orlando vs. Miami and more.

WADING IN :FLEDGLINGS LM: When we stopped trying to emulate other artists. It took a long time for Jordan’s very heavy electronic aesthetic to combine with my punk or rock aesthetic.

living in it, and I happened to know a few of them. We played in the living room, and they lit candles and it was magic. I don’t think it exists anymore.

YOU ARE PLANNING TO TOUR THIS FALL WITH A STRING OF FLORIDA DATES. WHERE ARE THE BEST PLACES FOR YOUR FLORIDA FANS TO HEAR YOU?

LM: Lately we both feel like producers.

Fifty-fifty. I mean, Jordan’s not going to sing anytime soon, probably.

JS: We’ve built up a routine where we meet up every morning and stay until 4 p.m. If either of us has an idea, we start with that. A song either comes out of a jam session or an idea we build from.

Now that we’ve put out a catalog, we use new sounds and still have the Sales sound. A lot of the new material we’re working on is hitting on that.

LM: The new sound is more polished and intentional.

LM: We do tour Florida but only the major cities. The scene is so transient— we don’t end up playing that often in Florida.

JS: We like Miami. We love the people there. In terms of the business side of things, it can get kind of weird in Miami.

LM: It’s been a little tense and unsavory in the past, but we love the crowd. We like to play up in Tallahassee at the college, or there was a community space called The Mansion that we liked.

It was a mansion with lots of people

HOW HAS YOUR DYNAMIC EVOLVED?

For more info visit: sales.bandcamp.com

6

FLORIDA ARTISTS

on Sales’ Play List

1 2 3 4 5 6

“FRUSTRATED” by

R.LUM.R

“IBIZA” by

Legos

“FULL LOVE WONDER” by

Surface to Air Missive

“SOCIAL SKILLS” by

Naps

“HOME SWEET HOME” by

Baby!

“DO WHAT YOU WANT” by

Laney Jones

SHOP

We are a women’s clothing and accessories boutique with a curated selection of merchandise from both big and small contemporary designers. Our mission is to inspire our customers and bring them pieces they never knew they needed, but can’t live without.

TAMPA & JACKSONVILLE BEACH @penelopetboutique WWW.PENELOPETBOUTIQUE.COM

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WADING IN :JUST HATCHED DEBUTS TO PER USE

(NORTH) JJ COOPER

3 PALMS GRILLE

Jake Michaelis always dreamed of owning a men’s store that reflected his Southern roots.

That dream became reality on March 30th, when he and his friends, John and Laurie Lecker, opened the doors to JJ Cooper on downtown Centre Street in his hometown of Fernandina.

The store’s rustic, refined décor features an Edison bulb chandelier, contemporary oil paintings of mallards and bucks by artist Bradley Gordon and custom wooden clothing racks by local craftsmen. JJ Cooper, named after its three founders, carries upscale, relaxed clothing and accessories for both the sportsman and the social gent with brands like Filson, Bugatchi, Fish Hippie, Smathers & Branson, Lucchese Boots and Moore & Giles leather goods. jjcooper.net

Overlooking a pretty golf course lake in the famous Sawgrass neighborhood, sits 3 Palms Grille, the American eatery that feels like a modern club house.

Forget the dark leather chairs and cigar smoke of yesteryear’s golf club—clean lines, an open floor plan and large windows usher bright, natural light into the space, which opens onto a vast outdoor patio. Chef favorites include the truffled deviled eggs, grilled octopus, steak burger, local fresh catch, and vegetarian quiche du jour. To quench a post-golf thirst, take a shot at the 19th hole happy hour and catch some live music while reliving—or trying to forget—those drives, chips and putts.

3palmsgrille.com

PONTE VEDRA BEACH

Above: A snappy sampling of JJ Cooper’s men’s clothing in Fernandina

OPHELIA SWIMWEAR MIRAMAR BEACH

Bathing beauties on the Emerald Coast just gained a store full of new beach-chic looks to fawn over. Ophelia Swimwear owner Tori Von Hoene has added a third location to her popular group of luxury swim boutiques: Sandestin at Grand Boulevard. More than bikinis and cover-ups, the modern shop, finished in sleek white and gold, offers clothing that transitions easily from sand to soirée. “This store is the perfect match for the elegant and trendsetting woman,” Von Hoene says. In addition

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to swimwear, the specialty store carries beach bags, hats, shoes, and accessories—including brands like Beach Riot, Vitamin A and Faithfull the Brand. opheliaswimwear.com

OBSCURA SHOP ST. AUGUSTINE

Obscura is the first brick-andmortar store for the Floridamade design house Yield, known for its handcrafted gifts and

Below: Dine beneath a curtain of crystals at Blu Halo in Tallahassee. Below left: Succulents punctuate a hip display at Obscura Shop in St. Augustine.

PHOTOGR APHY BY KRISHNA WALL (TOP); KELSE Y HEINZE (BOT TOM LEFT); KEVIN SOOSONG (BOT TOM RIGHT)

FERNANDINA

WADING IN :JUST HATCHED DEBUTS TO PER USE

(NORTH) Below: Plated with style at Blu Halo

housewares like fine canvas bags and copper and ceramic cups and bowls. Founders Andrew Deming and Rachel Gant have painstakingly curated the store’s collection, and the result is a funky mix of their

brand’s sharp products and some of their favorite designers from near and far. The wideranging selection is unified by a focus on quality craftsmanship and thoughtful production.

Whether made in St. Augustine or beyond, all products are ethically produced. obscurashop.com

THE BLU HALO TA L LA H A S S E E

The capital city has a heavenly new dining star. Blu Halo chefs began plating their first entrees last fall, transforming the

Tallahassee culinary scene with signature items like The Chief, a dry-aged bone-in ribeye; a fresh seafood tower; and quarterly wine dinners. A circular bar with a curtain of crystals anchors the dining room, casting up a giant cobalt blue halo. Behind the bar, mixologists put a chill on any cocktail by using liquid nitrogen to create a boozy ice cream confection. Inspired by restaurants in Miami and Vegas, owner Keith Paniucki wants people to feel like they are somewhere spectacular. thebluhalo.com

Above: tkktktkktk Right: tkktktkt

A WELL DESIGNED IS OUR

LIFE PASSION

W PHOTOGR APHY BY KEVIN SOOSONG

e believe in thoughtful, intentional design using quality materials crafted to enhance your home and lifestyle. Add-in our attentive, dedicated and detail oriented Home Concierge and Interior Services to free your time and enjoy life in your dream space.

Serving Northeast Florida with Kitchen and Bath design, cabinetry and countertops. Everyone deserves to live a beautiful life, the R Studio life where quality is just as important as aesthetics.

3 1 5 1 0 t h AV E N U E S O U T H JACKSONVILLE BEACH, FL R C A B I N E T S T U D I O. C O M 904.247.0149

H O M E C O N C I E RG E

C A B I N E T RY

INTERIORS

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WADING IN :JUST HATCHED DEBUTS TO PER USE (C E N T RA L ) W I N T E R PA R K

James and Julie Petrakis opened their first restaurant, The Ravenous Pig, ten years ago, in the hope of bringing the gastropub movement (think: casual atmosphere, excellent food) to Central Florida. Fast forward to today, and it’s clear the multiple-time James Beard nominees were on to something with their seasonal, everchanging menu. Not only are they running three other culinary

in one location,” says James. theravenouspig.com

VERVE BOUTIQUE ST. PETERSBURG

For Susie Wheldon, opening the clothing store Verve Boutique marked the beginning of a new chapter in her life—and a tribute to her late husband. Wheldon lost Dan, an IndyCar driver, in a 2011 racing accident. “I still get inspiration from him and I feel like he’s guiding me in this project,” explains Wheldon.

“The timing was right.” She also wanted to set an example of a strong work ethic for her two sons. Verve, named for one of Dan’s favorite bands, had its grand opening in March and is nestled in St. Pete’s Edge District. Other than the mural of a lion (which pays homage to her husband’s racing nickname “Lionheart”) hanging on the wall, the space has a minimalistic feel, keeping the focus on clothes and customer service. Shop from an array of elevated street styles for men and women, from brands like Current Elliott, The Kooples, Hudson and McGuire Denim. verve-boutique.com

JACQUELINE’S BAKERY & CAFÉ MELBOURNE

When Jacqueline Dittmore and

destinations, including their most recent fast-casual endeavor, The Polite Pig in Disney Springs, but they also moved their original brainchild into a rebooted space this past December. One side touts a casual bar serving craft cocktails and beers from their inhouse brewery, while the other provides a more upscale dining experience. “We wanted two levels of atmosphere and service

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FLAMINGOMAG.COM /// S U M M E R 2 0 1 7

Above: Sweet Lilly Jensen of House of Pastel in Cocoa Village Below:

Artisanal French baked goods from Jacqueline’s Bakery & Cafe in Melbourne Left: A pretty dessert from Winter Park’s Ravenous Pig

her husband Christophe Molitor relocated from Courbevoie, a city outside of Paris, to Melbourne, they arrived intending to start a French bakery. Before the

move, Dittmore enrolled at Le Cordon Bleu for a Grand Diploma in cuisine and pastry and at Ferrandi for a certificate in artisan bread baking (a skill she eventually taught Christophe) to ensure their game plan went as smoothly—and as successfully— as possible. In July 2016, the doors to Jacqueline’s Bakery & Café opened. Dittmore makes artisan goods, like pain au chocolat, brioche, croque monsieur and quiche, from scratch. “At first, we weren’t sure if people would appreciate our place,” says Dittmore. “Now we’ve had people tell us our croissants and baguettes are the best they’ve ever had.”

PHOTOGR APHY BY MICHELLE REED (TOP LEFT); HARMONY LYNN PHOTOGR APHY (TOP RIGHT AND BOT TOM); CHOWEN PHOTOGR APHY (OPPOSITE TOP); STREAMLINE HOTEL (OPPOSITE BOT TOM)

THE RAVENOUS PIG

WADING IN :JUST HATCHED DEBUTS TO PER USE (C E N T RA L ) that separates the lobby from Olivier’s Hideaway, a bar serving adult milkshakes spiked with moonshine. Meanwhile, on the roof’s Sky Lounge, soak up aerial views of the Atlantic Ocean while sipping on the signature Pit Crew Mule. streamlinehotel.com

HOUSE OF PASTEL C O C O A V I L LA G E Above: You don’t need a lionheart to don the elevated street styles at Verve in St. Petersburg Below: Retro racing glamour rips through the

details of Daytona’s newly renovated Streamline Hotel

Local favorites include almond croissants, Napoleons, and kouign-amanns. jacquelinebakery.com

pit stop for racing fans and other Daytona visitors. The whimsical entrance greets guests with an 800-pound jellyfish tank

Lilly Jensen has permanently parked her European café, previously run out of a whimsical Volkswagen van named Elodie, by opening House of Pastel, a storefront for her adorable petite patisserie. The shop serves homemade macarons—the most

popular flavors include Nutella, salted caramel, lavender and rose—and other scrumptious baked goods. Don’t let Jensen’s sweet exterior fool you—she has serious chops. She trained under renowned pastry chefs Ewald Notter and François Payard and worked in competitive kitchens throughout the country. “French macarons are my specialty, and there’s no place in the area that makes them fresh daily,” says Jensen. She frequently collaborates with customers for custom orders, and still takes Elodie the Van out as a pop-up boutique for parties. houseofpastel.co

THE STREAMLINE HOTEL D AY T O N A B E A C H

On December 14, 1947, stock car racer Bill France Sr. held a meeting at The Streamline Hotel’s rooftop bar. The result?

The birth of what’s known today as NASCAR. The iconic art deco hotel, built in 1939, reopened its doors this May after a three-plus year facelift thanks to Eddie Hennessy, its owner, and Anthony Melchiorri, the host of the Travel Channel’s Hotel Impossible. The overhaul has reinvigorated the Atlantic Avenue property, making it a priority

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31

WADING IN :JUST HATCHED DEBUTS TO PER USE (SOUTH) BAR COLLINS

it’s constantly changing based on what’s currently available. pastureandpearl.com

MIAMI

AMARA CAY RESORT I S LA M O R A D A

Above: Mixing it up with Julio Cabrera at Bar Collins at the Loews Miami

Beach Hotel

Miami. Dine al fresco or soak up the lively indoor atmosphere. loewshotels.com

PARLOUR VEGAN B O C A R AT O N

overflows with Florida-inspired spirits like Hemingway’s Affairs. Beyond the bar, Chef Frederic creates the lounge’s locally-inspired bites (think Cuban pizzas and handcrafted seafood sausages), which are designed to help locals and hotel guests alike experience a taste of Iconic

32

Nestled in Boca Raton’s bustling Mizner Park district, Parlour Vegan serves up a delectable collection of vegan confections and creations, from donuts and cupcakes to empanadas and pizza rolls. It’s the second location for the fast-rising bakery, which first opened in Plantation in 2015. Guests love to mingle on the bleacherstyle seating and snap selfies beneath what has become the sweet spot’s signature landmark: a Dirty Dancingstyle neon sign. Take a trip down memory lane with the nostalgic Dunkaroo cupcake or channel your inner Muggle with the Harry Potter-inspired butterbeer cupcake. They promise: You’d never know it’s vegan. parlourvegan.com

TIMELESS EATERY N AP L E S

Chef David Nelson, a darling of the Naples food scene, is cooking up a culinary project on his home turf. Set to open this summer, Timeless Eatery

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aims to be the area’s first culinary marketplace, featuring a restaurant and a wine and beer lounge with indoor and outdoor seating. Adjoining Le Moulin Bakery and Bistro will treat guests to handcrafted baked goods starting at 6 a.m. Architect Matthew Kragh designed the “timeless” crisp, white structure, which is punctuated by a carefully curated selection of local art. Shop for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, such as artisan pizzas, farm-fresh salads and coal-fired New York-style bagels, hand-rolled right next door. timelesseatery.com

PASTURE & PEARL S A N I B E L I S LA N D

If you’re in the mood for “a big fresh bowl of seafood and love,” order the lobster bouillabaisse at Pasture & Pearl, one of Sanibel Island’s newest upscale restaurants. Before opening the restaurant late last year, husband-and-wife team Elaine Dammeyer and Christian Jego spent nine years running a boutique hotel-and-restaurant in the South of France. The Florida menu concept is largely influenced by their time abroad, and because the menu is inspired by local organic meat, produce and seafood,

No matter what brings you to the Sport Fishing Capital of the World, it’s bliss to drop your anchor—er, suitcase—in a chicly renovated 110-room hotel. The remodel of the Amara Cay Resort, done in thoughtful phases, was a wrap with the completion of the heated ocean-view infinity pool and game-filled rec lawn in January.

Inside, the decor is “modern keys,” incorporating natural woven textures and sustainable wood features like the handcarved cedar tree posts which bolster the open-plan lobby, bar and dining areas. Captivated by palm tree breezes and cocktails? You don’t need to leave for tasty victuals—try the light bites onsite at Oltremare, especially the meatballs and flatbreads. End your night swinging—on a hammock by the sea or in a hanging basket chair. amaracayresort.com ­—Sabeen Perwaiz, Maddy Zollo Rusbosin and Erika Vidal Holmes Left: Couture cake from Boca’s Parlour Vegan Below: Swordfish at

Pasture & Pearl on Sanibel Island

PHOTOGR APHY BY LOEWS MIAMI BEACH HOTEL; BECA C PHOTOGR APHY (LEFT); MICHELLE REED ( BELOW RIGHT)

Iconic Miami mixologist Julio Cabrera is shaking things up on Collins Avenue again, this time at the Loews Miami Beach Hotel—fresh from a $50 million renovation. The overhaul included a complete reimagining of its bar and restaurant, appropriately called Bar Collins in reference to the famed street running through the heart of South Beach. Cabrera is the mastermind behind the innovative cocktail menu, which

— Unf ilter ed Fodder —

CAPITAL DAME

By Di ane R o b ert s • I l l u st ra t i o n b y S t ep h en L o m a zzo

HELLO, GOVERNORS!

The list of head-honcho wannabes is growing like a weed on both sides of the political fence. So meet ’em before they get pulled, mowed over or worse Running for governor? No? Everybody else is.

Not that being the CEO of the F-L-A is as fun as it used to be—Rick Scott sold the executive jet, so whoever’s elected in 2018 will have to fly Delta like the rest of us. Florida’s got a lot of big problems too: Zika, opioids, hurricanes, guns, rising sea

levels, disastrous plastic surgery and stinky beaches. Our schools are starving for money (our teachers are just plain starving), half our lakes are smothered in algae so toxic it can kill a dog and the state ranks 49th in the nation in mental health care spending, which is, of course, obvious to anyone paying attention.

Nevertheless, an impressive number of

grown people have intimated that they’re interested in the gig.

In the Republican corner, Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, a dead ringer for Opie Taylor c. 1965, has been campaigning since 2011, when he returned to Florida after five terms in Congress.

