Flamingo, Florida

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Flamingo, Florida began as a small coastal settlement on the eastern end of Cape Sable on the southern tip of the Florida peninsula, facing Florida Bay. It is now the southernmost headquarters of Everglades National Park, the end of the 99-mile Wilderness Waterway known as the Ten Thousand Islands, and the southern end of the only road (running 38 miles) through the park from Florida City, Florida. From the road there is sawgrass stretching as far as the eye can see.

[edit] Early years

The settlement received its name in 1893, when the settlers had to choose a name for their new post office. They chose the flamingo as the most distinctive bird seen in the area. While the flamingo did not breed in Florida, birds from Cuba and the Bahamas once traveled in large numbers to the area. Flamingos were last seen in large numbers in the area in 1902. The post office was closed in 1909.

After the end of the Seminole Wars there were scattered settlements on Cape Sable, including at Flamingo. The settlers made a living by providing fish, fresh vegetables and charcoal to Key West.

Life in Flamingo could be unpleasant. Leverett White Brownell, a naturalist, visited Flamingo in 1893. He described the village of 38 "shacks" on stilts as infested with fleas and mosquitos. He claimed to have seen an oil lamp extinguished by a cloud of mosquitos. He also stated that flea powder was the "staff of life" and that the cabins were thickly sooted from the use of smudge pots. He added that tomatoes, asparagus and eggplant were the principal crops.

Flamingo had a small boom in the early 20th century when speculators thought that Henry Flagler would choose a route for his Florida East Coast Railway across Florida Bay to Key West. A fish house was built in Flamingo in 1908, and fishing became the primary occupation of the town. The road from Homestead reached Flamingo in 1922, but was poorly maintained and virtually impassable in wet weather until the National Park Service gave it a gravel top in the late 1940s. During prohibition moonshining became a major occupation in Flamingo, but was eventually suppressed by government agents.

A track called the Snake Bight Trail provides an alternative pedestrian access to the sea to the east of Flamingo, but its two-mile length is notorious for the number and ferocity of the mosquitos.

[edit] Flamingo today

Flamingo used to consist of the Flamingo Lodge (open year-round), a restaurant and cafe (open only during the winter months), a marina, a store, a gift shop (open only during the winter months), a few houses for park rangers and a campground. However, when Hurricane Wilma passed over Flamingo in the fall of 2005 most of these facilities were destroyed. The marina and store have reopened, but current plans are to limit the activity to daytime only.

[edit] References

• Tebeau, Charlton W. (1968) Man in the Everglades. Coral Gables, Florida: University of Miami Press. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 68-17768
• Bullen, Adelaide K. (1965) "Florida Indians of Past and Present", in Carson, Ruby Leach and Tebeau, Charlton, Eds. Florida from Indian trail to space age: a history. (Vol. I, pp. 317-350). Southern Publishing Company.
• National Park Service - Everglades National Park - accessed April 23, 2006
• Everglades History - accessed April 24 2006