Tag Archives: Time Capsule Flights

Southern Path From the Everglades to Loxahatchee Slough (1949-50 USGS Topos), Todd Thurlow

The red line shows the historic flow (in both directions depending on water levels) of the Loxahatchee Slough. Courtesy of Todd Thurlow, “Time Capsule Flights.”

Today we continue our journey of the Loxahatchee Slough, once part of southwest headwaters of today’s “Wild and Scenic,” but also water-anemic, You will see that the Loxahatchee River is located in both Martin and Palm Beach counties. My brother, Todd Thurlow’s “Time Capsule Flight” guide-posts are below to give reference during your awesome flight of this area.

Again, as in some of Todd’s other videos, you will see that humankind has developed lands “right in the middle of a river.” Certainly we would have done things differently today!

For instance, the red line in the video and photo above shows the “Southern Path From the Everglades to the Loxahatchee Slough” using 1949-1950 USGS Topo maps. Today, this once “water wonderland” is completely developed, and channelized, shutting off the once intermittent, bi-directional flow, depending on rain levels and locations… to the Loxahatchee River.

It is kind of sad that most of us are completely unaware that this giant slough was once a flourishing “fork” of the Loxahatchee River. It took me awhile to figure it out. They should teach this stuff in school. Please watch Todd’s video below. You will be in awe!

In this video you will see:

0:00 1958 USGS 1:250K Topo Quad of Palm Beach and neighboring counties

0:05 I added the red line to the map showing the path of low lands between Loxahatchee Slough and the Everglades

0:08 Eight 1949 and 1950 1:24K USGS Topo maps

0:25 Fade away to a current aerial showing the red line and flying…

— north, from the intersection of State Road 7 (US441) and Old Hammock Way (just north of The Mall at Wellington Green)

— 0:30 across the West Palm Beach Canal

— 0:33 to the south end of Loxahatchee Slough (Behind Renaissance Charter School / Okeechobee Rd & Benoist Farms Rd)

0:46 Fly up the C-18 Canal, which now splits and drains to Loxahatchee Slough (C-18/Corbett Basin)

0:59 Turnpike and I-95 interchanges at Indiantown Rd. (SR706)

1:08 Southwest Fork of the Loxahatchee River

(https://youtu.be/xMThRgDhpbk)

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Links:

If one looks up the Loxahatchee River today there is hardly a mention of the once great southwest arm of the river, it is just a long skinny canal, ~the photo not even showing the large partially remaining Loxahatchee Slough now amputated from the river by development. https://loxahatcheeriver.org/river/about-river/

Water Catchment Area is how the Loxahatchee Slough show up on maps today. JTL

Learn more about Todd Thurlow and see his many other Time Capsule Flights here: https://jacquithurlowlippisch.com/todd-thurlows-time-capsule-flights/

An Incredible Flight! 1958 USGS Quads ~Everglades, Loxahatchee Slough, Allapattah Flats, and St. Johns River Marsh, by Todd Thurlow

USGS 1958 Quad Western Martin and St.Lucie, slide Todd Thurlow, Time -Capsule Flights

Today, I present, yet another incredible Time-Capsule Flight by my brother Todd Thurlow. (https://jacquithurlowlippisch.com/todd-thurlows-time-capsule-flights/). This flight takes us on a tour over the Everglades, the Everglades Agricultural Area, Loxahatchee Slough, Allapattah Flats, Ten Mile Creek, and the St Johns River Marsh, fading in and out, so one can see what the landscape/waterscape looked like in 1958 using USGA topographical maps compared to today’s Google Earth maps.

What is most striking for me, is how undeveloped, how undrained, much of the land was in 1958, not really that long ago… 61 years ago. For reference, my husband, Ed, is 62 years young!

More than we can image has happened to South Florida since 1958…

For instance, when Todd flies by notice how little sugarcane and other crop production was taking place in the Everglades Agricultural Area just south of Lake Okeechobee compared to today. Now there are about 525,000 acres of sugarcane, back then, there appears to have been fewer than 50,000 acres of sugarcane in acreage.

Everglades National Park had been in place since 1947, but look at the difference in Whitewater Bay, as well as Taylor and Shark River Slough; and what about Florida Bay?

