She was wearing her new shocking pink bathing suit with
butterflies on the chest for the first time.
But to ride in the rented catarmaran, she had to put on a
life vest, and Mommy added sun screen and a hat. Safety first!
With Papi, who was
going to be the captain of the ship, she examined their catamaran—number seven.
Crew member Amalia didn’t know what she was supposed to do
with all the ropes, but Papi would explain.
We’re off!. Those
dots on the horizon are some of the houses of Stiltsville.
The first stilt shack was built in the early 1930’s—some say
to use for selling liquor during
Prohibition, others say for gambling clubs, which was legal at one mile
off shore.
Crawfish Eddie Walker built a shack on stilts in 1933 where
visitors could get beer, gambling games and a chowder made with crawfish he
caught under his shack.
More shacks were built by his buddies. Eddie’s shack was destroyed by a hurricane in
1950. Social clubs like the Calvert Club opened with membership dues. Politicians and wealthy Miamians flocked to
them, but many of the structures were destroyed by Hurricane Donna in 1960. Some of the structures were created out of a
sunken barge and a 150-foot yacht. The yacht housed the “Bikini Club”, where
women wearing bikinis got free drinks.
Hurricane Betsy in 1965 ended the “wild west” era of
Stiltsville. Florida began requiring annual payments for owners to lease their
“campsites”. No permits for new construction were allowed. The state said all
the shacks would be removed on July 1, 1999, but Congress expanded the
boundaries of the Biscayne National Park taking in Stiltsville.
Life Magazine
featured the place in an article in 1998, and more
than 75,000 people signed a petition to save the structures. In 2003 a non-profit organization called the
Stiltsville Trust was established to protect the seven remaining structures and now the National Parks Service owns the buildings, while their “caretakers”
(leaseholders) perform maintenance.
Meanwhile, on every nice day,
the partying continues—and people passing by on boats are often invited
to join in.
Stiltsville has been the setting for movies, many novels,
several episodes of Miami Vice and other TV programs. The Sessions and Shaw
House was featured in a national ad campaign for Pittsburgh Paints.
Papi did a masterful job of sailing the catamaran, but
Amalia was so exhausted being first mate that she took a power nap as they
returned to shore, with Miami in the distance.
But the promise of seafood and key lime pie at the nearby
Light House Café in Bill Baggs State Park
brought her wide awake
And she ate a whole loaf of Cuban bread dipped in olive oil.
Then it was on to the beach where the Cape Florida light
house overlooked the scene—the oldest standing structure in Greater Miami.
Mommy did a head stand.
Meanwhile Papi created a masterful sand castle
Which Amalia demolished with glee.
Sailing to Stlltsville was fun, Amalia decided
But the most fun of all was stomping on sandcastles.
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