Speaker of the House Richard Corcoran,

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CAPITAL DAME UNF ILTER ED FODDER

wearer of smooth suits and boots that look like they’ve been crafted from the skins of newborn kittens, isn’t officially out as a candidate, but he’s traveling the state giving stump-style

speeches promising to slash spending on fripperies such as education and the environment.

Bearded Bad Santa lookalike Sen. Jack Latvala of Clearwater figures he deserves consideration as well. He recently told the Tampa Bay Times: “I love this state. Why shouldn’t I think about running for something else?” Why not, indeed? Latvala has been in the Florida Legislature, on and off, since 1994. Come 2018, though, he’s term-limited out and thus in need of a job.

Weight-loss guru, part-time rock ’n’ roller and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee also needs a job. A two-time presidential election flame-out, Huckabee now lives on the Redneck Riviera in a $3 million

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beach house that only got permitted when he pulled strings with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. (Point in his favor: He knows how this state operates.)

And let’s not be like the White House and forget Attorney General Pam Bondi (after she dropped that Trump U lawsuit and everything!). In March 2016, she said she had no interest in running: “I am supporting Adam Putnam, who I feel, he is our agricultural commissioner, and I think he’ll be a great governor for our state.” Still, you never know.

Which brings us to the Democrats and their passel of hopefuls. Andrew Gillum, Tallahassee mayor and infant phenomenon—he’s all of 37—declared himself a candidate on March 1, 2017. Gillum is a rising star in the Democratic Party, a guy who made Hillary Clinton’s VP shortlist. Alas, he kicked off his campaign with a mini-scandal about (you guessed it) emails!

Seems Gillum used taxpayer-funded software to send political messages. He’s paid the city back but is now under investigation. Fellow whippersnapper Chris King, 38, has also announced. He’s a Harvard grad and investor in affordable housing. On the upside, he’s not under investigation. But nobody’s ever heard of him.

Everybody’s heard of John Morgan. His name is everywhere, appearing on billboards, on the sides of buses, in TV and radio ads, and probably in your unconscious mind. His slogan “For the People” is so ubiquitous you may well hear it in your dreams. Morgan is a super-litigator, a trash-talker and a champion of medicinal weed. He is somewhat Trumpian in his enjoyment of wealth—he’s a private jetriding, Mercedes-driving populist who once quit booze cold turkey after ending up in the Seminole County lockup on a DUI. Some call him a mere ambulance-chaser. That’s unfair.

Morgan actually catches ambulances. And eats them for lunch.

Former Congresswoman Gwen Graham has many advantages, including: 1. She’s a

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moderate who can get votes in counties where people think that evolution is a satanic plot and that Hillary Clinton is a child-eating practitioner of Wicca, 2. she’s tall, and 3. her daddy is beloved former Governor and U.S. Senator Bob Graham. Let’s pray he writes a campaign song for her as powerful as his “I’m a Florida Cracker; I’m a Graham cracker!”

An embarras de richesse, as the French would say. The French would say it sarcastically, but never mind. Who’s actually viable? Who can hoover up the millions of bucks needed to compete in state media markets from the snake-

handling wilds of West Florida to the paved prairies of Orlando and the flooded streets of Miami? And who can capture voters’ fickle hearts?

Perhaps Floridians would like a Floridian: Gwen Graham, Andrew Gillum and Adam Putnam are actual natives. We haven’t had one of those since Lawton Chiles or Buddy McKay. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a governor who looked convincing while cuddling a local marsupial at the Wausau Possum Festival?

Maybe we’ll go for a political “outsider” (that seems fashionable at the moment), somebody like—well, none of these people are genuine outsiders, though what do you want to bet most of them will claim to be?

But let’s get real: Money’s what elects

governors. John Morgan can fund his own campaign just like the carpetbagger currently occupying the Mansion: Scott’s first term cost him $75 million of his own money.

Gwen Graham can raise cash; she proved that when she beat a Republican undertaker in 2014 for a congressional seat in traditionally conservative North Florida. But the real dollar magnet is Adam Putnam, or, as his wife probably doesn’t call him (but definitely should), Little Sugar. Putnam’s been cuddled up with Florida’s massive agriculture industry, especially Big Sugar, since he was knee high to a scrub jay. U.S. Sugar has dropped almost $500,000 into Putnam’s Florida Grown political action campaign directly, though Florida Crystals has been less overt. Rather, they have contributed big bucks to the Associated Industries of Florida’s various PACs, which in turn have contributed six-figure lumps to Putnam.

To be fair, Big Sugar will contribute to any candidate with a pulse and a hope in hell of winning a primary, so it won’t do to make too much of Putnam’s coziness with the sweet people who make America’s favorite addictive substance and pollute Florida’s water.

Of course, it’s early days yet: There may yet be some stealth manatee of a candidate swimming furtively upward, soon to surface. Could it be Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine, who recently covered himself in glory by suggesting that the U.S. invade Cuba and imitating the voice of a black preacher at a meeting of the Hillsborough Democrats? Grant

Diane Roberts is an eighth-generation Floridian, educated at Florida State and Oxford University. A longtime NPR commentator, her work has appeared in The New York Times, the Guardian

Hill, former Orlando Magic great and 1994 ACC player of the year at Duke?

See “tall” above—everybody knows tall people do well in elections. Or how about Jackie Siegel, director of the Mrs. Florida America Pageant and star of The Queen of Versailles, a documentary about her tragic quest to live in a 90,000-square-foot copy of Louis XIV’s palace. She used to date Donald Trump!

Or maybe Carlos Beruff, current chair of the Constitution Revision Commission and former chair of the Southwest Florida Water Management District. He had to resign from the board of that organization after he voted to approve a friend’s development plans—plans that would have destroyed sensitive wetlands. Beruff once said he’d be happy to rip out 40 acres of coastal mangroves to improve his view.

How authentically Floridian is that?

Florida’s gubernatorial contest has only just begun. All the possible candidates are as fresh-scented and shiny-new as a white undershirt right out of its package. In a few months, they’ll have become a bit ragged, stained and so smelly that even hot water and OxiClean won’t take away the stink.

Don’t panic: You’ll have plenty of time to come to loathe them all.

and the Tampa Bay Times. She has also authored four books, including Dream State, a historical memoir of Florida, and Tribal: College Football and the Secret Heart of America.

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WALKING

ON WA

TE R

Meet Gabriel Gray, the guy saving Florida’s rivers one stand-up paddleboard expedition at a time. He’s an outdoorsman, rescue worker, entrepreneur and philosopher—and all-around cool Sunshine Statesman

By NANCY KLINGENER /// Photography by DESIRÉE GARDNER

This page:

Gray’s compass tattoo points southwest—he comes from the South, and his wife Natalie grew up out west.

Opposite:

Gabriel Gray maneuvers rare coastal dune lakes, protected from the Gulf by sand dunes.

This page:

The paddleboard team on its Dead Lakes expedition, Jessica Cichra’s first paddleboard camping trip

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EWAHITCHKA LOCATION: DEAD LAKES, W

Gabriel Gray is a Florida wild man, not in a

No motors, no screens, no cell service. None of the cacophony Fontainebleau Miami Beach kind of way but in his of modern life.

That explorer part is what unabashed passion for this state’s ecosystems and creating you hear when you talk to adventures designed to understand them better. Next to Gray. His speech is laconic; the black silicone wedding band on his left hand, four he sounds like the kind of guy small tattoos align on the tops of his fingers—a fish hook, you can picture hanging out by a campfire or surviving just a compass, a sea turtle and an anchor, each symbolizing back in the 19th century. his commitment to enjoying and preserving wild life. Gray fine He doesn’t quite live off-thewalks the walk or, rather, paddles it. grid, but he hunts, fishes and even makes his own knives and There are two sides to Gray. There’s the thrill-seeker, the hatchets. He and his wife, Natalie, just bought a farm in part that led him to start riding rodeo as a kid and follow North Florida, and he is eager to start a family, have kids that passion into a career that took him from the Florida and raise them the way he was.

“I’m trying to get to where I don’t Above: Panhandle out to Texas, Las Vegas and Montana. no dry land And then there’s the side that seeks tranquility and soli- have to depend on going to the grocery With for a campsite, a tude in nature. That’s what led him onto the Wacissa River, store or anything like that,” he says. “If hammock makes a cozy place to sleep near his family’s farm on the Panhandle, as a child. Today, it’s you eat meat or if you appreciate some over Dead Lakes the part that drives him to go on expeditions in the wilder- stuff we have, you should go and see water. ness, sometimes solo, with only a paddleboard and his gear. where that meat comes from. I figure if

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VERGLADES NATIONAL PARK L O C ATI O N: FLO R I DA BAY, E

One of these guys I ran into came paddling up on this paddle board and I was like, ‘What’s that?’ I got on it and I never got off.

— Gabriel gray

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Left: John Carlson, lead researcher for NOAA on this trip, with the net system used to catch sawfish Right: Gray on the CollierSeminole Trail, which stretches across the state to Naples Below: A cold morning on the Apalachicola River

I’m going to eat that life, I should be the one to take it and clean it and know where that life comes from.”

Gray quit the rodeo circuit in 2006 and moved back east to Florida. But he still longed for that jolt of excitement he felt in the saddle.

“I wanted something that adds that adrenaline rush,” he says. “I figured running into burning buildings would do that.”

Gray, 37, took a job as a firefighter, which allowed him to devote his off hours to his lifelong passion for the outdoors.

When he wasn’t fighting fires, he was surfing off Panama City Beach. One day, he got a look at a different kind of board.

“One of these guys I ran into came paddling up on this paddleboard and I was like, ‘What’s that?’” Gray says. “I

RIVER, APALACHICOLA LOCATION: APALACHICOLA

got on it, and I never got off.”

In the last decade, Gray’s passion for stand-up paddleboarding has coincided with the sport’s rise in popularity.

And he’s ridden that wave, while maintaining his firefighter status, as proprietor of Gray Outdoors and the founder of an environmental group, Fight to SOAR—which stands for Save Our American Rivers.

He quickly saw exploratory capabilities from the paddleboard. “It’s a good way to get into the skinny [extremely shallow] backwaters that you can’t get a boat into,” he says. Gray figured out how to load a paddleboard with fishing and camping gear and started working with a conservation group, doing logistics for their trips around the state, raising environmental awareness and bringing attention to Florida waters.

When that group disbanded, he formed Fight to SOAR. He uses his expeditions to rivers around the country to raise environmental awareness and to gain access to places a boat or a backpacker couldn’t reach.

He guides groups to remote locations entirely under their own power, which fires up the intense connection with nature that Gray values and shares.

“You get a platform there that you don’t get with anything else,” he says.

“Motorized vessels, especially airboats, they’re obnoxious and loud.”

His ecotour business, Gray Outdoors, leads expeditions and holds workshops to show paddleboarders how to equip and arrange their own boards so they can be self-sufficient for a week or more.

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Gray says the environmental message and the urge to spend time in the wilderness go hand in hand. Rivers, in particular, are the key to the health of the planet. He likens the world to a human body.

“Your body’s made up of 70 percent water. And the same goes with the world,” he says. “Our arteries and veins are the rivers and streams. And they leach out to the ocean. So anything that’s polluted in those arteries is going to run through the whole body.”

Opposite, clockwise from top right:

Loaded with gear on the sawfish expedition in Florida Bay; researchers look for broken or missing teeth on a young sawfish; Gray records sawfish measurements.

LOCATION: TH E FLORIDA KE YS

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Jessica Cichra went with Gray on an Below: Gray, in Keys’ mangroves, expedition of the Apalachicola River. searching for sawfish She lives in Orlando and owns Wave of Opposite, top Wellness, which offers paddling yoga left: Sawfish get retreats in Mexico. tag implants, monitored here, “I learned a ton from Gabe—how to to track their hack our gear so everything was secure routes for up to five years on the boards and easy to get to,” she says. “He has a way of organizing food so when you’re on your board you can access things more easily.

Or even when you’re exhausted from the end of the day.”

The practical knowledge she got from paddling and camping for a week on the river was great, Cichra says, but the experience of immersing herself in nature was what she really took away from the trip.

“It strips down all of the noise and brings clarity to the things that are important to you,” she says.

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LOCATION: SAMANTHA HILL FARM, PANHANDLE

Above: Dog Bindi and Gray look out from his knife shack, where he makes his own tools.

Top right: A banded water

snake, nonvenoumous, was half dead when Gray found it and had to put it to rest.

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It was just Cichra, Gray and a photographer on the trip.

She says that was fine—because it was Gray.

“I wanted to have some experience, do something of this caliber with somebody you can trust. Plus, Gabe is a really cool guy and somebody you feel you can be stuck on a river with for a week.”

“You have a long time to talk when you’re on the river for hours and hours a day,” she says. On the river, she saw Gray’s peaceful side—though she knows about his day job fighting fires and his past in rodeo.

“He’s just so calm and fun-loving,” Cichra says. “It’s hard to imagine him being in a sport that’s as aggressive as that.”

Gray has paddled western rivers—he fell in love with Montana when he was riding rodeo—but lately he has focused on Florida. This spring, he led an expedition for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), seeking out endangered sawfish in the remote waters of Florida Bay. That’s the ragged southern edge of the Everglades, where the water is so shallow that even the skiffs of flats fishermen are known to run aground. Sawfish are among the unreal-looking creatures of the sea. It’s a kind of ray that gets its name from its long snout edged with teeth used to snag prey. They are critically endangered and like shallow coastal waters, so they are hard to find and study.

But, as Gray learned on a trip in the Ten Thousand Islands at the western edge of the Everglades, a paddleboard is the perfect tool to search for sawfish.

“The first day we were there, we were coming out of Shark River—I was sitting and waiting for my partner to come, and I looked down under my board, and I’ll be danged if a doggone sawfish didn’t come up under my board,” he says. He didn’t even know what it was at the time. Now, he’s working with scientists who will use his ability to find the sawfish in its hard-to-reach habitat to help save the species.

PHOTOGR APHY BY GABRIEL GR AY (TOP RIGHT)

PANHANDLE LOCATION: HOLMES CREEK,

WHAT’S SUP FLA?

3 paddleboard outfitters in 3 different ecosystems NORTH

CENTRAL

SOUTH

This company is associated with Black Creek Outfitters—with access to the family-owned shop’s 22-acre training lake for newcomers as well as more than 100 years of experience navigating North Florida’s vast network of rivers and waterways. They offer stand-up paddleboard yoga classes for the wellbalanced and kayak trips. blackcreekguides.com

With a couple decades dedicated to the “silent sports” of their name—kayaking and canoeing—this Gulf Coast outfitter was in the perfect position to add SUP to its options for gliding onto the water. They offer sales, rentals and lessons, along with a very helpful map of launch sites for exploring the area between Bradenton and Port Charlotte. silentsportsoutfitters.com

Lazy Dog can show you parts of Key West that have nothing to do with cocktailing or looking at old houses—the areas locals call the “backcountry.” Paddle the shallow flats and mangrove islands on the Gulf side of the Keys, where busy tourist town suddenly gives way to watery wilderness. lazydog.com

Black Creek Guides, Jacksonville

A Silent Sports Outfitter, Nokomis

Lazy Dog Outfitters, Key West

Above: On the sawfish expedition, searching in the shallows for the toothsome creatures

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LOCATION: SAMANTHA HILL FARM, PAHNANDLE

Above: Gray on his farm with his wife Natalie and their dogs, walking to catch a sunset Opposite, clockwise from top left:

Feeding time for the cattle at Gray’s farm; a group of Gray’s donkeys, with Nipper in the middle, named for his tendency to chomp fingers; Gray “likes the history” of this knife, which he repurposed from an early 1900s Georgia sawblade; visiting with Pumpkin, Gray’s palomino

Gray values Florida’s shallow coastal edges, such as Florida Bay and the Ten Thousand Islands. (In the Ten Thousand Islands, he says, “you lose cell service, you lose everything. It’s like you’re in never-never land.” Most of us freak out when we lose our constant connection to the internet. For Gray, that’s a good thing.) But, he says, the state’s real underappreciated treasure is the freshwater rivers and springs that infuse the peninsula’s long, watery landscape.

The Panhandle is Gray’s first love, but he says he especially likes paddling the Kissimmee River in Central Florida. That’s the waterway that feeds Lake Okeechobee, the huge source of the Florida Everglades. In the 1960s, the Kissimmee was dredged into a deep, straight canal, which worked great for flood control but turned out to be a massive environmental mistake.

Over the last 18 years, the Army Corps of Engineers and

the South Florida Water Management District have been putting the bends back in the river in an effort to recreate the wild, watery floodplain.

“When you’re paddling what I call the ditch, and you hit that restored section, it just comes alive,” Gray says. “Everything flourishes.”

The Kissimmee is material, living evidence of Florida’s capacity to learn from its mistakes and to bring back an appreciation for the robust aquatic wilderness that Florida once was and, Gray insists, still is. When he talked to a school group, the kids told him they don’t have anywhere uninhabited to go, as he did growing up on the Wacissa River.

“It kind of broke my heart to hear that,” he says. But, he told them, they still have options.