The Loxahatchee Slough region, near Jupiter, in Palm Beach County? Holy moley, notice how the once magnificent slough was made smaller by development encroaching from every direction, eventually leaving “Grassy Waters” at the southern end – as the sole water supply, via rainfall for all of West Palm Beach…

When Todd travels north over Marin, St Lucie, and the southern edge of Indian River County, perhaps the biggest shock for me endures, as I grew up in this area ~(For reference, I’m 55 years old 🙂

You’ll see that on the USGA map, southern Indian River, St Lucie, and Martin counties are shown in wavy blue as a gigantic marsh, at certain times of year, FULL of clean water!!!! Crazy! Since 1958 these lands have been drained (Ten Mile Creek) that was hydrologically connected to the marsh, through canals C-23, C-24 and C-25; and the waters of the St Johns “Stick Marsh,”( the headwaters of the St Johns River), a north flowing river, are now also drained south into the St Lucie River. Agriculture fields and nearby highways cover those most of those stick marsh lands today.

And the central larger marsh? “Allattah Flats,” also known as “Allpattah Marsh,” or in old military Indian war maps, “Alpatiokee Swamp? Well, the City of Port St Lucie, with over 250,000 residents, and acres of ailing greening orange groves, and more agricultural fields fill these areas today.

Just unbelievable, isn’t it?

Talk about “taking control of one’s environment. “Kind of cool, but I’d say we have really over done it, considering that now our waters, critical for life itself, are almost entirely impaired.

It is my wish that as the residents of Florida push their governments to work for cleaner water, and restore some of these lands, that we all keep in mind the history of what the lands were, working with Mother Nature, not against her.

Todd’s Time Capsule Flights are an invaluable tool in recognizing how much human determination has changed these lands, and how a modern-day determination can restore them. Please click on below and enjoy! Thank you Todd!

An Incredible Flight! 1958 USGS Quads, the Everglades, Loxahatchee Slough, Allapattah Flats, and St. Johns River Marsh, by Todd Thurlow

(https://youtu.be/m7bOEAXbOyA)

1958 USGS Quads of the Everglades, Loxahatchee Slough, Allapattah Flats, and St. Johns River Marsh

This time capsule flight overlays three 1958 USGS Quadrangle Maps of southeast Florida from Florida Bay to the St. Johns River Marsh in Indian River County. You will see the following places:
0:30 Whitewater Bay
0:39 Shark River
1:44 The Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA)
2:20 Loxahatchee Slough
3:15 Allapattah Flats
3:35 Tenmile Creek
4:03 St. Johns River Marsh

Historical Topographic Map Collection legend

Jupiter Island’s Golf Course Dredge and Fill? Stuart Daily News, 1937

**Photo of Jupiter Island, The Stuart Daily News, 1937, courtesy Knight A. Kiplinger.**

My brother, Todd Thurlow, created a new “Time Capsule Flight” to give us historic perspective into my last blog post asking a question about an aerial photograph on page 3 of a 1937 Stuart Daily News, special edition, featuring Jupiter Island’s Golf Course.

“Fill or not fill?”

This was my question!

I had written: “When I first saw this photograph, it struck me that I did not recognize the area with exposed white sand on the east side of the island. I wondered if that was a remnant fan-like formation from an ancient inlet. Then it struck me that perhaps it was fill dredged from the Indian River lagoon for the golf course – or a combination of both.”

Todd’s video flight, using historic maps from 1883, 1885, and 1940 as well as today’s Google Earth technology, answered this question.

Jacqui: “Todd so after watching your time capsule flight it appears that the Jupiter Island Golf course was a natural wetland or mangrove something? It is sticking out into Indian River Lagoon on your oldest 1800s map- so it’s not entirely dredge and filled? Right?”

Todd: “Yep. Probably was swampy like Indian River Plantation (Marriott) and filled in with dredge from the ponds or Hobe Sound but more than likely before the channel/canal was dredged by the Feds in 1935. The Jupiter Island web-site says the Golf Course was built in 1922.”

Watch Todd’s video below and see for yourself the fascinating changes over time. Good for the golfers, not so good for the birds! Mystery solved by a Time Capsule Flight! Thanks Todd!

