Hutchinson Island is a barrier island on the coast of Martin and St. Lucie counties, Florida. The southern one-third of Hutchinson Island is in Martin County while the northern two-thirds is in St. Lucie County. It is bounded on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, on the south by the St. Lucie Inlet, on the west by the Indian River, and on the north by the Fort Pierce Inlet, which separates it from what is known in St Lucie County as North Hutchinson Island, or sometimes "North Beach." North Hutchinson Island extends into Indian River County, but it is rarely called that north of the county line. In fact the Indian River county portion which extends to the Sebastian Inlet is usually called Orchid Island, although it is not a separate island.
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The Martin County portion of the island is all unincorporated. Its southern part, which is sometimes called Stuart Beach, receives its mail from Stuart Zip Code 34996, while the northern part receives its mail from Jensen Beach Zip Code 34957. Martin County has successfully limited buildings on the island to four stories and thus has no highrise or midrise buildings, unlike St. Lucie County to the north. The closest incorporated places to the Martin County portion are the towns of Ocean Breeze Park and Sewall's Point. The city of Stuart is west of Sewall's Point.
In 2004 the island was hit by two hurricanes which made landfall on the Martin County portion of the island. On September 5, 2004, Hurricane Frances made landfall with winds of 105 miles per hour (169 km/h). On September 25, 2004, Hurricane Jeanne made landfall with winds of 120 miles per hour (190 km/h).
The St. Lucie County portion of the island consists of three parts as follows:
The southern part of the St. Lucie County portion comprises the Hutchinson Island South Census Designated Place, but that name is rarely used by residents, who receive their mail from Jensen Beach Zip Code 34957. The Jensen Beach post office has a postal contract substation known as Hutchinson Beach located at 11007 South Ocean Drive, but it offers only post office boxes and counter services.
The ocean front is lined with mid-rise luxury condominium apartment buildings with a few hotels or motels mixed in. On the Indian River side there is a mix of single family homes, duplexes and mobile home or travel trailer communities, the largest of which is Nettles Island, where the county building codes have allowed what started as travel trailer lots to be used for site-built homes.
In the middle of the St. Lucie County portion is the large St. Lucie Nuclear Power Plant., which runs from ocean to river.
Most of the area north of the power plant is in the Fort Pierce city limits and is locally called "Fort Pierce Beach" or sometimes "South Beach," not to be confused with the area of Miami Beach by the same name or with the C.D.P. in Indian River County called South Beach, Florida.
The main north-south highway on the island is State Road A1A which enters the island several miles north of the St. Lucie Inlet at Stuart Beach via the Ernest Lyons Bridge across the Indian River from Sewall's Point. A1A exits the island via the South Bridge in Fort Pierce. In Martin County, A1A is known as Northeast (or N.E.) Ocean Boulevard based on that county's naming system, while in St. Lucie County, A1A is known as South (or S.) Ocean Drive from the Martin County line north to the Fort Pierce Inlet, based on that county's naming system. At the Fort Pierce Inlet, A1A turns west onto Seaway Drive for the short distance to the South Bridge.
The only other road access to the island is in Martin County on State Road 732, N.E. Causeway Boulevard, which crosses the Indian River from Jensen Beach on the mainland over the Frank A. Wacha Bridge and Causeway. State Road 732 intersects with A1A at the entrance to Jensen Sea Turtle Public Beach.
The only internal public road in the Martin County portion is MacArthur Boulevard which runs south from A1A to the entrance to the Sailfish Point development about a mile north of the inlet. In the St. Lucie County portion of the island, there are many platted public subdivision streets and roads in the area that is within the Fort Pierce city limits. Practically all other roads on the island in either county are private roads controlled by homeowners' associations or condominiums.