STUART, FL

Wednesday, March 11th, 2015

Day 219
Miles Traveled: 0
Total Miles Traveled: 2771


  We spent the morning doing some waterway chart review for our upcoming travel day.  The morning and early afternoon were overcast with showers off and on.  In between rain showers, we ate lunch, did some browsing at the shops downtown, and toured the Stuart Heritage Museum.  The Sunset Bay Marina is walking distance to downtown Stuart, FL.  There are a couple of streets right along the St. Lucie River with many restaurants and boutique shops. 

One of the streets in downtown Stuart, FL

  At the street corners around downtown there are "Key West like" signs indicating the names of the shops and restaurants, and, which direction they are located. 

One of the corner street signs in downtown Stuart, FL

  There are two "round abouts" downtown and each has a sculpture in the center. One is called "Stuart Sailfish" and the other is "Abundance". 
  "Stuart Sailfish" represents the city's nickname as "Sailfish Capital of the World".  Sport fishing for sailfish is very prevalent in this area. 

"Stuart Sailfish" at Sailfish Circle

  In 1939 "Abundance" was sent by France to the New York World's Fair.  The Women's Club of Stuart obtained the bronze statue in 1941.  It initially was placed on the courthouse grounds (the community was against placing the statue of a naked lady in the middle of downtown), but, in 1991, she was moved to Haney Circle (in the middle of downtown).

"Abundance" at Haney Circle

  We learned more about the history of Stuart, FL at the Stuart Heritage Museum. The museum is housed in what used to be the George W Parks General Merchandise Store.  This structure is one of the few false-front store buildings in the Wood Frame Vernacular style remaining in South Florida.  It was built in 1901 and later became a hardware store and then a feed store.

Stuart Heritage Museum

      
  Although now well known for sport fishing, Stuart used to be well known for farming.  In 1894 Henry Flagler extended his railroad through Stuart.  Prior to that, all the supplies for the settlers came by Walter Kitching's trade boat, the "Merchant".  At the turn of the century Walter Kitching, George Parks and others established Stuart's first business district on the banks of the St. Lucie River.  Pioneers and Seminole Indians came to the store for supplies.  The railroad was kept busy shipping crates of pineapples, vegetables, and fish to the North.  This miniature diorama depicts this first business area. 

miniature diorama of early downtown Stuart, FL

  For more about this museum and Stuart, FL history go to: http://www.stuartheritagemuseum.com/
  
  
  We spent the rest of the afternoon doing some trip planning and relaxed in the evening.  We enjoyed our short stay at Stuart, FL and Sunset Bay Marina.