Todd’s video Jupiter Inlet 1883, 1885, & 1940 Lake Worth to South Jupiter Narrows: (https://youtu.be/VwoAXOrtRu4)

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Former blog post on this subject: https://jacquithurlowlippisch.com/2018/03/30/jupiter-island-is-show-place-of-martin-county-1937-stuart-daily-news/

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SEE ALL OF TODD’S TIME CAPSULE FLIGHTS & CONTACT INFO HERE: https://jacquithurlowlippisch.com/todd-thurlows-time-capsule-flights/

The FPL Reservoir’s Catastrophic Dike Failure, 1979, Part 2 of 2, SLR/IRL

“The FPL Reservoir’s Catastrophic Dike Failure”

Barley Barber Swamp, the FPL Reservoir and its 1979 Catastrophic Failure (Part 2 of 2), Todd Thurlow, SLR/IRL

An empty reservoir after the breach of its dike, USDA 1980. Courtney Todd Thurlow

Video link “The FPL Reservoir’s Catastrophic Dike Failure” (https://youtu.be/2r1hgFqgIK8)

On Halloween eve, October 30th 1979, the southwest side of the dike embankment at Florida Power & Light Company’s Martin Plant suddenly, and without warning failed catastrophically.

It was the dead of night and certainly the creatures of the nearby Barley Barber Swamp sensed more than their human masters. No person saw the incident. There were no cameras, no guards, no witnesses. It was the 1970s.

We can imagine, though, even though the final report said “not,” that for months sands had been slipping, eroding underground, perhaps led by connection to the old borrow pits dug for the railroad that came through in the 1920s.

My brother Todd’s latest spectacular time capsule flight takes us through this fateful night that by the time Halloween arrived, derailed a southbound train. The conductor reported the incident to his superiors as a “flash flood.” It was eventually realized that this flash flood was part of something much larger in scope!

Even if you know the story, the numbers are staggering…

As Todd notes, when the dike let loose, 100,000 cfs of water (cubic feet per second) blew into L-65, the canal on the edge of the FPL reservoir, and into the C-44 canal connected to the reservoir at S-53. The biggest numbers we hear these days in cfs is about 5000.

Facing west, a wave surged over the sugarcane fields and overtop US 441, traveling north seven miles in the rim canal. S-308 at Port Mayaca flowed backwards, and 4000 cfs entered Lake Okeechobee.

The finally alerted ACOE maxed S-80 at St Lucie Locks and Dam at 15,800 cfs, (over twice the highest amount of the Lost Summer of 2013 at 5700+/-). Crazy! Todd says the max for S-80 into the St Lucie River is 16,900 cfs. Not too far off were they.

Of course, these peaks would have only been for a few hours, but nonetheless, as is often the case, these kind of numbers mean “instant death for the St Lucie.”

This FPL event traveled much further north than the C-44 canal though; the last paragraph of the SFWMD 1980 report’s “failure section” notes:

“The Rim Canal reached a peak the next day (November 1) at the north end of the basin, 17 miles from the St. Lucie Canal. The flood was contained at this northerly point by the Nubbin Slough Tieback Levee along Canal 59. The maximum area flooded, was about 14,100 acres.”

What a story!

Well, it’s only history, right? But then history has a strange way of repeating itself in one form or another doesn’t it?

WATCH Todd’s VIDEO HERE: “The FPL Reservoir’s Catastrophic Dike Failure” (https://youtu.be/2r1hgFqgIK8)

Cattle take to high ground in Port Mayaca as egrets fly overhead after a Florida Power and Light dike broke, causing heavy flooding in the area. (UPI)

Links:

Interim Final Draft Report on Embankment Failure FPL’s Martin Plant Cooling Reservoir, SFWMD, 1980: http://damsafety.hostguardian.com/media/Documents/DownloadableDocuments/MartinPowerPlantFailureReport.pdf

Palm Beach Post, Post Time, FPL 1979 Dam Collapse Hit Martin County, Elliot Kleinberg :
http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news/local/post-time-1979-fpl-reservoir-dam-collapse-hit-western-martin-county/2BU5WcnUVTz9GGNAhTSEGK/

Read part 1 of this FRL series below:

Part 1, Barley Barber Swamp, the FPL Reservoir and its 1979 Catastrophic Failure (Part 1 of 2) Todd Thurlow/JTL: https://jacquithurlowlippisch.com/tag/barley-barber-swamp/

Link to Part 1

7-6-23

My mother came across this photograph in her files. She says it was labeled “Stuart News. Remarkable. JTL

Written on back on photo, Thurlow Archives.

