| Engaging Keeper Tours at Stuart's Unique House of Refuge |
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| October 17, 2009 |
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Long before Florida was home to world-class spas and hotels, quite a few accidental visitors looked for a safe haven here: those who were shipwrecked on our coast. On Hutchinson Island, the House of Refuge at Gilbert’s Bar offers a unique perspective of an important time in the United States' maritime history.
A local historian and re-enactment player, Marty Baum, conducts tours of the museum here on the second Saturday of each month from October through spring. While dressed in period costume, he escorts visitors through the House as a Keeper might have done at the end of the 19th century. With historical facts and amusing anecdotes, visitors are transported back to when a South Florida address meant living like a pioneer.
Keepers and their families lived on site and provided food, medical attention and a safe place to stay as part of the US Life-Saving Service, which later became part of the Coast Guard. After freighters were torpedoed off the Treasure Coast in 1942, an on-site tower was used to scan the waters for German U-boats.
The tower, constructed on an outcropping of the Anastasia Formation known as the "St. Lucie Rocks," has an exquisite setting. Check out this panomamic live camera view for a taste of it. The Gilbert’s Bar House of Refuge is the only one that remains of 10 such homes built by the U.S. Treasury Department in 1876. It was decommissioned in April of 1945.
Just in case you need a third reason to visit (after the tour and the view), another slice of American history is next door in a remarkable collection of baseball memorabilia including baseball cards, contracts, journals and equipment.
Keeper tours are scheduled on the second Saturday each month through May from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and are included with admission.
House of Refuge Museum at Gilbert’s Bar
301 S.E. MacArthur Blvd.
Stuart, FL 34996
772-225-1875
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| Gilbert's Bar is a part of Florida's maritime history. |
| Credit: House of Refuge |
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