“I said, ‘There’s parks all around you. Even if you just go in your backyard and sit and listen, it’s amazing what you’ll see and hear.’”

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Siren Song Above:

Post Hurricane Matthew, Floridians were saddened to discover stormwrought landscapes at their local beaches.

of the Sea Florida has some of the world’s most beautiful beaches. Does the coast’s alluring facade distract from serious issues, such as eroding shorelines or rising water levels that place our lifestyle at risk? Below, a deep dive into our beaches’ biggest challenges, heroes and hopes

By CRAIG PITTMAN

N

obody knows more about Florida’s beaches than Dr. Beach.

Every year, Florida International University professor Stephen Leatherman—aka Dr. Beach— unveils his list of the U.S.’s top 10 beaches. It’s something he started by accident when, almost 30 years ago, a magazine reporter called him up to interview him about the factors that make for a good beach. Leatherman was about to leave for China and told the reporter he had no time to talk. “Fine,” the reporter said, “just give me your top 10 beaches.” He did, then he hopped on a plane and forgot all about the conversation until after the magazine appeared.

Suddenly, Leatherman’s phone began ringing off the hook. He was besieged by beach town officials asking what they could do to get on the list or to move higher on it.

Above: An aerial view of

Ft. Lauderdale Beach, which Trip Advisor’s 2017 Travelers’ Choice ranked No. 11 in the nation for best beaches

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“I’d written all these books and journal articles, and nobody ever called me about those,” he says, laughing. “But a top 10 list? That was different.”

Invariably, a Florida beach or two shows up on Leatherman’s annual list, and, more than once, a Florida beach has wound up at No. 1.

“In general, Florida beaches rate very high,” explains Leatherman, who earned a doctorate in environmental coastal science from the University of Virginia. “There are no bad major public beaches in Florida.”

He loves their fine-grained sand, gentle surf, accessibility and generally good water quality. He also loves the fact that so many of the best beaches are protected from development by Florida’s

award-winning state park system.

But Florida’s beaches are facing threats that could knock them off Leatherman’s list and chase away the nearly 113 million tourists who flocked to the state last year, many to enjoy the beaches— and spent an estimated $109 billion.

Start with the mess that closed Martin County’s beaches on last Fourth of July weekend.

ALGAL BLOOM BLUES

super shores

The Florida beaches contending for the top spot in 2017, according to Dr. Beach:

*Siesta Beach *Grayton Beach Ståte Park *Caladesi Island State Park

PHOTOGR APHY BY ADOBE STOCKFELIX MIZIOZNIKOV (THIS PAGE); FORESTPATH (PREVIOUS PAGE)

The stuff floating in the water—thick layers of toxic blue-green algae lapping at the sand— looked like guacamole.

“I’ve seen Jensen Beach closed for sharks,” says Irene Gomes, whose family has run the Driftwood

Motel since 1958. “I’ve never seen it closed for an algae bloom before.”

As bad as it looked last summer, the stench was worse, driving away Gomes’s customers, chasing off paddleboard and kayak renters, and forcing residents to stay indoors. One of Gomes’s friends, nurse Cyndi Lenz, sums it up: “It smells like death on a cracker.”

Algae are microscopic organisms. They’re generally harmless, but they can proliferate wildly, becoming an armada of millions known as an algal bloom. The bloom may produce toxins harmful to fish, animals and humans.

The algal bloom along the coast didn’t come from leaky local septic tanks, which state officials

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PHOTOGR APHY BY STEPHEN LEATHERMAN; ISTOCK MARGARET W

want to replace. Nor was it fueled by the six sewer outfalls that shoot treated municipal wastewater out into the Atlantic (and will continue to do so until at least 2025).

No, the economic and environmental disaster that closed Martin’s beaches was cooked up in the stew pot that is Lake Okeechobee, where state officials have not held polluters accountable to limits that were created in 2001, according to Mark Perry, executive director of the Florida Oceanographic Society, based in Stuart.

Why did the algal bloom start in the lake last May? Nobody knows what sparks an algal bloom, says Gil McRae, director of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg. Heat has something to do with it, as well as a good supply of Below: Florida nutrient pollution, both International University of which were abun- professor Stephen Leatherman, aka Dr. dant at the time. Lake Beach, creates ripples Okeechobee, Florida’s of media frenzy when biggest freshwater lake, he releases his annual list of the U.S.’s top 10 is a repository for nutri- beaches. Right: Sunrise walks on the coast are ent-polluted runoff from a daily pleasure, but for the suburbs and farms how long?

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sandy land Florida nabbed 10 out of 25 spots on the list of the top U.S. beaches, according to TripAdvisor’s 2017 Travelers’ Choice.

Here’s how we stacked up:

1. Siesta Beach 3. Saint Pete Beach 4. Clearwater Beach 5. Panama City Beach 6. Hollywood Beach 7. Pensacola Beach 8. St. Augustine Beach 11. Fort Lauderdale Beach 12. South Beach 17. Henderson Beach State Park

around its rim. The nutrients come from fertilizer, manure and septic waste.

The lake is also a flooding threat because the earthen Herbert Hoover Dike, built around its rim after a 1928 hurricane pushed Okeechobee over its natural banks and killed 2,500, is at risk for leaking and collapsing. To reduce the chance of a breach during hurricane season, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers tries to keep water levels 12.5 to 15.5 feet above sea level. When heavy rains hit last January, the Corps started dumping water from the lake. They sent it west, via the Caloosahatchee River, into the waters surrounding Fort Myers and Sanibel and east, via the St. Lucie River, into the waters around Stuart—contaminating both Florida coastlines.

Sanibel residents immediately objected. As the lake’s flow entered Pine Island Sound, it formed a dark brown plume that sliced through the middle of Sanibel’s teal-hued waters at the height of its tourist season. Parasailing tourists would land and comment on how “nasty” it looked. Bait houses, fishing guides, beach hotels and restaurants saw their business dwindle and disappear.

Then, as the lake began suffering from a 33-square-mile harmful algal bloom in mid-May, the pulses of fresh water the Corps sent to the coast spread the algae along the beaches. The bloom was spotted May 13, Perry says, and, within days, it was growing in the St. Lucie estuary.

It wasn’t the first time this had happened. Normally, the algae that thrive in fresh water are killed by encountering salt water. This time, however, the heavy pulses from the lake—about a billion gallons of water a day—provided enough fresh water to keep the algal bloom growing, Perry says.

Experts who have monitored the health of that estuary for decades say this was the worst and largest algal bloom they’ve seen. It lasted for months, finally subsiding with the summer’s end.

Still, there is a fear that the tourists who were

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Making Waves

54

for Better

Waters

There are plenty of Floridabased environmental groups you can support with time or money—after you make sure you’re comfortable with their interests and resource allocation, of course.

Some are local branches of well-known national or global organizations, such as the Sierra Club. Others are less recognizable but just as active. Here, three reputable water-focused groups to consider:

Florida Clean Water Network a 1994

This organization is led

by Linda Young, a Florida native who has repeatedly shown up at public hearings and gone to court to argue against weakening water pollution standards. floridacleanwater network.org

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Surfrider Foundation a 1984

A group of California surfers started the Surfrider Foundation because they were troubled by the dangers of surfing in polluted water.

The foundation has 11 chapters in Florida, each campaigning to protect beaches and the ocean. surfrider.org

Waterkeeper Alliance a 1966

Founded by Hudson River fishermen in New York, the Waterkeeper Alliance now boasts nearly 300 chapters worldwide. Nine are here in Florida, ranging from the Emerald Coastkeeper in the Panhandle to the Miami Waterkeeper in South Florida. waterkeeper.org

No one thought of building much near the ocean, because it would eventually sweep any structure away.

—Charles pierce

driven away from the Atlantic and Gulf coasts won’t come back this summer.

The state has learned something from last summer, making strides this spring toward passing legislation to support building reservoirs on state-owned lands that could reduce discharges to coastal waters, while sending more fresh water south to the Everglades and Florida Bay.

PHOTOGR APHY BY ADOBE STOCK KRZ YSZTOF WIK TOR (OPPOSITE); ADOBE STOCK FORESTPATH

EROSION REDUX Florida’s early settlers had no use for beaches. To them, if you couldn’t plow it, it was worthless.

The beach had an additional downside: its lack of permanence.

“No one thought of building much near the ocean, because it would eventually sweep any structure away,” wrote Charles Pierce, a pioneer who visited the beach area off of Lake Worth to hunt bear.

Now, of course, the beaches drive Florida’s tourism and real estate sectors. Yet the problem remains the same as it was in Pierce’s day. Nothing on a beach is permanent.

Geologists call the beaches on barrier islands “dynamic.” They are constantly moving as they erode in one place and build back up in another.

Beach erosion becomes particularly pronounced during tropical storms and hurricanes—hence the importance of barrier islands, which absorb the force of pounding waves, Above: Willet birds sparing the mainland. are a common sight on the shores of Florida beaches along Florida, but their the Gulf of Mexico are loss of habitat has reduced their particularly vulnerable numbers in specific areas to erosion. A 2012 U.S.

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PHOTOGR APHY BY NASA EARTH OBSERVATORY IMAGES BY JOSHUA STEVENS; STEPHEN LEATHERMAN; ADOBE STOCK FORESTPATH (LEFT TO RIGHT)

PHOTOGR APHY BY FSU SPORTS INFO

Geological Survey report found that 70 percent of Gulf beaches are vulnerable to extreme erosion during even the weakest of hurricanes, and 27 percent are projected to be inundated.

To cope with the beaches’ continuous loss of sand, the local, state and federal governments go out and get more, using taxpayer money. Since 1922, engineers have been boosting beaches by digging up sand hundreds of miles off the Atlantic Coast and pumping it to the land.

Since then, more than 300 major renourishment projects have been pursued nationwide, dumping a total of 517 million cubic yards of sand onto the country’s waning beachfronts, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the federal agency that watches the sea and sky.

Florida’s beaches have reaped the greatest benefit from federally funded renourishment projects. Thirty-five of Florida’s 67 counties have used taxpayer money to artificially enhance their beaches or to rebuild them after tropical storms and hurricanes washed them away. It’s not cheap.

Replacing the sand on 2.2 miles of Vero Beach wiped away by Hurricane Matthew last year was expected to cost more than $3 million.

Those counties say they have little choice. Tour-

ists who show up at a Florida hotel and find that there’s no beach anymore are apt to check out early. The other problem, of course, is that, if the beach isn’t rebuilt, the hotels and condominiums built on that expensive real estate will topple into the water.

Yet rebuilding the beaches is only a temporary solution. The transplanted sand washes away too, and soon—not unlike a Hollywood star relying on plastic surgery to maintain the illusion of youth— the beach needs another treatment, and another, and another.

What’s worse, rebuilding Florida’s beaches is likely to become a greater expense in the future thanks to the third threat: climate change.

Top, from right:

An example of sunny day flooding on a main thoroughfare; Even on an overcast Florida day, fishing from a chair by the shore is a pleasure, until the tide creeps up and threatens to sweep your gear away.

Left: Lake Okeechobee in

2016 during a toxic algal bloom that devastated local economies but didn’t warrant FEMA aid.

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—albert c. hine

CLIMATE-CHANGE CLARITY The list of people who deny or question the existence of human-caused climate change includes Governor Rick Scott, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio and President Donald Trump. The list of those convinced that climate change is real includes the U.S. military, the Vatican and the heads of the scientific academies of all the then G8 countries.

“There is no debate that humans have changed the amount of CO2 and other greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere,” State Climatologist David Zierden writes on his official web site. “All scientists also agree that the world has been warming over the last century and that the greenhouse gases play a part.”

The evidence, say scientists, is against the deniers. Based on weather records going back to the 1880s, 2016 was the warmest year on record globally and continued to back up a long-term warming trend the third year in a row. Rising seas are pushed higher because of melting glaciers and because water expands as it gets warmer. Sea levels already have risen by about 9 inches in the last century and are projected to rise another 9 to 24 inches in the next 50 years.

That’s already worsening rain-related flooding in the streets of coastal cities such as Miami Beach. Tidal charts in Key West, which date back to the 19th century, have documented a rise of 9 inches in the past century. Sand bags have become a new amenity for some restaurants there.

Anyone living in Florida now can see the consequences of a rising seas, says Albert C. Hine, a University of South Florida geological oceanogra-

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phy professor and one of five co-authors of Sea Level Rise in Florida: Science, Impacts, and Options (University Press of Florida, 2016). In one neighborhood, close to the waterfront in St. Petersburg, some streets flood on sunny days, “during a spring high tide or after heavy rain the sun comes out and the rainwater has no place to flow down to because the water in Tampa Bay is high,” says Hine. Some Florida cities are already trying to adapt, Hines notes.

Miami Beach is spending $400 to $500 million to raise its roads and overhaul its stormwater system by adding as many as 70 pumps.

The beaches are bearing the brunt of it. Because Florida is so flat, even a small increase in sea level can cause big problems. A one-foot rise in the sea level would move the shoreline 2,000 to 10,000 feet inland. A 2007 study by FSU found that sea level rise was gobbling up Florida’s beaches by almost five feet a year.

“As the sea level continues to rise, it will severely impact the barrier islands,” Hine says.

Current flood charts show the beaches simply slipping beneath the waves, but that’s not realistic, he says. Instead, he predicts, the force of the waves will “alter the shape of the islands, put channels where there weren’t any, reshape the dunes.”

“In 10 or 20 or 30 years, these islands are going to change their shape and their orientation and elevation, and, maybe in 40 to 50 years if nothing is done, literally, buildings could be out in the surf zone,” Hine says.

Once that happens, say “goodbye” to all the tourists. And Dr. Beach’s annual list of the best beaches might turn into a grim list of those we have left.

Is there anything we can do? Until governments at all levels begin working to adapt to or even reverse climate change, the situation will continue getting worse.

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PHOTO GR APHY BY ADOBE STOCK LUNAMARINA

During a spring high tide or after heavy rain the sun comes out and the rainwater has no place to flow down to becase the water in Tampa Bay is high

Above:

Daytona Beach didn’t make the list this year, but it’s still a beautiful and quite appealing place to local surfers.

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Mican

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MICHAEL ADNO

Photography by MARY BETH KOETH

Parad ox

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A mere two miles from antique-lovers’ charming Micanopy sit sparse remnants of //////////////// the 1,000-acre Pilgrimage Plantation, a Jewish settlement with big aspirations that failed to thrive. Here’s the fascinating story of Florida’s unsung antebellum pioneer.

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Left:

in Florida. There were bios, army memos of Indian attacks, and more, but nothing amounted to a thorough account of this mythAbove: ic specter. The idea of a Jewish The plaque remembering homeland, let alone a plan for the Levy was erected in Micanopy in 2015. abolition of slavery hatched in the Deep South by a Jewish settler, struck me. Hell, it seemed far-fetched, considering I was there researching groups like the Ku Klux Klan. For years, it stuck with me. But what gnawed at me was this: how could such a remarkable story remain unsung?

Moses Levy, standing in a corn field, wanted to create an agrarian utopia for European Jewish refugees in Florida.

Holy Moses!

Levy arrived in Florida as a merchant with a deep well of ambition. Born in Mogador, Morocco in 1782, Levy grew up

PHOTOGR APHY BY STATE ARCHIVES OF FLORIDA (LEFT)

ehind a curtain of Spanish moss, buried beneath palmettos and kudzu, lies one of our country’s most unremarked historic sites, one that speaks to America’s foundation and rich mélange of culture and reminds us that freedom didn’t extend to the frontier but rather returned from it.

Only 2,000 feet from Interstate 75, two miles northwest of Micanopy, a small clearing flanked by live oaks and longleaf pines sits quietly undisturbed. Here, along the edge of a wetland near present-day Wacahoota, sat Pilgrimage Plantation, built in 1822. While a plantation in name and model, its aims were different than a typical plantation. A plan for the abolition of slavery emerged from atop the hill here. Idylls of free public education, means to restructure religious rigidity, and the hope for a homeland for Jewish people took root here. With such significant thinking and events occurring at this sanctuary of sorts, why don’t more Floridians know about it?

The closest town, Micanopy, with a population hovering at around 600 people, hasn’t grown much since it was settled, but the area’s deep well of history begins before that of this country and its colonial forbears. The town—named after Seminole Chief Micanopy—became the first distinct settlement after Florida became a U.S. territory in 1821. The stretch of the town’s charm remains as elastic as its age. Passing through to peruse the antique shops, admire the oaks and cypresses that march around town, and talk story with the locals, Floridians adore the place for its outside-of-time aura. Years ago, I came across the name Moses Elias Levy by accident while mining the archives at Micanopy’s Historical Society. John Thrasher, the society’s founding president, turned me on to Levy. Thrasher led countless historical initiatives locally, and he’s known not only as a living encyclopedia but as a stand-in for the town’s spirit.