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Barley Barber Swamp, the FPL Reservoir and its 1979 Catastrophic Failure (Part 1 of 2)

Video above and also available here by link: (“Barley Barber Swamp, the FPL Reservoir and its 1979 Catastrophic Failure, Part 1 of 2,” by Todd Thurlow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZvkvCEblfE&feature=youtu.be)

From the air, Barley Barber Swamp is distinctive. Like a thimble, it sticks out into Florida Power and Light’s reservoir in Indiantown, Martin County. The 6700 acre “man made lake” can hold more than 80,000 acre feet of water. It lies just north of the C-44 canal, and east of the dike from a once sprawling Lake Okeechobee. Barley Barber is the “crown jewel.”

“This jewel of a swamp” is a popular tourist destination and considered to be one of the finest remaining old-growth cypress communities in the country. In 1972, FPL purchased the swamp and surrounding lands to build their 6700 acre cooling reservoir that it operates in agreement with the South Florida Water Management District. An intake canal connects to the C-44 and S-153 to the northwest, contains and drains waters that once naturally flowed into Lake Okeechobee.

It is a wonderful thing that FPL saved the remaining 400 acre swamp! Today it is teeming with plant and wildlife species, including ancient bald cypress tress, one qualifying as the largest in the United States. My brother, Todd, notes that some estimates put that tree at 1,000 years old. The Wikipedia entry says its 88 ft. tall with a circumference of 33 ft., while the “Lady Liberty” tree in the same park as the late “Senator” is 82 ft. tall and 32.8 ft circumference – and is claimed to be 2,000 years old?

Hmmm? Maybe in south-central Florida we are really in first place!

Giant cypress tree, Barley Barber Swamp as shared by Modern Mississauga Magazine, 2016.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barley_Barber_Swamp

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Liberty_(tree)

http://championtrees.freshfromflorida.com/home.mvc/Index

Cypress are valuable and majestic water trees. It’s so nice to have what’s left, but one can’t help but wonder what the swamp looked like before its ancient branches were cut for lumber, and its massive stumps burned to make way for agriculture?

Well, we can can know…almost… I asked my brother, Todd, historic map expert, if he could show us, and he has created yet another “time capsule flight” video to take us there!

Using 1940 United States Department of Agriculture aerials, a 1953 USGA topographical map, and 1974 Florida Department of Transportation map juxtaposed to Google Earth images from today, we see the swamp in all its glory stretching east with forks, like a “river of trees.” What a beautiful, beautiful swamp it must have been!

Before it was cut down, Todd calculates it at 3076 acres, or 14.81 square miles. Amazing! I wonder what animals lived there? We can imagine alligators, and owls as the images fade in and out. And then we see the swamp’s stately trees replaced by the shape of the reservoir; we see the tree stumps burning, and smoke rising the sky. An offering perhaps…

….as humans we seem determined for the theme of our lives to be “Man over Nature.” Well, sometimes we win, and sometimes we lose…

Today, Todd’s video focuses on the structure and size of the former Barley Barber Swamp, but in Part II, he will share yet another story, the 1979 catastrophic failure of the FPL reservoir that burst through its dike like a tidal wave…

Links:

To view all of Todd’s incredible Time Capsule Flights of Martin County featured on my blog: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDaNwdmfhj15bmGNQaGhog9QpkQPAXl06
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Take a tour of Barley Barber Swamp with the Treasured Lands Foundation. Ex. Dir. Charles Barraclough gives great tours!

Barley Barber Swamp/Tours: http://www.barleybarber.org

Animals in the Swamp! https://www.fpl.com/environment/wildlife/barley-barber-wildlife.html

Barley Barber? Where does the name come from? Who was Barley Barber? Alice and Greg Luckhardt: http://www.tcpalm.com/story/specialty-publications/your-news/martin-county/reader-submitted/2017/04/14/historical-vignettes-martin-countys-barley-barber-swamp/100118178/

FPL/Barley Barber Swamp: https://www.fpl.com/environment/wildlife/barley-barber-history.html

Florida Rambler, Barley Barber Swamp: http://www.floridarambler.com/florida-bike-hike-trails/barley-barber-rare-cypress-swamp-re-opens-for-tours/

FL Museum cypress trees: https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/index.php/southflorida/habitats/cypress-swamps/about/

IFAS, Cypress:http://solutionsforyourlife.ufl.edu/hot_topics/environment/cypress.shtml

Frances Langford Property– time capsule flights– 1940, 1974, 1952, 1958…SLR/IRL

Frances Langford poses here with her first husband, Jon Hall.

