FORT PIERCE, FL

Friday, March 13th to Saturday, March 14th, 2015

Day 221-222
Miles Traveled: 0
Total Miles Traveled: 2801


  Friday we spent exploring downtown Fort Pierce, FL.  Fort Pierce was founded as a military base in 1838 during the second Seminole War.  It officially became a city more than 60 years later in 1901.  Prior to that, in 1882, Captain Benjamin Hogg built a trading post on the waterfront.  It was later purchased by Peter P. Cobb and became the P.P. General Store.  Currently the building is being used as a delicatessen.  It is the oldest building in Fort Pierce.  The second floor will be housing the Adams-Cobb Cultural Center which will provide history about Fort Pierce and the surrounding areas.  It is scheduled to be open the end of March, but many of the displays were almost done.  We were allowed to walk through and view what was available.  

P,P. Cobb General Store/Trading Center

  An interesting find within this building were some old U.S. Post Office Boxes.

Old Post Office Boxes in P.P. Cobb General Store

  Another historic building seen was the Arcade Building which was built in 1926.  At the time it was the largest commercial building in Fort Pierce.  Damaged by a fire in the 1980's, it was restored in 2002. It is again being used by shops and businesses.

Fort Pierce Arcade Building

entry to one of the interior areas of the Arcade

  While walking around downtown, we noticed many mosaic tiled benches.  Each had different mosaic patterned art which theme coincided to where it was located.  These two benches were outside the Sunrise Theatre.

Mosaic bench outside Sunrise Theater

another mosaic bench in front of Sunrise Theater    

  We found downtown Fort Pierce to be another nice downtown to walk around and explore shops and restaurants.



  Saturday we spent all morning at the Fort Pierce Farmers Market.  We planned our trip to be here on this day.  This Farmers Market is ranked #1 in Florida and #5 in the nation.  There were over 70 vendors with goods ranging from fruits and vegetables to fine art.  We had the opportunity to buy perishable goods including produce, baked goods, fresh fish and meats to arts & crafts items including jewelry, clothing, art pieces, and more.  It was a beautiful sunny day with a nice breeze so many people were taking advantage of this event.  There were also food vendors selling breakfast and lunch meals.  We had a lunch of grilled burritos (very tasty), and, for dessert, Dan had an apple turnover and Angie had a brownie (YUM).

Aerial view of Fort Pierce Farmer's Market - this only shows about 1/'2 of the vendors - the art/craft vendors are on the other side of building in picture

another aerial view - there really were about this many people walking around

small sample of the arts/crafts section of  Farmers Market

  We relaxed during the afternoon and went out for dinner in the evening.  There was a great guitar player at the restaurant which we enjoyed listening to while we waited about 45 minutes for our table.  It was an enjoyable evening with good music and good food.