With Thrasher, I sifted through boxes outlining Levy’s life

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in Gibraltar and landed in St. Thomas at 19. Judging from accounts, I imagined the man stoic at times, with a smile as wide as his mandible. He seemed like a ruthless pragmatist, warm but intensely focused and with an adept sense of diplomacy. While he belonged nowhere, he fit in everywhere.

Without Levy, Florida would have remained in a developmental stalemate, toeing the line between pioneer promise and impending conflict. His vision—which he considered a necessity—was to create a homeland for European Jews fleeing persecution. His initial 53,000 acres in Florida came via the Arredondo Grant that he acquired through a friend close to the Spanish Kingdom; with them, he helped forge the town of Micanopy and garnered interest in taming the fringe of the unforgiving free world: Florida. Yet in all my time poking around Alachua County, I had heard little about the role he played until Thrasher pointed me toward Pilgrimage.

Levy in Context

In Europe, the slow push of Jewish emancipation affected Levy. In 1819, the Hep-Hep riots in Germany made Jews across the world nervous. There was a sense of dread. At the purported height of the Enlightenment, those outside the bulwark of religious or ethnic privilege feared a return to the Middle Ages. So, Levy began to build a refuge.

C.S. Monaco, the principal historian regarding Levy, believed that to do anything else would have been—in Levy’s mind—ungodly. To remain in the Islands—wealthy and complicit—rather than settle on the Florida frontier was unthinkable for Levy.

On March 4, 1822, after the ratification of the Adams-Onís Treaty made every person within the Florida territory (except Indians and slaves) American citizens, Levy swore his allegiance before St. Augustine’s mayor.

Above from left:

A field near the site where the now vanished Pilgrimage Plantation once stood; C.S. Monaco, the principal historian regarding Levy, with his dog in Micanopy

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That same year, Levy’s first settlement, Hope Hill, crumbled along the banks of the St. Johns River, near present-day Palatka. With that first flare extinguished, he went farther south to set in on his second. Near what is now Wacahoota, Levy cleared 120 acres for crops and began building while establishing a safety net: to support the frontier by representing it to the Florida Association. This led to wealthy investors’ interest in the territory and the first steps toward taming the unrelenting landscape. In the process, Levy would start a revolution that was partly philosophical and partly political but, moreover, an inkling of our country’s coda.

When I asked Monaco how he’d describe Levy in the

Below from left:

context of American history, he told me, “He encompasses an immense part of American history.” Yet when scanning the historical record, you’d be hard-pressed to find a sign of Levy.

And that absence seemed odd considering all that I was picking up, piece by piece. But Monaco noted, “His vast contribution to the territory didn’t go unnoticed.”

The social hierarchy that reigned throughout the South was nascent in Florida. The territory was made up of so many different milieus that it evaded any characterization Antique shops in the town’s center; vintage cameos for sale; Bonnie Mountain, Owner of Micanopy Canopy Connection

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easily applied to the rest of the South. I asked South Florida-based Jerry Klinger, president of the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation (JASHP), about the challenges Levy might have faced as an outsider. He explained, “When the Indians are coming over the hill, you don’t hear anybody yelling, ‘Give everybody a gun but the Jew’.” Nobody was an outsider here. For Levy, the concept of America was heartening, yet aspects of the country seemed antithetical to its founding principles. Jews could own land—a windfall in Levy’s mind considering the plight of Jews in Europe; yet others in America, such as slaves, could not.

The paradox seemed to be his departure point.

a campaign for A plantation

Aside from creating a physical refuge, Levy aimed to stage a return to an agrarian society, to turn away from the quasi-urban lifestyles European Jews lived. This was evident in his appeals to the Freemasons of London. While there were Jewish power brokers, “They didn’t enter the public stage like Levy did,” Monaco said. In the late 1820s, Levy traveled to London from Florida. As Monaco explained, “The fact that a Jew from Godknows-where Florida arrived in front of the Freemasons’ hall

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[which was comparable to Parliament], good God. He became notorious and famous in his own right.” While his attempt to spur an interest in Pilgrimage waned, his plan for the abolition of slavery was bolstered in London.

With his diplomatic prowess, Levy weaved together different religious sects from within and outside Judaism. And he moved freely in Catholic colonies at a time when the Inquisition persisted. “He was a person of the Atlantic world,” Monaco said.

Klinger added, though, “He kept his name relatively quiet on this side of the Atlantic, because he would Left: Monica have been stretched otherwise.” His beliefs Beth in front of her shop might have killed him had they been pubDelectable lic. But it’s also unavoidable to find issue in Collectables; vestiges of the the fact that Levy owned slaves and sought past fill local abolition. How could a slave-owner be an shops abolitionist?

Right: Micanopy is known as the Abolition’s most prevalent connotation is “town that time the immediate end of slavery, yet the North forgot.”

“The fact that a Jew from God-knows-where Florida arrived in front of the Freemasons’ hall, good God. He became notorious and famous in his own right.” — C.S. Monaco

ended it through gradualism. And Levy favored gradualism, as he saw an abrupt ending of slavery as crueler for slaves. So, he called for the end of American slavery in 50 years, not solely through attrition but also through education. “He was a dreamer, but he wasn’t alone,” Monaco explained.

In St. Thomas, a Caribbean island where he spent years of his life, Levy had met Zephaniah Kingsley, a fellow Florida planter. Kingsley—another contradictory figure—traded slaves and concurrently fought for their emancipation. Kingsley and Levy are inextricably bound because both published pamphlets calling for the abolition of slavery—in the same year. Evidently, the two men influenced each other and published their plans almost simultaneously. In 1828, Levy published—albeit anonymously—A Plan for the Abolition of Slavery, and Kingsley published A Treatise on the Patriarchal System of Society.

Today, the Kingsley Plantation still stands near the mouth of St. Johns River, on Fort George Island, as part of the National Register of Historic Places.

In the Deep South, then, the slightest sign of resistance to the ways of the land would have had you floating above the rolling pinelands in short order: The pioneer culture was volatile.

Still, Levy advocated for the humane treatment of slaves and

the abolition of slavery, though he reaped the benefits. Monaco, reflecting on Levy’s holding these beliefs, let alone entering the public sphere with them, said, “This was something radical.” Ultimately, Levy equated slaves’ rights with Jewish rights.

Utopia’s Undoing

By 1823, 25 families lived at Pilgrimage, but the burgeoning utopia didn’t attract more settlers after the first push. A scarcity of housing prevented nearly 50 families from making the trip from Europe, which might have been the momentum needed to set the haven in motion. In its prime, the plantation was made up of a modest main house, surrounding homesteads, and infrastructure—supported by 10 to 31 slaves.

To sustain the plantation, Levy turned to sugarcane. Though Pilgrimage remained static, Levy’s fortune dwindled. When he went to London in the mid-20s, the plantation declined in his absence. And when he returned, there weren’t enough hands to harvest the standing sugarcane. Pilgrimage unraveled.

Thirteen years after its first trees were felled, Pilgrimage burned down at the onset of the Second Seminole War in 1835.

Once more, Levy’s dream turned fevered.

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Mighty fine time in Micanopy

After digging into the history of Moses Levy and the legacy he left behind, plan an unforgettable trip to “the town that time forgot.”

digs:

In the center of Micanopy, which was recently named one of America’s 12 cutest towns by the Huffington Post, try the Herlong Mansion (402 N.E. Cholokka Blvd.). This stately gem oozes with charm that harkens back to 1845 to accommodate visitors. The porch and property can slow anyone down, so take a seat behind the Corinthian columns that adorn the neo-classical façade of this bedand-breakfast and start to unwind. Apart from the Herlong, look through the listings

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surrounding Micanopy for private homes and cottages. Rise alongside the sun over Tuscawilla Lake or saunter downtown from a bungalow up the street.

eats:

At the edge of town, along Highway 441, a regional jewel sits at the back of a gas station. The Pearl Country Barbecue (106A N.E. Hwy. 441) is everything a Southerner dreams of when it comes to pig and country fixin’s. The vinyl-topped tables, contoured

To buoy himself, Levy tried to sell off land parcels, but his contested citizenship and the Arredondo Grant’s questionable authenticity plagued him. Tedious litigation drained what he had had left. Later, however, he regained his wealth. And even though he could have left Florida and its challenges behind, he stayed.

Heritage in the Mire

booths, and plush counter stools set the scene for some of the best brisket, ribs, and pulled pork around.

The sides are right up there too.

But, most importantly, this is a place where nobody lets you forget to “Take care.” Across the intersection is Blue Highway Pizza (204 N.E. Hwy. 441), a hive-like spot where strangers feel more like friends and the eclectic pizzas make you forget that you’re out in the sticks. Back toward town, next to the Micanopy Historical Society and Museum, sits Mosswood Farm Store and Bakehouse (703 N.E. Cholokka Blvd.). This place cannot receive enough praise. Its aromatic, light coffee would satisfy any snob.

And Mosswood fills the gap of vegan and vegetarian options in the area.

Its ice cream—well, you won’t find anything more rewarding on a warm day in town.

to-do’s:

Learn about Micanopy’s past at the Micanopy Historical Society and Museum, off the main drag. At the center of town, stroll through the Micanopy Out Post (205 N.E. Cholokka Blvd.) to find vestiges of the Old South alongside an impressive collection of Florida Highwaymen paintings. There are few painters who could capture the aura of an ebbing afternoon light or evening thunderstorm like Roy McLendon or Willie Daniels. At the end of the strip, pick through the endless collection of periodicals, literature, postcards, and antiques at the Stagecoach Stop (110 N.E. Cholokka Blvd.).

Antiquarians and design junkies can peruse the collection of vintage and contemporary furnishings at The Shop (210 N.E. Cholokka Blvd.).

Queries about Levy often lead to his son, David. In 1841, David was elected as a delegate from the Florida territory to the U.S. House of Representatives. Then, in 1845, when Florida attained statehood, he became a senator—the first of Jewish heritage. History reveals that John Quincy Adams called David the “alien Jew delegate.” Amidst the onslaught of anti-Semitism, David changed his surname from Levy to Yulee.

David’s older brother, Elias, followed suit, which beset their father. While Levy had always had an unOpposite from seemly relationship with his sons, their releft: Goodies at Mosswod lationship deteriorated after Pilgrimage’s Farm Store & Bakehouse; Gallery demise. In Levy’s will, he left Elias and DaUnder the Oaks vid $100 each and gave the rest of his assets Above: Ernest to his daughters and sister. Bitter litigation Kallenbach, 91, artist-woodworker finally split Levy’s assets five ways, but the jab from six feet under must have made an indelible mark.

David became known as the “Florida Fire Eater,” a Southerner who revered antebellum values—unlike his father. He built his own plantation and became known for chartering the Florida Railroad in 1853. The town Yulee, located in northeast Florida, is named after him, and the county that abuts the Pilgrimage site, Levy County, is too. In 2000, David was recognized as a “Great Floridian” by the state of Florida. While his son’s legacy endured, Levy’s legacy was left to the swamps.

In 2015, Micanopy erected a Florida Heritage Site plaque commemorating Levy near the town’s most popular haunts.

Monaco told me, “I don’t think that plaque would have been possible ten years ago.”

Another local explained, “There’s that old-time Southern bullshit, especially in this part of Florida where the crackers just aren’t exactly friendly toward Jews.” It begged the question of whether this kernel of reform in Florida was at times glossed over to tell more palatable stories.

In 1854, Levy died in Greenbrier, West Virginia, nine years before the Emancipation Proclamation confounded his life’s work. He died among friends, who buried him nearby. The site of the grave bore no marker and dissolved into lore.

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The JASHP—which has erected markers in 27 states and five countries—tried to erect one in Greenbrier, but they couldn’t persuade the owners of the historic Greenbrier resort to do so. Klinger even told them he’d “pay for the damn thing,” reasoning that a marker would highlight how Levy revitalized the American experience and galvanized some of the most inimitable archetypes which we claim. But he was resigned: “It’s up to them.”

As for Pilgrimage, rumblings about National Historic Landmark status are circling around. “It rings all the right bells. And it hasn’t been done enough, especially with Jews,” Monaco said. He’s been working with the Gulf Archaeology Research Institute to make the case to the National Park Service (NPS). “It highlights the NPS’s priorities for ethnicities” and speaks clearly of “our national code,” he said. Klinger too believes there is an opportunity to talk about the contradictions of America but also to talk about the possibilities of

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Above from left:

freedom through the NPS. Differences in historic preservation in the North and South loom large, especially concerning Jewish heritage. Monaco Opposite from left: A vintage called it “historical amnesia.” Inevitably, photo of the site the process of preservation relies on the where Pilgrimage Plantation once community’s “individual gatekeepers.” stood; one of the town’s oldest He explained that 99.9 percent of propcemeteries. erty owners are cooperative, and that in Florida much of the work of preservation concerned wars, allowing researchers to wave a flag and be quickly obliged. But he asked, “Jewish identity?” Then he laughed and added, “That’s another thing entirely.”

Beside the plaque in Micanopy, the state has done little to acknowledge Moses Levy, yet the ruins of David Yulee’s plantation in Homosassa joined the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.

Herlong Mansion dates back to 1845; David Yulee was the son of Moses Levy.

PHOTOGR APHY BY STATE ARCHIVES OF FLORIDA (ABOVE LEFT)

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Pilgrimage to Pilgrimage

After Monaco gave me directions to find Pilgrimage, he said, “It certainly shouldn’t be forgotten.” At the bottom of the hill, a serpentine ravine crept up toward the site of Pilgrimage. I thought about how Levy’s legacy made clear the ebb and flow of justice in America, then and now. And how the unsettling paradox conjures up what this country continues to be: a place as troubling as it is inspiring.

But one question hung over me: Is America in its finest moments not antithetical? In recent months, we’ve seen an uptick in bomb threats, anti-Semitic rhetoric, and the vandalism of religious sites. I feel increasingly cautious claiming I’m Jewish in some parts of Florida, not just in the backwoods anymore. The national discourse regarding these events seems fervent, at times,

and for sites like Pilgrimage to attain National Historic Landmark status would undoubtedly temper a resurgence of anti-Semitism and protect our country’s values.

At the base of the property, a withered, gray tree-trunk stood wrapped in kudzu—the vine dead, set in place. But at the trunk’s base, two young palm fronds poked out, suggesting another period of promise here at Pilgrimage. Maybe the spirit of Pilgrimage would return.

As I left the field where the plantation once stood, and approached the back road where I parked, the noise of passing cars grew louder—a far cry from the hummingbirds and cicadas that blanketed Pilgrimage—and a strange sensation washed over me.

As a first-generation Jewish-American born in the South—with my family strewn across the world—Levy’s muted legacy offered me hope; a well to return to, to draw from, to belong to; and ultimately a place to remind me of the great promise this country still holds.

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Where the

Above:

Seaplanes offer dual vantage points, from sea and sky, of some of Florida’s most beautiful and remote beaches

PHOTOGR APHY BY ISTOCK M MORELL; ILLUSTR ATION BY VEC TORSTOCK .COM

Wild Things Are Adventure in VERO BEACH by land, sea and sky helped a globetrotting Floridian reconnect and fall in love again with her home state.

What’s waiting for you in an action-packed, blue-lagoon trip to the Treasure Coast?

By TERRY WARD

blues of the Atlantic Ocean come into view, and the nearly cloudless cerulean Florida sky surrounds us.

Desperate for a little adventure and looking to see the wilder side of the Vero area, Javier and I have signed up for a tour with Hoover’s seaplane company, Treasure Coast Seaplanes, which he opened with his wife, Sheena, in August 2016.

Only a short while into our 75 minutes of flightseeing, I realize that this is just what Javier and I needed.

One year prior, I was less than thrilled about moving back to my urban life in Tampa. I had lived for several years in the bucolic countryside of southwest France, and meeting Javier in 2015 had changed all that. We’d decided to start a life together not in Jamaica, where we met, but in

to turn back now,” says Michael Hoover, 45, adjusting his sunglasses and erupting into an enormous grin as we turn onto the runway and the engines of his red and white sixpassenger seaplane thrum. I grin back. I live for these kinds of thrills, and he surely senses that I’m relaxed and good to go.

I feel my shoulder blades push back into my seat and look back to the row behind me, where my Cuban-born husband, Javier, has our five-month-old son, Nico, strapped to him in a baby carrier, the seatbelt tightly around them both.

Above:

The Fellsmere Bridge at Sebastian Inlet in Vero Beach

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Javier’s brown eyes are huge and his smile even bigger. Nico, for his part, seems oblivious to the earplugs we’ve pushed into his ears to diffuse the engine noise but is similarly alert, taking it all in.

As the plane, a 1979 Cessna U206G Stationair amphibious aircraft fitted with Wipline 3450 floats for water landings, lifts up from the Vero Beach Regional Airport, canals lined with large homes and even larger boats give way to the emerald gleam of the Indian River Lagoon. The deep

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PHOTOGR APHY BY (THIS PAGE) VISIT VERO BEACH; (OPPOSITE PAGE, CLOCK WISE FROM TOP LEFT) TREASURE COAST SEAPL ANES; TERRY WARD; PAUL SELDES; ISTOCK CHAD ELBERSON; HAL KENNEDY (BOT TOM RIGHT AND CENTER); PAUL SELDES; VISIT VERO BEACH

“Are you ready? Because it’s too late

From left above:

A water view from inside the seaplane; Captain Michael Hoover on the pontoon of his 1979 Cessna aircraft; a school of fish in the Indian River Lagoon Middle:

Egrets and hundreds of other species live in the ecoystem; mangrove tree roots spring from the seabed.