Today I am featuring two more time line videos on Frances Langford’s property created by my brother Todd Thurlow. Through viewing history, we get a better understanding of how we got to where we are today…

Langford Property 1940 to 1974

(https://youtu.be/9joOtGz2D44)
Langford Property Flyover 1940, 1952 and 1958

(https://youtu.be/bb224nq_ehU)

Topography and Bathymetry–Frances Langford Estate, SLR/IRL

Video Langford Property Topography and Bathymetry (https://youtu.be/ilQQ1VSXpJ0

A fun thing about working on blog posts with my brother, Todd, is that I learn new words like “Bathymetry. ” It is the study of under water depths. Kind of like topography but underwater. Maybe you already knew the word; I did not! He got on this while we were studying the intense clearning of Frances Langford’s property….

Viewing this short video that compares a historic 1883 map with a 2015 Google map, one clearly sees the differences in the depths of the St Lucie River. It appears that in many areas along and just northwest of the peninsula of Sewall’s Point, where Frances Langford’s historic property is located, the river was as deep as 10 to 12 feet. Today depths are closer 7 or 8 feet or shallower. Mostly a build up of muck from 100 years of releases from Lake Okeechobee I would think….

As far as topography, heights on land, “Mount Pisgah” still stands like a sentinel as the highest point as 57 feet. There is where I always picture Black Beard standing when I drive of the bridge….

What an interesting video, for me, it is amazing to think of the surveyors in the 1800s who calculated such with none of today’s technology! Their maps are quite beautiful. I wonder what surveyor will use in the future?

What is Bathymetry, NOAA? (http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/bathymetry.html)
Time Flight Videos: Todd Thurlow: http://www.thurlowpa.com

“Langford Landing,” a Tribute to the Late Frances Langford? St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon

Frances Langford and Ralph Eventide photographed before their trademark Tiki Hut and pond, Jensen Beach Estate, 1961. (Photo Aurthur Ruhnke with permission of historian Sandra Henderson Thurlow) — Frances Langford and Ralph Evenrude photographed before their trademark Tiki Hut and pond, Jensen Beach Estate, 1961. (Photo Arthur Ruhnke with permission of historian Sandra Henderson Thurlow)

“I am sure the new development will be re-landscaped very beautifully, but it is hard to see the once serene property so desecrated.” –Local historian, Sandra Thurlow, 2016

“Frances Langford,” the name is as beautiful as the woman. She is a legend here in Martin County and much of the world. No one has been more generous, loving, and appreciative towards our community. A true philanthropist, her name graces buildings, parks, and centers from the Indian River Lagoon to Indiantown.

As a singer and movie star, she is best known for “entertaining the troops” during World War II aside Bob Hope. Through her family, young Frances was exposed to Jensen Beach, and later, after the war, came back to create her dream: “Frances Langford’s Polynesian Outrigger Resort.” It sat along the beautiful St Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon just north of Sewall’s Point.

Over time, inspired by her travels, Frances and her husbands created a tropical paradise known far and wide. Cottages, a restaurant, a marina, palm trees, rare foliage, freshwater ponds, peacocks, and even swans graced the property. Famous movie stars often visited. She gave Martin County a reputation and she put it on the map. She made Martin County’s Jensen Beach her permanent home.

Frances chose to build her personal residence near Mount Pisgah, the highest point of the peninsula. Lore has it that pirates and Indians once lived here too, standing on the high bluff looking for passing ships in the ocean. The property is steeped in beauty, history, and mystery. Sadly, in the end, the remaining 53 acre parcel was treated like any other piece of real estate.

After a long wait since the 2008 Great Recession, the property is finally being developed ironically as “Langford Landing.” The manner in which this is being done has taken most us by surprise.

Is it really necessary to remove every beloved palm tree, stately strangler fig, and blade of grass? Surely Frances thought some of her legacy might stand. It has not. The majority of the property has been scraped clean for new development. My sister said it best: “Jacqui, from the water, it looks like the property has been Napalmed.”

