Florida’s Big Dig
The story of the Intracoastal and other thoughts on water, waterways, land, and ecology
Category: Uncategorized
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Front cover of the Florida Coast Line Canal & Transportation Co. Report of 1885. Prospectus of the “Property and Prospects” of the company by St. Augustine civil engineer Robert E. O’Brien intended to induce new investors, many of whom had been early investors in the Bell Telephone enterprise. Large investors included George L. Bradley of…
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Our literate cat Whiskers peaks over the top of a book stand to view my award-winning book, “Florida’s Big Dig: the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway from Jacksonville to Miami, 1881 to 1935.” Winner of the Rembert Patrick Award in 2008, my book tells the story of how a privately built tollway barely five feet deep in…
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In 1876, the Department of Treasury began constructing five Houses of Refuge for shipwrecked sailors every twenty-five miles along the Florida East Coast. The first House of Refuge in Fort Lauderdale was located along the beach about where Bonnet House and Gardens occupies a site as deep as the distance between the Intracoastal Waterway and…
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Sunset view from Harbortown across Calibogue Sound, part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. Several stretches of the Waterway through South Carolina are so shallow many vessels run aground, unable to move until high tide.
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Yacht harbor surrounded by a townhouse community, iconic lighthouse, retail shopping, and yacht club.
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Harbortown Lighthouse, Sea Pines Plantation, Hilton Head, South Carolina. Harbor leads out into Calibogue Sound, a part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.
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Harbor surrounded by townhouses, retail shops, and a yacht club along with slips for boats of every size in Sea Island Plantation, the largest plantation community on Hilton Head Island.
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Harbortown Lighthouse at Sea Pines Plantation overlooking Calibogue Sound, a link through South Carolina and part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. Many sections in this area are quite shallow as a result of the failure of Congress to adequately fund the dredging of the waterway. By contrast, Florida legislators enacted the Florida Inland Navigation District…
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It was about 5:30 p.m. one day in the latter part of May several years ago. My wife was shopping while I was sitting down on the grass enjoying the cool weather. I checked for messages on my iPhone and took this photo. I have not changed the photo in any manner.
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1889 sketch of Lake Boca Raton by civil engineer Arthur Wrotnowski’s illustrating a survey for the construction of an inland waterway from St. Augustine to ‘Cocoa-nut Grove’, Fla., made by Chicago railway and inland waterway engineer Elmer C. Corthell. The survey was made to induce George Bradley and other wealthy investors to join in the…
Florida’s Big Dig 