Below:

Divers explore the coral reef; wildlife teems above and below the surface in the estuary; an alligator lounges in the lush vegetation.

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at about 115 mph. It feels more like 50.

Named for the millions of dollars’ worth of gold coins and jewels spilled by 11 ships, bound for Spain, that were wrecked during a 1715 hurricane, the Treasure Coast stretches across Indian River, St. Lucie and Martin counties and offers countless adventures for modern day explorers, as I’m quickly learning.

As the sea turtle comes into view, we are so close to the water that I can make out the yellowish-green hue of its shell.

“You know, at this low altitude, if we get lucky enough to see a whale breaching, you don’t just see it, it’s like you’re a part of it,” Hoover says. Though we don’t spot whales on this day (North Atlantic right whales migrate along the coast from December to March), the highlights keep coming. Offshore from the wealthy private community of John’s Island, we spot the unmistakable outline of a shark— perhaps a spinner, common along these shores.

Then we bank west over Sebastian Inlet, where a long jetty juts into the ocean and make our way inland for the real surprise.

The ocean scenery gives way again to the

“If we get lucky enough to see a whale breaching, you don’t just see it, it’s like you’re a part of it.”

—michael hoover

Florida, my home state. It made the most sense, with his family in Cuba, mine in Florida and baby Nico on the way. But I wondered how I’d ever get over giving up la belle vie in France—languorous meals with friends who had time to spend six hours around the table on a Sunday, weekend ski trips to the Alps, shopping for groceries at postcard-perfect outdoor markets, and all that wine and cheese.

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“Dolphins!” comes Javier’s voice into our headsets. I look down to see two silver fins slicing the water just 100 feet below us. We are about 500 feet from the shore. I’ve never flown so low over Florida’s coastline, and the seaplane is giving me a brand-new perspective, like a stand-up paddleboard on steroids.

“Sea turtle at ten o’clock,” says Hoover, with a mix of nonchalance and pride, as we cruise along

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populated area while travelling westbound), and, suddenly, I am manning the ship. I ask Javier it if makes him nervous, and he says no. Nico has fallen fast asleep and is drooling on his arm.

“Think of flying like you’re holding a paintbrush, making small adjustments,” says Hoover, as I feel the sweat bead on my upper lip and my adrenaline kicks in. “It’s like artwork, not like operating heavy machinery.”

I am nervous as hell, to be sure. But he’s right.

The slightest nudge from my thumb makes the wingtip bow gently north or south. I experience Below:

A lonely sailboat moored in the Indian River Lagoon.

PHOTOGR APHY BY TERRY WARD (BOT TOM); TREASURE COAST SEAPL ANES (TOP); ISTOCK INDIANRIVERBYAIR (OPPOSITE)

tangled mangroves and sandy channels of the 156-mile-long Indian River Lagoon, one of the most biodiverse ecosystems of its kind on the continent. The lagoon is home to 36 threatened or endangered animal species. Soon enough, we spot the most lovable among them—manatees, frolicking in the shallows off a sand-fringed island. I am amazed by how wild the coastline looks from this vantage point. In the distance, the housing developments and highways that make up our daily canvas stand in stark contrast to the nearby sanctuary of pure, savage swampiness.

Hoover tells me to put my hands on the yoke on my side of the plane (only because we are at a safe distance, around 500 feet high, over a non-

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Watery Wonders On another day, looking for a sea-level view of Indian River County’s diverse landscapes, we decide to go on an airboat ride through a section

PHOTOGR APHY BY ISTOCK ANASTASIA STOECKMANN (TOP); TERRY WARD (BOT TOM)

the headiest mix of freedom and pure wonder as the landscapes unfold under us.

I relinquish the controls to the pro when it’s time for the slow descent toward Blue Cypress Lake, a tree-lined wilderness where hundreds of pairs of ospreys build their Above: nests and the headwaters of Ospreys make their home in the the St. Johns River begin. The estuary. lake stretches across 6,555 Below: acres, with only one lonely The headwaters the St. Johns road and a remote fish camp of River begin in Vero Beach. carved into its shores.

When the seaplane splashes down atop the lake’s small ripples, I have the same feeling that I experience when I’m waterskiing and let go of the rope to ease to a smooth stop. It’s so much softer than the tarmac landings I’m used to from flying commercial—none of that thrusting and side-toside action when the brakes are applied.

“Welcome to true, untouched Florida,” says Hoover. The air around us is still and utterly silent in the dying rays of the day, save for the calls of a few ospreys and the rustle of the wind through the Spanish moss in the trees.

“Now we are just a glorified boat, like a boat and a plane had a baby,” Hoover jokes as we carefully step onto the Cessna’s pontoons to soak in the scenery, scanning the turbid water for a sign of the many alligators that live here.

It’s the real Florida out here, I think to myself, the one that can’t be tamed by strip malls and street maps. Javier and I pose for a family photo and steal the chance for one of many firsts as a couple—a smooch atop a seaplane’s pontoon.

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The air around us is still and utterly silent in the dying rays of the day, save for the calls of a few osprey and the rustle of the wind. —terry ward

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Below:

The Sebastian Inlet is a boaters’ paradise.

Center:

of the waterways we’d flown over.

Several operators launch airboats out of Blue Cypress Conservation Area, and I call ahead to Florida Cracker Airboat Rides and inquire about bringing Nico.

“Our kids grew up on airboats,” says the lady on the phone, adding that a life jacket and ear protection are provided.

Once on the boat, we set off through a swampy area off State Road 60 that was drained in the late 19th century for use as a sugar cane farm and, later, as a cattle ranch and a horse track. Today, the area has mostly returned to its natural state, crisscrossed with waterways—in some sections, you can still make out the curves of the bygone track in the vegetation.

“There’s no standing up unless you want to go swimming,” says Lawrence Kyzer, a Vero Beach

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PHOTOGR APHY BY IAN GRONOSK Y (LEFT); HOLDEN BAILE Y (TOP); ISTOCK MICHAEL ANGELO SIVL A (OPPOSITE TOP); ADOBE STOCK MARIO CISNEROS (OPPOSITE BOT TOM)

The author in her diving gear enjoying the watery underworld

“The most beautiful bird out here,” says Kyzer, as we watch it forage for a seedpod Below: snack. Osprey babies A young sea turtle evades danger from poke their heads from the sea and sky. their nests as the mothers use their wings to shade the little ones from the harsh sun, and I ask Kyzer why the birds choose to raise their young atop the cypress trees, a seemingly exposed setting.

“To the birds, they’re not exposed,” he tells me. “They want to be in the highest and most open spot to look for red-tailed hawks, which hunt their babies.” These natural instincts make sense to me—I’d take any risk for Nico’s well-being.

Left:

The best time to dive is between May and July, when the water is at its peak.

Deeper Delights

native and owner of Florida Cracker Airboat Rides. Mating season for the alligators has just kicked off—it runs through summer, he tells us, as Javier hugs Nico a tad tighter in the carrier—and nearly every gator we see has scarring on its back from scuttling with the competition.

Kyzer’s trained eyes find more delicate, hidden creatures. In a section of tall grasses, grackle birds build nests that dangle like Christmas ornaments camouflaged in the reeds. In a patch of lilies, a purple gallinule shows off its iridescent feathers.

“There are more than 400 species of marine life on this reef. It’s all accessible right from this beach.”

—paul seldes

On my last morning in Vero Beach, I leave Javier and Nico relaxing in our room at the Costa d’Este Beach Resort, Gloria and Emilio Estefan’s stylish oceanfront property, and decide to see what’s under the surface. Before a scuba diving session on the reef in front of Vero Beach’s strip of waterfront hotels, I meet up with my instructor for the morning, New York transplant Paul Seldes, a guide with Lone Sheep Scuba.

Seldes, who works as a homeland security contractor for government agencies when he’s not diving, was living in New York City on 9/11. He watched the planes hit the towers and spent nine months working in the aftermath.

“After that period my wife said, ‘that’s it, we’re moving to Florida,’” he tells me. Since he had family in Vero Beach and had been visiting for years, it was the natural option.

“Life is so good here. I can meet my buddies at 6 a.m. for some lobstering and spear fishing in the summer, and we can all be back at our home offices by 9 a.m.,” he says.

I tell him that I’ve been diving all over the world, including in the Florida Keys, but never in the area around Vero. “We won’t see them all today, but there are more than 400 species of marine life on this reef,” says Seldes.

It’s all accessible right from the beach.

The best time to dive is between May and July. During these months, the water is clearest, and even snorkelers are likely to

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WHERE THE Finer THINGS ARE

When you’ve had enough nature-immersion, zero in on where to R & R in Vero Beach:

Above:

Citrus Grillhouse

Citrus Grillhouse : Fresh-off-the-boat seafood prepared with citrus-infused ingredients (not to mention decadent truffle fries) makes this upscale restaurant a Vero favorite. 1050 Easter Lily Lane citrusgrillhouse .com

shop

eat Osceola Bistro : Vero Beach native Christopher Bireley sources largely from local farms and offers daily ceviche specials for the innovative menu at this downtown restaurant.

2045 13th Ave. osceolabistro .com

Casey’s Place : Classic American lunch fare like burgers and chili, served under the shady reprieve of patio umbrellas, draws tourists and locals to this Ocean Drive-area oasis.

917 Azalea Lane caseysplace.net

Below:

M Maison : Find a carefully curated selection of artisan accessories, clothes, furniture, art, coffee table books and more for the sophisticated set.

3403 Ocean Drive mmaisonvero.com Kemp’s Vero Beach : This adorable shoe salon and boutique has been run by the same family, with deep ties to Florida and the shoe industry for four generations. The salon’s vintage appeal is balanced with youthful trends and quality brands to suit a range of tastes.

3385 Ocean Drive kempsshoesalon.com Below:

Costa D’ Este Beach Resort & Spa

STAY PHOTOGR APHY BY KIMPTON VERO BEACH HOTEL & SPA; COSTA D’ESTE BEACH RESORT & SPA

The ocean side pool at the Kimpton Vero Beach Hotel & Spa

The Gazebo Vero Beach : A women’s boutique with clothing and accessories to infuse a sandychic vibe into your vacation wardrobe.

923 Azalea Lane somanystores.com

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Costa d’Este Beach Resort & Spa : This stylish retro hotel, owned by Gloria and Emilio Estefan, emanates Miamistyle energy, from the Art Deco design to The Wave Kitchen and Bar, which turns out top-notch Cuban food and mojitos. 3244 Ocean Drive costadeste.com Kimpton Vero Beach Hotel & Spa : For the discerning traveler, the Kimpton Vero Beach has multiple openair dining options for fine local fare. Enjoy sunset cocktails and live music at the oceanfront bar and grill, get pampered at the spa or just take a long walk down a quiet stretch of beach. 3500 Ocean Drive verobeachhotelandspa.com

spot several species of sea turtles hiding under the ledges of the reef, as well as nurse sharks, lobsters and southern stingrays.

On our short dive in late winter, the visibility isn’t great, but I get a feel for the interesting reef structure—worm rock and limestone dotted with endless caverns, cracks and hidey holes. It’s the only place in Florida where such a varied reef is within a short swim of the shore, Seldes says.

Our dive offers enough of an intro to ensure that, come summer, I’ll be back for more. There’s even a shipwreck—the hull of the SS Breconshire, a late 19th-century steamship—within swimming distance of the shore.

PHOTOGR APHY BY ISTOCK

Jetty Jewels For the final sunset of our trip, I take Javier and Nico to Sebastian Inlet, where a jetty extending into the ocean and the structure of the surrounding sandbanks create Florida’s best surfing conditions.

At the spot where the Indian River pours into the Atlantic, the water is rising into angry whitecaps that give even the most experienced boaters pause. We watch a school of enormous blue fish

slice the water’s surface as the fishermen on the tourist-packed jetty angle for an opening to cast their lines. Javier peers over the side of the pier like a kid while a fisherman struggles to reel in his huge, toothy catch. “That’s dinner,” says the man when the fish lands safely on the pier. Javier hooks his hands into its gills for a photo.

We walk down to the beach and carry Nico with us to the waterline, wading with him into the Atlantic. He pulls his feet back at the surprising coolness and then gently lowers them back in.

Off the jetty’s north side, a surfer drops into a clear green wave that breaks in a perfect almond shape. Someone hoots from the beach. Up on the pier, the fishermen are again in a frenzy over a school of blues. The energy surrounding us is intoxicating.

In the day’s last warmth, we lay down a beach towel to dry Nico off.

“I needed this,” I say to Javier as he pulls me close to him. I think he knows what I mean. Since I moved back, France has never felt so far away from me as in this moment. And Florida—exotic, with so much still left to explore—has never felt more like home.

Above:

Diving in Vero Beach reveals underwater topography like worm rock and limestone dotted with caverns, perfect places for creatures to make their homes.

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[ — sunshine state stor ies —

MY FLORIDA Heart k Swampness B y L i sa U n g er

How an art gallery trip turned into an unexpected walk through real Florida—magical, wild, peaceful Big Cypress— and changed a writer forever

IN

2004, hurricanes savaged the Gulf Coast. Charley, Frances and Ivan cut deadly swaths across Florida.

Though the roof of our 1968 house on the Intracoastal had been mauled and we were evacuated from our home twice that year, our community in Clearwater Beach was mainly safe. My husband Jeff and I were relatively new to the area, Northerners transplanted respectively from Detroit and New York City. We’d both had our ideas of what Florida was when we moved here—sundrenched, awash in margaritas, set to a Jimmy Buffett soundtrack. But I remember that season as the year the real Florida introduced itself, awing us with the raw power and force of storms that bent trees, lifted houses and left gigantic highway signs crumpled on the side of the road like discarded tissue.

Later that same year, Jeff and I spent a

weekend in South Beach—eating, dancing, lazing on the beach. We were headed home on Old Tamiami Trail when we remembered our friend Jeff Klinkenberg, iconic Florida writer, telling us about Clyde Butcher’s Big Cypress Gallery, nestled in the heart of the Everglades.

We’d long been fans of Butcher’s stunning black-and-white images, so we were eager to

sunning themselves. So, we were surprised to find the area around Butcher’s isolated property lined with parked cars. The day was blue and hot, and towering cumulus clouds piled in the sky like mountains. We parked in the shoulder and walked the distance to the gallery.

My memory of how things unfolded is spotty, as is often true with extreme experiences.

We’d stopped at a gallery to buy art, a very civilized and in-character thing for me to do. I suspect it was my husband, adrenaline junkie and adventure traveler, who steered the experience. The next thing I knew, we were signing up to take a “swamp tour”—Clyde Butcher’s Swamp Walk, a two-hour trek through a “rare dwarf cypress prairie and exotic cypress strand.” Just weeks earlier, I’d watched Adaptation—where Meryl Streep’s character wades through the Fakahatchee Strand looking for the rare and elusive Ghost Orchid—and now I thought, what kind of a stupid maniac walks through the Everglades?

[

drop by—our only intention was to buy some art and maybe meet the artist, who was often there. We were somewhat foggy-headed from our debauched weekend, which might account for what happened next.

The only things you expect to find in the shoulder of Old Tamiami Trail are alligators

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PHOTOGR APHY BY CLYDE BUTCHER

I remember that season as the year the real Florida introduced itself, awing us with raw power.

Below: “Moonrise” by Clyde Butcher

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PHOTOGR APHY BY NIKI BUTCHER AND JACKIE OBENDORF

But there I was, locking my keys and cell fast-growing sawgrass. A place I’d always a photograph entitled “Moonrise” from phone in a locker provided by the staff “so thought of as frightening and dangerous was Butcher’s Everglades collection of Big nothing got wet.” Why would anything get one of the most peaceful and inspiring I’d Cypress National Preserve—one of our most wet on a trail? Are there trails? An airboat? visited. A two-million-acre wetland ecosystem treasured art pieces. We met Clyde Butcher, I wondered, as the guide began wading into that reaches south, from central Florida to and he signed our photo. Every time I look the swamp water and we all followed. the Florida Bay, the Everglades is home to the at it, I think back on that day when, bathed I was wearing a pair of Nike athletic pants endangered Florida panther, more than 350 in silence, wading through cool water, and sneakers, in case you are curious. No species of birds, a great diversity of plants and staring up at the cypress trees and those piles waders, or rubber boots. My husband of clouds, I understood Florida for was wearing shorts and sandals. The the very first time. phrase “wildly unprepared” comes I don’t remember which fabulous to mind. Yes, there was a moment of South Beach restaurants or hot dance panic: “Oh my goodness! What are clubs we visited, or which opulent we doing?” But as we moved into the hotel we stayed at that weekend. (No, crystal-clear water of what Marjory it wasn’t that debauched!) Those Stoneman Douglas called “a river of details are lost in a blur of many grass,” a deep sense of peace and awe other weekends just like that. settled me. The stunning blue of the But the two hours in the sky, the feel of the moss bed beneath Everglades stay with me: the my feet, the towering cypresses, and tranquility, the sound of my breath, the hush of an ancient and sacred the cool water. It was an experience place washed over me. unlike any other, in a place unlike “What about alligators? Snakes?” any other. Prior to that day, the one timid spirit in our group word “swamp” suggested a dark and asked our knowledgeable guide. murky place, something filled with “Honestly,” he said, “it’s so quiet dangers. I know the swamp now as here normally that when the crowds something mystical, possessing an descend, everything mainly scatters. almost sacred beauty, a place to be But watch out for those alligator cherished and protected. flags.” He pointed to a gathering of I come from a place where broad green leaves that did indeed humans rule, industry dominates, peek up from the water like flags. and nature gets beaten back as “That’s a nest where the gators sleep. skyscrapers reach for the clouds.

