Today I am sharing a historic photograph from my mother’s book “Jensen and Eden on Florida’s Indian River.” It is a remarkable photo that takes us to another time and place. Looking at the river viewed from the ridge, we witness our region’s pioneer history when hard-working people like Mr and Mrs S.F. Webb, and Capt. John and and Annie Miller bought acreage along the Indian River Lagoon, cleared the land, planted pineapples and built a school.

My mother writes: “Jensen Beach evolved from the historic communities of Eden and Jensen perched beside the Indian River. This estuary beginning above Titusville and stretching south along the Florida east coast for more than 140 miles to the Jupiter Inlet, served as a highway for early settlers when sailboats were the primary mode of transportation.” –Sandra H. Thurlow

The river may not be our primary mode of transportation today and the pineapple fields are long gone, but it is certainly the reason why many of us are here. The river continues to be our path…the way…

Vignette on area pineapples industry: by historians Alice and Greg Luckhardt/Stuart Heritage/ as posted on TC Palm: http://www.tcpalm.com/news/historical-vignettes–cost-freezes-destroy-pineapple-industry-ep-351011534-341978931.html