You don’t want to step on that.”

A city is awe-inspiring to be sure, Clyde Butcher is a passionate a testament to what people can do.

Above: A group of Swamp Walkers getting enlightened in the Big Cypress National Preserve environmentalist; his photographs But Big Cypress, like the hurricanes of Florida’s wild places speak to his that ravaged Florida that year, trees—including cypress, mangrove, pine, fierce love for the delicate and endangered reminds us that although the things we hardwoods and orchids, among others—and environment of this often-misunderstood make will crumble and fall, this wild place yes, American alligators and crocodiles. In place. His swamp walks are intended to share will remain.

Everglades National Park alone, there are over his magical home, so that others might be 27 species of snakes. Surrounded by Florida’s inspired to respect and preserve it as well.

Lisa Unger is the New burgeoning developed areas, the Park is the Certainly, because I did a thing I would never York Times bestselling, award-winning author of have imagined, I came to know the Everglades wild, beating heart of our state. fifteen novels, including After two hours that felt like minutes, in a way I never had before. her latest thriller, The Red I returned to dry land with a changed idea Water, which I always imagine as dark and Hunter (Simon & Schuster).

Her essays have appeared in about Florida and about the Everglades, thick, was as clear and clean there as anything The Wall Street Journal and Travel + Leisure. more respectful than ever of its feral beauty. that might come from a tap. The Everglades Unger lives in the Tampa Bay area with her husband, daughter and labradoodle.

We did make it to the gallery and bought truly is a river, whose water is filtered by the

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[ — Fin e arts, favor ites, f lings —

ON THE FLY — PLUME —

Must-Reads from Florida Thriller Meg Cabot, P l u s a D i v e i n t o t h e L a t e s t J a c k i e K e n n e d y Te l l - A l l

— BIRD’S EYE VIEW —

Scoping out Dockside Delights in Stuart

— GROVE STAND —

A Chef Passionate About Locally Sourcing in His District

— FLORIDA WILD —

C a r l t o n Wa r d J r. C h r o n i c l e s t h e S t a t e ’s N a t u r a l M a j e s t y

— THE ROOST —

C a t c h t h e Wa v e o f A p p r e c i a t i o n f o r F l o a t i n g H o m e s

— THE TIDE —

E v e n t s Wo r t h Tr a v e r s i n g t h e S t a t e F o r

— FLORIDIANA —

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PHOTOGR APHY BY MARY BETH KOETH

[

T h e A l l u r e o f a M y s t e r i o u s Te n T h o u s a n d I s l a n d s L a n d m a r k

ADVERTORIAL

F

or a long time, men who lived in Fernandina Beach attention for his modern wildlife artwork, is partnering with and wanted wardrobes that made them look more JJ Cooper for the shop’s upcoming Southern Showcase this like distinguished gents and less like surfers headed summer, which will feature the artist and 28 of his new to the beach didn’t have many options. Shopping for nice paintings of coastal landscapes and animals. The event, clothes meant driving 45 minutes to Jacksonville. equal parts art expo and shopping fete, will highlight items But not anymore, from the store’s venthanks to JJ Cooper. dors with live music This men’s boutique, and food from local located in the heart of chefs. If you’re lucky, historic downtown on 10-month-old WilCentre Street, offers liam, son of owners S t yl e m e e ts ar t at JJ Coop er, an up s cal e bouti que that’s high-end apparel inBetsy and Jake Mit a k i n g a i m a t men’s fas hi on on A mel i a Isl and and throw i ng i ts cluding button-down chaelis, will make fi r s t bash w i th PAI N T E R B R AD L E Y G O R D ON shirts, pants, suits, an appearance—in sport coats, shoes and an infant-sized seertuxedo rentals, as well sucker suit, of course. as accessories like luxurious leather bags and shaving “We try to do a little bit more than everybody else,” says kits. Some popular brands that the store carries are Peter co-founder Jake Michaelis, who grew up on Amelia Island.

Millar, Fish Hippie, Moore & Giles, Paige, A Fish Named Fred, The 41-year-old opened the store with his wife and another Randolph, Swims, and Smathers & Branson. business partner in January 2017.

Everything at JJ Cooper is sold with a touch of (masThe store’s associates pull together stylized looks for cusculine) southern charm. Walk into the refurbished late tomers, and an in-house tailor ensures perfect fits. JJ Coo19th-century two story building housing the store and per will even deliver clothing when it’s ready. you’ll see exposed brick walls, a bour“I never wore jeans to high school. I wore pants. I nevJJ Cooper bon-filled bar, feather bowties by er walked out the door with my shirt untucked. I took the Southern Showcase Charleston-based company Brackish, approach of: You never know who you’re going to run into. with Artist Bradley Gordon and fine art depicting iconic southern Dressing up shows respect and that you care,” says Michae216 Centre St. animals like mallards, dogs, and bucks lis, who sees customers walk out the shop’s door with new Fernandina Beach painted by Bradley Gordon of Oxford, clothes and newfound confidence.

Visit jjcooper.net Mississippi.

Below from left: Shoppers inside JJ Cooper; ‘‘Big Perm’’ by Bradley Gordon; bowties and pins by Brackish; ‘‘Big Mel’’ by Bradley Gordon; the newly renovated store in downtown for date and times.

Gordon, who has gained national Fernandina Beach

BUCKING THE TIDE

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ON THE FLY:PLUME

Have Books,Will Travel Meg Cabot’s summer reading recs

M

eg Cabot, author of more than 80 books and several New York Times bestsellers, says some of her best editing occurs in a floating deck chair in the pool at her Key West home. Her cat, Allie Cat, often sits on her, making typing “awkward,” but isn’t distracting enough to prevent Cabot from finishing her most recent books, The Boy is Back (William Morrow, 2016) and the upcoming Royal Crush (Macmillan, 2017). The avid traveler, perhaps best known for her Princess Diaries series, encourages all Floridians to stay overnight in the Dry Tortugas—and either pitch a tent or moor a boat, because the island has no sleeping accommodations. “You can see the Milky Way as well as fluorescent shrimp,” she says.

Here are Cabot’s reading recommendations for a starry night or a summer vacation, which she always hopes will be somewhere in Florida: “My very own bungalow at Little Palm Island, for instance,” she says.

HEY MEG, WHAT BOOK SHOULD ALL FLORIDIANS READ? “Bright Orange for the Shroud

by John D. MacDonald (Random House, 1965). Like an ice-cold margarita, his novels featuring Fort Lauderdale private eye Travis McGee never go out of style.”

The Dutch Girl

Time Travel

“I never thought the American Revolution could be sexy! This is historical fiction at its finest.”

“A nonfiction exploration of our cultural obsession with time and time travel by the bestselling author of Chaos. I’ll be making time for this.”

PHOTOGR APHY BY JESSIE PREZA

by Donna Thorland

(NEW AMERICAN LIBRARY, 2016)

by James Gleick

(PANTHEON BOOKS, 2016)

Well, That Was Awkward

by Rachel Vail

“She writes awkward but achingly sweet teen romance better than any author I know.”

(VIKING, 2017)

The Fifth Season

Alex and Eliza

The Leaf Reader

The Trespasser

“Winner of the 2016 Hugo Award for Best Novel and raves from The New York Times, Publishers Weekly, Washington Post and NPR. I think this book about the world ending will live up to the hype.”

“Can’t wait to read about the romance between young Alexander Hamilton and Elizabeth Schuyler that the musical Hamilton made famous.”

“A teen’s hobby of reading her friends’ tea leaves seems harmless … until it leads to romance, then murder.

Vacation fun!”

“You don’t have to have read any of the previous books in French’s excellent Dublin Murder Squad series to enjoy this one. But afterwards, you’ll want to.”

by N.K. Jemisin

by Melissa de la Cruz

(G.P. PUTNAM’S

by Emily Arsenault

(SOHO TEEN, 2017)

by Tana French

(VIKING, 2016)

SONS, 2017)

(ORBIT, 2015)

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ON THE FLY:PLUME Summer Reading Special B y C h ri st i n a C u sh

Irish Eyes and BIG BLACK SUNNIES

Summer is the perfect time for languishing in the shade or AC with a hot read, like Jackie’s Girl: My Life with the Kennedy Family, this season’s highly anticipated memoir

by Kathy McKeon (a Naples resident). An exclusive book excerpt and interview with the first-time author on her Palm Beach days with Mrs. Kennedy follow.

T

The frozen half-smile the outside world saw in formal portraits and scores of magazine photographs of Jacqueline Kennedy never hinted at the girlish sense of humor I sometimes glimpsed in the privacy of her own world. Like my squeaky shoes, the unique circumstances of her life conspired to create some great slapstick comedy at times.

Seeing Madam’s delight in those ridiculous moments made me feel a kinship I had never expected to, as if I had slipped inside a bubble that had a secret bubble within that no one on the outside could see. More and more, it was starting to feel not so much that I had taken Provi’s place there but that I was finding my own. It was during those silly, spontaneous moments with the family that I felt most myself.

Once on a winter break in Palm Beach, Madam and her sister, Lee, were basking by the pool one afternoon while John, Caroline, and their cousins Anthony and Tina played in the water. The boys would have been maybe five or six then, and the girls a few years older.

The Radziwill governess, Bridget, and I were getting ready for a rare night off in town. When

I first got to New York, I had spotted an ad in the paper for cosmetology school. I had always loved styling my friends’ hair back home and experimenting with the latest fads, like using beer as setting lotion. Seeing that ad got me excited by the thought that I could maybe learn the trade by taking classes in the evenings and on my day off, and I immediately enrolled. I

We came out to the pool to show off the final result. Madam looked up from the paper she was reading to rave over the hairdo. Bridget spotted Anthony running along the side of the pool and went to intercept him and make him slow down, but she was standing too close to the edge and he was moving too fast, and she ended up getting accidentally pushed in.

“She can’t swim!” Anthony yelled, even as a Secret Service agent appeared like Superman out of thin blue air and dived in—dark suit, shoes, tie, sunglasses, gun, and all— to pull out the flailing governess.

The elaborate hairdo I had constructed was now plastered down over Bridget’s face. It looked like she was being smothered by a mad otter. Bridget was unharmed but wailing and sputtering Gaelic curses. On her chaise longue, Madam was hiding her face behind her newspaper, but I could see the paper shaking like mad and could tell she was struggling mightily not to laugh outloud.

Such a perfect lady, she could even carry off a soundless guffaw.

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only made it to a couple of sessions before my overprotective Aunt Rose found out and put a stop to it, saying it was far too dangerous for a young woman to be riding the subways alone at night. I still enjoyed playing beauty parlor with willing friends and coworkers, though, and I had spent a few hours that afternoon in Florida setting, teasing, and styling Bridget’s hair into a half-up, half-down beehive with a cute little flip at the ends.

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Excerpted with permission from Jackie’s Girl: My Life with the Kennedy Family by Kathy McKeon (Gallery Books, 2017)

PHOTOGR APHY BY JESSIE PREZA AND K ATHY McKEON

The elaborate hairdo I had constructed was now plastered down over Bridget’s face. It looked like she was being smothered by a mad otter.

ON THE FLY:PLUME

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ON THE FLY:PLUME

K

athy McKeon emigrated from Ireland to New York in 1964 at the age of 19 to work as a nanny. She ended up working for one of the most famous American families at the time, the Kennedys, soon after President Kennedy’s assasination. The fourth of eight children, McKeon has a genuine warmth and charm that then-young John and Caroline Kennedy adored, so she was hired as Jackie Kennedy’s assistant and occasional nanny from 1964 to 1976. She remains close with the extended Kennedy family and is now a tennisplaying, kayak-paddling, bike-riding mother of three and grandmother of six (ranging in age from 18 months to 11 years old) who splits her time between Naples and New York. Below, McKeon gives Flamingo the exclusive scoop on traveling to Florida with one of the most famous women in the world and what it was like to have America’s Camelot as her one-time home.

Part of your job for Mrs. Kennedy was to travel around the globe with her, skiing in Colorado, horseback riding in New Jersey and Long Island, swimming and waterskiing at the Kennedy Compound in Hyanissport. But did Mrs. Kennedy also introduce you to Florida?

KM: Yes, that’s right. We went a couple times.

To Palm Beach, after Christmas break one year, and another time in the spring. The first time, we stayed at Joseph P. Kennedy’s house. It had a swimming pool, and I know the kids were in the pool a

lot or down at the ocean. The second time, Mrs. Kennedy and Lee Radziwill, her sister, rented a villa in Palm Beach, and we stayed there with all the kids while the rest of the Kennedys were at the big house. They didn’t have enough room there for all of us. The rental was very large, it was all on one floor, like a ranch. There was a wonderful swimming pool in middle of a garden lawn—that’s where Anthony Radziwill pushed the governess into the pool! (Read the Jackie’s Girl excerpt on page 92 for the full story.)

How did Florida make an impression on you as a young Irish lassie?

KM: I went shopping for Mrs. Kennedy at all the stores on Worth Avenue. The buildings and sidewalks were so clean and beautiful, and lots of trees. There were beautiful clothes in the windows, like I’d never seen, sundresses and stuff, with a round neck and no sleeve, and a little bow over the split on the sides at the bottom. You know those dresses? They were a name.

Do you mean Lilly Pulitzer?

KM: Yes. She had a couple of them over at the Cape. There’s a photo Above: The author on her wedding

day with Mrs. Kennedy

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of her in a red plaid dress—she got that dress in Florida. Caroline wore the same dresses going to church in the summer. I loved them.

How did Jackie spend her time in Palm Beach?

KM: Jackie was a big reader, but not all the time.

In the Cape, she went waterskiing, swimming, jogging, then she would go read. She loved magazines! She did those things in Florida, too.

There was a ski boat. Most all of the Kennedys did that. I didn’t wear sunscreen then, that’s why I had so many sun blisters on my back. I put it on the kids, though.

When you were visiting this land of palm trees, fancy shops, bright dresses and beautiful beaches, did you ever think you’d live here?

KM: I never thought it. I never dreamt I would have a home here. We did bring our kids to Disney two times, and we did look at homes, not in Naples, but near Disney. But we said, “No, no, too expensive.” I had no clue that we would end up in Florida. My husband Seamus had a business in New York. When I got a house in Florida, I’d go to Naples for two weeks, and then come back. I couldn’t stay away long because of the kids. Now it’s more like six months here, six months in New York. But I love Florida, it’s beautiful here.

Did Jackie, John or Caroline Kennedy ever visit your Naples home?

KM: No, we bought it in 1996, after Jackie died, and the same year Michael Kennedy died in a skiing accident. John said, “Congratulations, I would love to come visit you someday.” We told him to come any time.

Are you typical Floridians now?

KM: Well, we spend our time playing tennis two days a week. We walk on the Isle of Capri or take our bikes out there or go kayaking. This year our boat’s not going so well.

So you embrace the Florida lifestyle?

KM: I guess so! We like to have friends over and go to their houses to dinner.

There are some great places to eat on Marco Island like DaVinci’s. On Isle of Capri there’s a new place called Island Gypsi that we went to three times already.

We also like Pelican Bend.

Do Floridians understand your Irish Brogue?

KM: Southerners ask, “Is that English, Scottish, Irish?” They are a little confused.

But, no problem. They love it.

Do your friends know about your history with the kennedys?

KM: We went out to lunch recently, the 20 of us in my tennis group. And we had to tell a story that no one ever heard of about ourselves. And they went around the table and said such impressive things about their education and careers and accomplishments.

I thought, shoot, how am I going to compete with that? When it was my turn I just said, I wrote a book about coming to the U.S. in 1964, and it’s called Jackie’s Girl. You can buy it and read about me. And they were frozen, like, is this a joke? They couldn’t believe that I did this. Then they all bought it on Amazon, and I said, “Don’t worry, I’ll autograph it for ya’s.”

What do you think Jackie Kennedy would think of your book?

KM: Jackie would say, “You did a wonderful job, Kath. I’m very proud of you. If you wrote one book in your life, you did something wonderful.” She is up there looking down at me. I wish she was around to see it. I’d love for John to be here to read it. I learned a lot and had a good life with them. I can’t say a bad word about them. Every one of them was very nice to me.

Equal treatment should include your paycheck, too. Call Kelly.

ChanfrauLaw.com 386.258.7313 ATTORNEYS | OFFICES IN DAYTONA BEACH & PALM COAST

Bird is the word.

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Join the chatter.

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ON THE FLY:BIRD’S EYE VIEW

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S.E. OCEAN BLVD.

1. DOWNTOWN STUART BOARDWALK

6. STUART BOATHOUSE Enjoy water Meander and gander at the St. Lucie River while noshing on small bites and listening to and the Roosevelt Bridge 121 S.W. Flagler Ave. live music on weekends. 49 S.W. Seminole St.

12. OLD COLORADO INN Built in 1890, it’s a comfy, updated crash pad outfitted with tropical touches. 211 S. Colorado Ave.

2. STUART GREEN MARKET On Sunday

7. STUART COFFEE COMPANY Run by a mornings, this open-air shopper’s delight has sweet couple, this fun coffee house whips local goodies. 121 S.W. Flagler Ave. up a latte more than java. 55 S.W. Flagler Ave.

13. NOODLE WORLD SUSHI THAI Dine al fresco and satisfy cravings for Asian fusion with sushi rolls and pho. 7 S.E Osceola St.

3. STUART HERITAGE MUSEUM Step inside this renovated building from 1901 to discover the city’s pioneer and pineapple days. 161 S.W. Flagler Ave.

8. LUNA DOWNTOWN STUART An Italian

14. THE NAMASTE GRILL A Zen experience for Nepalese and Indian cuisine.

4. SAILFISH FOUNTAIN In 2003, Geoffrey

showcases regional art. 41 S.W. Flagler Ave.

C. Smith sculpted this 18-foot monument, an iconic symbol of the Sailfish Capital of the World. S.W. St. Lucie Ave.

5. LYRIC THEATRE Though it launched in 1926, it’s churning out hot acts all summer, like the Bacon Brothers. 59 S.W. Flagler Ave.

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Moor your boat at Sunset Bay Marina and test those sea legs in downtown Stuart

gem with signature garlic knots, oven-fired pizza or savory pasta. 49 S.W. Flagler Ave.

9. RARE EARTH GALLERY This airy space 10. OSCEOLA STREET CAFE The former coffee shop turned Stuart standard now serves lunch and dinner. 26 S.W. Osceola St. 11. MATILDA’S A coastal shop with beach chic clothes and more. 15 S.W. Flagler Ave.

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333 S.E. Ocean Blvd.

15. RESORT AT HOME This designer’s haven has a fabric collection named after Treasure Coast spots. 321 S.E. Osceola St. 16. CHAOS FISHING ADVENTURES Capt.

Jonathan Earhart knows when the fish are running, and most importantly, where to hook ‘em: inshore, nearshore or offshore.

3565 S.E. St. Lucie Blvd.

ILLUSTR ATION BY LESLIE CHALFONT

Dock n’ Stroll

ON THE FLY: GROVE STAND SEASON’S EATINGS

By Lau ra R ei l ey • P h o t o g ra p h y b y L i b b y Vo l g y es

Stocks & BONDS On the verge of moving to a bigger, better space, Chef Jason Stocks spills about sourcing local foods, adding Southern flavors and enjoying a culinary kinship with StuarT

T

o start with, Jason Stocks wrote a business plan and hosted investor dinners. Lest that sound too by-the-book, he also borrowed money from his wife’s parents and cashed out his 401(k). When District Table & Bar opened in Stuart in 2013, Stocks had $5,000 to his name, chairs from a defunct Red Lobster and a certain amount of rookie-owner’s apprehension. Four years later, District has become one of the city’s best-known restaurants, regularly drawing posh crowds from Palm Beach and beyond—so much so that by September, it will double in size, relocating a few miles down the road to an all-new space in an old bank building (at 4665 S.E. Dixie Highway, Stuart).

“District was never meant to be upscale,” Stocks, now 36, says wryly. “The clientele dictated that it be more refined.”

His mission, he says, has always been to cook food that he likes to eat. His elevator pitch for what he does at District? “It’s to

cook New American food with Southern influence, sourced locally,” he tells me over the phone as he drives, two whole Floridaheritage breed pigs beside him, ready for a weekend pig roast.

District is a homecoming story. Born and raised in Stuart, Stocks graduated from the University of Florida, then from a two-year

Above: Florida watermelon salad with goat cheese, pickled blackberries, basil purée, serrano lemon vinaigrette and pomegranate molasses (Find this recipe at flamingomag.com)

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ON THE FLY: GROVE STAND SWEET CORN PURÉE

program at Capital Culinary Institute in Tallahassee. His interest in the kitchen predates his education—two Christmases ago, as gift from his mom, Stocks got a cookbook he’d received as a kid, which he had precociously autographed. His family united a mix of Southern and European traditions, and food featured prominently in young Stocks’s life.

For a while, he wandered. He did stints at the Greenbrier in West Virginia; Sea Island Resort in St. Simons Island, Georgia; Bedford Springs Resort in Pennsylvania; and the Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo. By then, he was married to his wife, Mirka, and their son Lukas was approaching kindergarten age. It was time to put down roots, maybe give back to his hometown. They found a suitable building for a (cont’d on page 101)

Mangrove Snapper with Summer Succotash, Sweet Corn Purée, King Crab and Ramp Butter SERVES 6

MANGROVE SNAPPER WITH SUMMER SUCCOTASH

6 mangrove snapper filets extra-virgin olive oil 1 cup Florida sweet corn, roasted and removed from cob 1 cup grape tomatoes, cut in half 3 cups fingerling potatoes, cut in half 3 cups seasonal beans or peas (green beans, pole beans, soy beans, English peas, black-eyed peas) 1 cup chicken or vegetable stock unsalted butter, as needed salt and pepper to taste 4 cups sweet corn purée (recipe follows) 1 cup ramp butter (recipe to follow) 1 pound king crab or Florida blue crab from Pine Island 1 cup fresh herbs 4 lemons

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12 ears of corn, corn off cob, cobs reserved 8 sprigs thyme 1/2 cup sugar 2 bay leaves 1 cup white wine 1 cup bacon, diced small 1 Vidalia onion, diced large 2 garlic cloves, smashed 2 cups heavy cream 1/4 cup butter salt to taste

Above: Chef Jason Stocks filets a mangrove snapper.

PREPARATION: Season the mangrove snapper filets while the oil heats in a sauté pan. When whisps of smoke come off the pan, add the fish skin-side down and sear at high heat for 30 seconds. Lower heat to medium and let the fish become golden brown. Transfer to a sheet tray seared side up, and finish cooking in a preheated 350-degree oven for 6-8 minutes. While the fish is baking, sauté corn, tomatoes, potatoes, and beans or peas until warm.

Add the stock and reduce by half, and add a couple pats of butter and stir into vegetables. Squeeze lemon on the vegetables and season to taste with salt and pepper.

PLATING: Put a spoonful of the warm sweet corn purée on the bottom of the plates. Portion the vegetables onto the six plates without transferring too much liquid from the pan to the plate. Put the fish on top of the vegetables, and spoon ramp butter on top. Mix crab with herbs, lightly dress with olive oil and lemon, and season to taste. Garnish the top of the mangrove snapper with the salad.

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PREPARATION: Combine reserved corn cobs, thyme, sugar, bay leaves, white wine and 4 cups of water in a pot and bring to a simmer. Adjust stove temperature so stock simmers for 45 minutes, until there are 4 cups of liquid left in the pot to strain and reserve. Meanwhile, render the bacon until crispy, add onion and garlic and sauté until the onion is translucent. Add corn kernels and sauté a few minutes more.

Add corn stock and heavy cream and cook until corn is tender and slightly reduced.

Remove from heat and blend until smooth.

While blending, add butter gradually, and season with salt as needed. Keep warm.

RAMP BUTTER

24 ramps or other leeks 1 tablespoon olive oil 2 cups white wine 2 sprigs of thyme 1 bay leaf 1 shallot, chopped roughly 3 whole black peppercorns 8 ounces butter, cold and diced salt to taste PREPARATION: Remove the tops of ramps or other leeks, purée with olive oil and a pinch of salt, and reserve. Combine wine, thyme, bay leaf, shallot and peppercorns and reduce over medium heat until 1/4 cup of liquid remains. Remove from heat and remove herbs, shallot and peppercorns, cooling slightly. Whisk in butter slowly, to keep sauce emulsified, and then put it back on the heat to melt butter. Add ramp-top purée and mix thoroughly. Put it over the snapper and plate immediately.

Below: Chef Jason Stocks’s mangrove snapper with summer succotash, sweet corn purée, king crab and ramp butter

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ON THE FLY: GROVE STAND Buttermilk Pie with Navel Orange Butterscotch, Strawberry Rhubarb Compote and Vanilla Ice Cream SERVES 8

BUTTERMILK PIE 1 pie crust 1 1/8 cup all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon salt 2 sticks of unsalted butter, cold and diced 1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour 1/4 cup ice water egg wash PREPARATION: Combine the 1 1/8 cup flour, salt and butter in a mixer with the paddle attachment on low speed, until the butter is broken up. Add the 1 1/3 cup flour and put mixer on medium low, slowly adding ice water. Remove dough once it comes together. Flatten into a round disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill for at least 4 hours. Roll out in a 1/4-inch-thick circle and place in a pie pan. Lightly brush with an egg wash and chill in refrigerator for an hour.

BUTTERMILK PIE FILLING 3 cups sugar 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour 6 eggs 2 cups fresh buttermilk (Jupiter Creamery or store-bought) 4 lemons, juiced and zested 2 vanilla beans, split and scraped 8 tablespoons butter, melted PREPARATION: Combine sugar, flour and eggs in mixer with paddle attachment on medium low speed. Add buttermilk, lemon juice and zest, vanilla and melted butter.

Mix on low until combined. Pour into pie crust and bake in 350-degree oven for 20 minutes. Rotate and bake for 25 more minutes. Cool for an hour.

NAVEL ORANGE BUTTERSCOTCH 1/2 cup orange juice 1 1/2 cups sugar 2 tablespoons corn syrup 1/2 cup heavy cream 2 tablespoons butter 2 teaspoons vanilla extract PREPARATION: Combine orange juice, sugar and corn syrup in a pot and cook on medium heat until mixture turns dark golden brown. Remove from heat and quickly stir in heavy cream, butter and vanilla. Keep warm.

STRAWBERRY RHUBARB COMPOTE 2 cups sugar 2 tablespoons pectin 4 cups strawberries, quartered 2 cups rhubarb, diced large 2 lemons, juiced and zested PREPARATION: Mix sugar and pectin in a bowl. Combine strawberries, rhubarb, lemon juice, lemon zest and sugar-pectin mixture in a pot and cook over medium heat for 10-15 minutes. Then chill.

PLATING: Warm navel orange butterscotch and drizzle on each pie slice. Top with strawberry rhubarb compote and orange supremes. Scoop vanilla ice cream on top of each slice and garnish with fresh mint.

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Below: District’s buttermilk pie, without embellishments Left: A weekend crowd enjoying a low-key, locally sourced dining experience at Chef Stocks’s space

(cont’d from pg. 98) restaurant, one with good bones and a working kitchen hood.

The work was all sweat equity, the result of which was a boisterous space with an open kitchen, rustic wooden tables, and cream and burgundy drapes that wouldn’t be out of place at grandma’s house.

What proved trickier, when Stocks opened, was his vision for sourcing ingredients. There weren’t that many local farmers and artisans doing business with individual restaurants.

He started forging relationships: with Kai-Kai Farm in Indiantown for specialty vegetables; with the biodynamic Paradise Farms in Homestead for a range of greens, herbs and tropical fruit; with Palmetto DISTRICT TABLE Creek for pork; and with Lake & BAR Meadow Naturals for chicken — LOCATION — 900 S.E. INDIAN ST., ingredient-driven restaurants. and duck eggs. The list began STUART to grow. On the District menu, “When I grew up here, it — HOURS — you’ll find Key West pink was a sea of chain restaurants.

TUESDAY–SUNDAY, 5 P.M.–CLOSE shrimp next to Belle Glade When we got an Outback, it districttableandbar.com sweet corn and Jacksonville was the best thing ever. It has slowly evolved into a town that’s soft-shell crab. Stocks aims to more receptive.” have his ingredients be “90 to 95 percent local.”

The original District Table “The menu changes when a farmer drops & Bar, which will be open until the new something off. The Southern influence location debuts in September, seats 83 in my food comes naturally, but I’m not people. The Version 2.0 will hold 150 and scared of anything. I’ll put a ramen bowl on feature a wood-burning oven, an open the menu. When we opened, there wasn’t kitchen and cameras in the pass-through—so anything like that in town.” diners can catch all the flaming hot action.

These days the city of Stuart has Stocks is particularly enthused about the cultivated several other progressive, new restaurant’s bourbon-driven cocktail

list, a private dining room nestled in the bank vault, and an expanded menu that leans heavily on the savory wood smoke of that oven.

But what has cemented District Table & Bar’s reputation is downhome Southern fare, rigorously sourced.

“I’m known for a side dish,” he says. “A play on Mexican street corn, brushed with garlic aioli, a lime-squeeze and cotija cheese. And sweet tea-brined fried chicken.”

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ON THE FLY: FLORIDA WILD P H OTOGR APHS & F IELD NOTES B y C a rl t o n Wa rd Jr.

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Low-Tide Labyrinth

Y

ears ago, I was working on a project with the Florida Humanities Council and the Florida Institute for Saltwater Heritage to celebrate Gulf Coast fishing communities.

Nearshore aquaculture was the cornerstone of the story.

The tides in the Gulf of Mexico are complicated. In deeper waters, like the Atlantic, you can set your watch by them.

But because nearshore Gulf waters are so shallow and easily disrupted, the timing of coastal tides are better predicted by the records from previous years than by moon phases alone. During that project, I watched the weather for weeks, tide chart in hand, waiting for a full or new moon to coincide with a low tide and a passing winter cold front. I knew that strong northeasterly winds would amplify low tide by driving outgoing water further from coastal estuaries. An exaggerated low tide, combined with early morning or late afternoon light, was exactly what I needed to expose the oyster and clam beds near Cedar Key.

On the day I set off to photograph this area, the pilot from Steinhatchee landed at the Cedar Key airstrip to collect me and the stiff crosswind nearly blew his Cessna 152 off the runway. Taking off was easier, and we soon saw the exposed sandbars and oyster beds below. Flying 100 miles per hour with the window open in 20-degree temperatures wasn’t fun, but the perspective was worth it.

First, we circled over the clam beds south of the islands to showcase the clam aquaculture that helped the region survive a net ban in the ’90s, when the sports fishing industry led a campaign to ban commercial net fishing in nearshore waters. This was a big blow to old-time fishing communities like Cedar Key, which fared better than most because clam aquaculture provided an alternative livelihood on the water.

Mission complete, we flew a few miles north toward the mouth of the Suwannee River. On our way there, I saw an airboat winding through a labyrinth of oyster beds and captured this frame.

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ON THE FLY:THE ROOST RE AL ESTATE DOLLARS & SENSE B y E ri k a Vi d a l H o l m es

Buoyant Beauties Who needs a driveway or a garage? An eclectic collection of floating abodes gives living on the water a splashy twist.

DEFUNIAK SPRINGS

See the world from the comfort of this modern 50-foot blue water trawler, designed for long voyages of up to 2,000 miles. With three staterooms, there’s sufficient space for guests.

The sunset-savoring is ideal from the Portuguese bridge, which is a walkway that allows safe passage separated from the foredeck by a bulwark. Thanks to meticulous attention to detail, this Selene 50 Ocean Trawler is in pristine condition. It’s decked out with a fully equipped kitchen (with an oven, refrigerator, and water desalinator) plus options boat aficionados will appreciate, including Naiad stabilizers for a smooth ride and a Westerbeke generator.

Pensacola List price: $549,000

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PENSACOLA

PHOTOGR APHY BY PICASA

PENSACOLA

ON THE FLY:THE ROOST RE AL ESTATE DOLLARS & SENSE

SARASOTA

Own a piece of nautical history with Eskimo III, a 68-foot 1958 Trumpy yacht houseboat cruiser originally commissioned by John Kimberly, founder of Kimberly-Clark. With crisp white hulls and polished wood detail, Trumpy yachts were once considered the Rolls Royces of the ocean.

The crusier’s current owner spent two years restoring every inch to bring it back to its original glory (even the original hand-painted sinks are intact). Eskimo III has sleeping room for 10 and two full bathrooms, and the picturesque fantail is like a sunroom on the ocean. Sarasota List price: $750,000

Sarasota JACKSONVILLE DOWNTOWN

836 Prudential Dr, Suite 902 Jacksonville, FL 904-399-5620 JACKSONVILLE SOUTH

14540 Old St. Augustine Rd, Suite 2503 Jacksonville, FL 904-262-5992 JACKSONVILLE BEACH

1577 Roberts Dr, Suite 220 Jacksonville Beach, FL 904-270-1135 DAYTONA BEACH

Halifax Medical Center 415 N Clyde Morris Blvd Daytona Beach, FL 386-254-8211 TALLAHASSEE

Tallahassee Memorial Hospital 1401 Centerville Road, Suite 202 Tallahassee, FL 1-800-556-5620

PHOTOGR APHY BY JAMES CORWIN JOHNSON

TALLAHASSEE

2623 Centennial Blvd., Suite 101 Tallahassee, FL 1-800-556-5620

A Place for Modern Miracles

Over 14,000 Babies Born!

800-556-5620 or fertilityjacksonville.com

SOUTH GEORGIA

220 Northside Drive Valdosta, GA 1-800-556-5620 SOUTH GEORGIA

918 South Broad Street Thomasville, GA 1-800-556-5620 SOUTH GEORGIA

3025 Shrine Road, Ste 190 Brunswick, GA 1-800-556-5620

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ON THE FLY:THE ROOST RE AL ESTATE DOLLARS & SENSE

KEY LARGO

key largo KEY WEST

key west 106

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This one-of-a-kind floating home offers the best of both worlds—a sturdy foundation built to weather any storm plus the flexibility of living anywhere you want. Of course, with Key West’s perfect weather and laid-back lifestyle, why go anywhere else? This two-story home offers 1,043 square feet of living space with two bedrooms, two full bathrooms and modern amenities.

A gourmet’s kitchen features Blue Louise stone countertops and stainless steel appliances. The second-floor master suite has a soaking tub plus a 240-square-foot deck—the perfect place to nibble on sponge cake while watchin’ the sun bake.

16D Hilton Haven Road, Key West List price: $495,000

PHOTOGR APHY BY STELL AR YACHT SALES (ABOVE); ROCK Y T YRONE (BELOW); CAPT. WARREN CHILDERS (OPPOSITE)

Sunshine and 360-degree water views are daily pleasures aboard this custom-built, 65-foot 1996 Sunstar houseboat, Sunny Days. Crafted on a double aluminum hull, the self-propelled, two-story residence features upstairs sleeping quarters and a full bathroom on each floor. The first floor offers plenty of open living space and an epicurean’s kitchen, which has stainless steel cabinets, a full-size refrigerator, a large pantry and a huge island with a butcher-block countertop. Sunny Days has cable, water, central AC and more.

And, of course, start and end each day on the second-story deck, overlooking your very own ocean backyard.

Key Largo List price: $145,000

ON THE FLY:THE ROOST RE AL ESTATE DOLLARS & SENSE

FORT MYERS

A cozy three-bedroom, one-bathroom houseboat with $30,000 in recent renovations, the 60-foot Monticello is practically new. It comes with an entertainment package that includes a 37-inch flat-screen TV, Blu-ray player, speakers and an auto tracking satellite system. The U-shaped galley (boat speak for kitchen) has all the appliances needed to whip up the day’s catch, plus plenty of seating.

There’s ample storage and open space inside and out for entertaining your guests.

Fort Myers List price: $199,000

Fort Myers

OCEANFRONT PERFECTION

MLS ID: 877822

Offered at $1,925,000

Ponte Vedra Beach three-floor luxury oceanfront home was built with quality in mind—solid concrete block construction built atop underground pilings. The classic contemporary remodel is fully furnished and boasts 5 bedrooms and 3.5 baths and tons of storage, great for modern-day living and entertaining.

A D I F F E R E N T K I N D O F R E A L E S TAT E T E A M

youngandvolen.com

(904) 285.6927 2 8 0 P O N T E V E D R A B LV D , PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FL 32082

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Gwinn

$260M + in sales MBA Broker Associate

MIS Information Science Digital Media Expert Sales Associate

(904) 333.1111 jayneyoung1111@aol.com

(904) 314.5188 gvolen@pvclubrealty.com

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ON THE FLY:THE TIDE ROAD TR IP–WORTHY EVENTS (NORTH) DAILY’S PLACE JACKSONVILLE

June 11–July 27

PENSACOLA BEACH AIRSHOW P E N S A C O LA

July 4–8

The Pensacola Beach Airshow welcomes hometown heroes the Blue Angels and 100,000 of their closest fans and friends again this summer.

The U.S. Navy’s

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Above: Catch Lady Antebellum performing July 27 at Daily’s Place in Jacksonville Below: Blue Angels on a mission to entertain thousands of fans at the Pensacola Beach Airshow

elite demonstration flight team and their F/A-18 Hornets perform thrilling stunts and thunder through the Panhandle’s skies at speeds as fast as 700 mph. Head to Casino Beach for the best views of the aerial

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action. Revelers wear red, white and blue or the Angels’ signature colors, blue and yellow.

Sunscreen and gallons of water are a must. Friday and Saturday’s shows start with citizen pilots at noon. “This is Pensacola Beach’s favorite event of the year,” says Visit Pensacola’s Nicole Stacey. visitpensacola.com

coveted prizes of up to $10,000.

All are welcome to check out the Captain’s party on Friday night and the awards ceremony on Sunday evening. The Ancient City Game Fish Association, the event’s host, has been promoting the sport since 1958, because, simply put, they’d rather be fishing. acgfa.com

ANCIENT CITY GAME FISH CHALLENGE

WAUSAU POSSUM FESTIVAL

ST. AUGUSTINE

July 6–9

August 5

The highly anticipated Ancient City Game Fish Challenge takes place over four days at the Camachee Cove Yacht Harbor each year. Now in its 29th year, this family-friendly event features competitions for both Kingfish fishing (offshore) and redfish fishing (inshore) and

History, celebration, and Floridian quirkiness collide at this beloved festival honoring a tree-climbing marsupial.

Nicknamed the Possum Capital of the World, Wausau is celebrating the Festival’s 48th year. Locals credit the possum population for helping residents survive the Great Depression

WA U S A U

PHOTOGR APHY BY LIVE NATION (TOP); VISIT PENSACOL A (BOT TOM); CHASE WESTFALL (OPPOSITE BOT TOM LEFT); OLD SALT FISHING FOUNDATION (OPPOSITE TOP AND BOT TOM RIGHT)

Live music fans don’t need to worry about the infamous hot and stormy Florida summers when coming to Jax for a oneof-a-kind concert experience.

Daily’s Place, a new, modern multipurpose space, situated on the breezy banks of the St. Johns river, operates as a 94,000-square-foot practice facility for the Jacksonville Jaguars by day and a covered 5,500-seat amphitheater by night. Better still, each seat provides a fantastic sight line to the stage. The Daily’s Place summer launch and inaugural lineup includes Third Eye Blind, Diana Ross, Journey, and Lady Antebellum. Then, as the fall rolls in, the Jaguars concert series roars through North Florida with a performance every weekend of a home game. dailysplace.com

ON THE FLY:THE TIDE ROAD TR IP–WORTHY EVENTS (C E N T RA L ) (they were a source of food and fur). Join 4,000 guests for the parade and get ready for some rooster crowin’, hog callin’ and cow lowin’. Expand your palate with the possum stew as you watch the crowning of the Wausau Possum King and Queen. Close out the day with some spirited square dancing— but be prepared to sweat, as the festival always seems to fall on the hottest day of the year. wausaupossumfestival.com

FLORIDA PRIZE IN CONTEMPORARY ART EXHIBITION O R LA N D O

June 2–August 20 Tampa-based Noelle Mason’s installation Love Letters/White Flag: The Book of God knocked the breath out of judges, journalists and visitors to the Orlando Museum of Art last summer, winning one of the state’s top cultural honors, the Florida Prize in Contemporary Art. Mason’s work covered two

gallery walls with dozens of white vintage handkerchiefs, each one cross-stitched with writings and drawings taken from the journals of Eric Harris, one of the Columbine shooters.

The Florida Prize Exhibition, now in its fourth year, recognizes ten Florida-based stand-outs in the contemporary art scene in mediums including photography, painting, sculpture and mixed media. Both provocative and social, the exhibition’s preview party (complete with live music, fine food and craft cocktails) raises funds for the winner. The fete takes place on June 2, and you won’t want to miss this year’s nominees. omart.org

THE BADDEST BBQ ON THE BONE FISHING SLAM MADEIRA BEACH

June 8–10

Between fifty BBQ vendors, pig races, kids’ activities, musical performances and a whole lot of fishing, it’s no wonder

Below: Untitled (Veronica), 2015, by 2017 Florida Prize in Contemporary Art nominee Chase Westfall

Above: Winning smiles enjoying the Bone Fishing Slam Below right: Pig races

at the Baddest BBQ on the Bone Fishing Slam

that more than 20,000 people eagerly descend on the The Baddest BBQ on the Bone Fishing Slam, put on by the Old Salt Fishing Foundation.

Thursday night’s Captains Meeting and BBQ Festival kicks off the weekend and includes a silent auction, raffle prizes, and more than sixty art merchants.

The free children’s fishing tournament on Friday precedes Saturday’s in-shore and offshore competitions. With twelve different divisions ranging from trout to mackerel, anyone with a rod can compete for cash prizes.

For the landlubbers, a pro-am BBQ showdown determines who will become the top—ahem— hog of the grill. oldsaltfishing.org

means crush season. Forget Tuscany—smash some grapes under your bare feet at the Lakeridge Winery & Vineyards Harvest Festival in Clermont.

The versatile muscadine grapes grown in Central Florida produce Southern Red and Southern White blends that locals love.

During the festival, the 127-acre Lakeridge estate rocks with live music, vineyard tours, a wine and cheese bar and an artisan village of 80 crafters to wander while swirling a glass (or three) of Sunblush, Lakeridge’s muscadine version of rosé. lakeridgewinery.com

LAKERIDGE WINERY & VINEYARDS HARVEST FESTIVAL CLERMONT PHOTOGR APHY BY

June 9–11

Above: Tktktk tktktkt tk tkt tktk t t tktk t t k tktkktktk tk

Florida wine? Yes, you read that right. More than two dozen wineries produce a variety of vintages across the state. And summer time

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ON THE FLY:THE TIDE ROAD TR IP–WORTHY EVENTS (SOUTH) Philharmonic, New York City Opera Orchestra and more. sarasotaorchestra.org

UPPER KEYS LIONFISH DERBY K E Y LA R G O

What’s a Lionfish Derby? This competition is designed to collect and remove as many lionfish as possible. Lionfish (also known as zebrafish and butterfly cod due to their stripes and fanned fins) may be pretty, but this non-native species wreaks havoc on reefs, preying on small native fish and poisoning larger species with its venom. Lionfish were released from aquariums into the wild in the ’80s and have flourished in the state’s tropical waters. Each derby, held at the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, helps reduce the population and provide data to help further research and awareness. Cast a rod and compete or simply watch and eat. reef.org Above: A Lionfish Derby diver at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park Below: Key West Lobsterfest’s signature crustaceans lined up on the grill

MIAMI SPICE MASH-UP/ MIX-UP SERIES MIAMI

BAY AREA SHOWDOWN TA M PA

June 23–25 Hoop dreams come true at the Bay Area Showdown. The five-versus-five tournament brings NBA-level competition to Tampa and lets everyday ballers play against current and former professional athletes like John Henson of the Milwaukee Bucks and Sunshine State native Marreese “Mo” Speights of the LA Clippers. The doubleelimination series tips off at Tampa Catholic High School and attracts hoops enthusiasts from around the state and beyond—all hoping to bring home the win and the ten-thousand-dollar

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cash prize. There’s also a cause behind the competition: The showdown was started in 2012 to give back to the community and raise proceeds for the Brandon Bolts, a local youth basketball program, along with other charitable organizations. bayareashowdown.com

(SOUTH) 53RD ANNUAL SARASOTA MUSIC FESTIVAL S A R A S O TA

June 4–25 Cue the orchestra—the Sarasota Music Festival returns for its

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53rd year. The classical music festival brings together 60 of the best students from the nation’s top music conservatories and 40 national and international music masters for three weeks of mentoring and musical showcases at the Sarasota Opera House and the Beatrice Friedman Symphony Center.

Equal parts student workshop and public concert, the festival creates an environment in which music enthusiasts can hear student-master collaborations, rehearsals, recitals and symphony performances. The lineup includes festival alumni from the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles

June and July Miami Spice Mash-Up/Mix-Ups, a series of intimate dinners, are back as an appetizer to the 16th annual Miami Spice restaurant months. Guests of these

PHOTOGR APHY BY REEF (TOP); LOBSTERFEST (BOT TOM); LURE FISHBAR (OPPOSITE TOP); SAR ASOTA ORCHESTR A (OPPOSITE BOT TOM)

July 28–29

semi-finalist Brad Kilgore of Alter and Brian Nasajon of Beaker & Gray, who joined forces at a location in Wynwood. This year’s whitecoat collaborations promise to be even more fabulous with unexpected dynamic duos. ilovemiamispice.com

KEY WEST LOBSTERFEST KEY WEST

August 10–13

smallerscale, exclusive foodie fusions will experience a three-course meal created by two chefs from some of the Magic City’s top restaurants. Last year, one of the Mash-Up/ Mix Up pairings featured James Beard

Grab your tickle stick and head south for foraging and feasting on Florida lobster. The 21st annual Lobsterfest kicks off the state’s lobster season, beginning with a bug boil at the Sunset Tiki Bar and Grill in Key West.

The crustacean celebration continues with a catamaran sail and snorkel trip, followed by a pub crawl. The weekend culminates with the event’s famous street fair. Stroll Duval Street listening to live local bands like The Durtbags while claw-clad festivalgoers sip cold beers and savor fresh-offthe-boat dishes like fried lobster fritters and grilled lobster tail from area restaurants. keywestlobsterfest.com ­—Sabeen Perwaiz, Maddy Zollo Rusbosin and Erika Vidal Holmes

Above: Salmon tartare with avocado by Lure Fishbar at Miami Spice Below: Featured ensemble yMusic at the Annual Sarasota Music Festival

Above: tktktktkt

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FLORIDIANA ALL THINGS VINTAGE B y K a t i e H en d ri ck

Home Sweet Dome

In Ten Thousand Islands, throngs of curious adventurers look for the mysterious Cape Romano Dome Home—which its original resident couldn’t fathom seeing ever again. collected rainwater that passed through filters and rested in tanks beneath the buildings. Solar panels powered ovens, ceiling fans, refrigerators, satellite televisions and even a hot tub.

“We were not roughing it,” recalls Lee’s daughter, Janet Maples, who made frequent visits from Tennessee. The spherical shape minimized wind impact and provided an airy ambiance. From big arched windows, the Lee family observed manatees, porpoises and turtles.

The property that sprung from the mind of a forward-thinking genius changed hands

Above: The Dome Home, once

perched on the beach, was taken over by the surrounding waters

Inset: The original owner’s photo

of her home in its intended glory.

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a few times before facing its ironic fate— erosion, exacerbated by Hurricane Wilma, overtook the beach and damaged the domes’ foundation. In 2007, the Collier County Code Enforcement Board deemed them uninhabitable. “Daddy knew it would happen and urged the first buyer to build a seawall,” Maples says. She can’t imagine ever returning to the area. “It would just be too sad.” For now, however, the Cape Romano Dome Home remains a cool Florida destination, reachable by boat or kayak, delighting those who make the journey with stalwart pillars that still uphold the arches and caps.

PHOTOGR APHY BY JOE Y WAVES; MARGARET LEE (TOP RIGHT)

F

or decades, a smattering of Star Wars-like igloo-shaped structures off Cape Romano (just south of Marco Island in the Ten Thousand Islands) have attracted throngs of gawkers and inspired numerous rumors. Aliens? Cults?

Government secrets?

The truth was decidedly less salacious but equally sensational. In 1980, the late Bob Lee, a retired oilman from Gatlinburg, Tennessee, constructed a self-sustaining beach residence.

An avid inventor with a background in geology, Lee created concrete domes from the (now underwater) island’s sand. Troughs

EXPERIENCE THE THRILL ALL SUMMER LONG!

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LIVE RACING DAY

PRINCESS ROONEY (GII) SMILE SPRINT(GII)

FTBOA FLORIDA SIRE STAKES SATURDAY, AUG. 5 SATURDAY, SEPT. 2 SATURDAY, SEPT. 30

BREEDERS’ CUP Challenges Races “Win and You’re In”.

SIMULCASTING DAY

W E L C O M E

SUMMIT OF SPEED SATURDAY, JUL. 1 Featuring

T O

YOUR PLAYGROUND 9 0 1 S F E D E R A L H I G H W AY I H A L L A N D A L E B E A C H I 9 5 4 . 4 5 4 . 7 0 0 0 I G U L F S T R E A M P A R K . C O M

THE Sea-Dweller The new generation of a legend among divers’ watches, engineered by Rolex in 1967 for the conquest of the deep.

It doesn’t just tell time. It tells history.

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