There has to be—-a better way.

the Tiki Hut and pond, Frances feeding her swans. (Aurthur Ruhnke courtesy o Sandra Thurlow, 1961) — The Tiki Hut, bridge and pond, Frances feeding her swans. Many fundraisers were held here and many movie starts attended “in the day.” (Arthur Ruhnke courtesy o Sandra Thurlow, 1961)

Langford Estate 1961. Aurthur Ruhnke. — Langford Estate 1961. (Arthur Ruhnke/ST)

Langford Estate 1961. (Arthur Ruhnke/ST)

View of estate from river by kayaker. This photo was sent to me from a Facebook friend. — View of estate from river by kayaker. This photo was sent to me by a Facebook friend.

Video of Ed and my flight over Langford Estate 1-1-16, juxtaposed to historic photographs, created by Todd Thurlow. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuUVlsk9TXs&list=PLDaNwdmfhj15bmGNQaGhog9QpkQPAXl06&index=1)

Tiki hut in ruins 2016. (Rebecca Fatainger.) — Tiki hut in ruins 2016. (Rebecca Fatzinger)

Around the pond, 2015. (Photo by Rebecca Fatzinger) — Around the pond, palm trees lay in a heap. 2015. (Photo by Rebecca Fatzinger)

Today, photo of Langford property by Rebecca Fatzinger. — Today in 2015/16 photo of Langford property by (Rebecca Fatzinger)

The grounds 2015. Rebecca Fatzinger. — The grounds 2015/16 (Rebecca Fatzinger)

Estate sold for development. (Courtesy Todd Thurlow) — Estate sold for development. (Courtesy Todd Thurlow/Google Earth)

Scared clean, Frances Langford estate today. (Photo Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch) — From the air–history scraped clean, 1-1-16, Frances Langford’s estate after all foliage has been removed. (Photo Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch and Ed Lippisch )

Langford Estate 12-3-16. (Photo by Todd Thurlow) — Langford Estate seen from the St Lucie River, 12-3-16. (Photo by Todd Thurlow)

Photo of Frances Langford's peacock on her estate...1980s. (A gift to me from her housekeeper) — Photo of one of Frances Langford’s peacocks on her estate, 1980s. (A gift to me from her housekeeper 2006.)

Development documents Langford’s Landing:

(https://documents.martin.fl.us/Documents2010/content/Agenda_Items/gmd/2015/8D1-2014-12-16%20Langford%20Landing%20Final%20Site%20Plan.pdf)

Frances Langford: (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Langford)

Hutchinson Island’s Indian River Plantation, the Shifting Sands of Time, SLR/IRL

Hutchinson Island 1957 — The barrier island of Hutchinson Island, 1957. Atlantic Ocean on left. Indian River Lagoon on right. Photo courtesy of Thurlow Archives.

The sands of time….shifting, reforming, just like my childhood memories. 1977–Seventh grade—I remember riding my bike with my best friend, Vicki, out to Hutchinson Island. No traffic. Along the way we would take our hands off the handle bars holding them over our heads, laughing and shouting “look mom!”

A veritable paradise and giant playground we left our bikes at Stuart Beach not locking them and jumped into the ocean.

This photo was taken in 1957, twenty years before Vicki and my bike ride, but it was still relatively undeveloped at that time. If my memory serves me correctly Indian River Plantation’s first condo, The Pelican, went up in 1976 and later in the 1980s the establishment filled out to its final glory. Later sold to the Marriott these lands, though altered, remain a beautiful part of Martin County with public beaches for all to enjoy.

I got ahold of this photo from my mother asking her what kind of vegetation pre-development was on the island. This was her reply:

“This aerial was taken on October 16, 1957. The causeway was under construction as were improvements to Stuart Beach. It is hard to tell what kind of trees are there. They were probably a variety of things, oak, salt bush, cabbage palms, palmetto and Australian pine. The later were growing at the House of Refuge at this time so they were no doubt popping up everywhere. It was “disturbed land” since patches of it had been cleared for farming. Mangrove would be growing along the water but I doubt they had reached inland yet. You can see the new piles of sand indicating mosquito ditches had recently been dug. Notice the little Beach Road.” Historian, Sandra Henderson Thurlow

Thinking a bit more about this area I asked my brother, Todd Thurlow, if this area formed “the fan” because it was once an inlet, such as the Gap, he talks about so much. He sent me this:

“The steady forces of long shore drift have operated over the eons to produce not just the current BI and previous BIs such as the ACR on the mainland, but even the peninsula of Florida itself (Schmidt 1997). The strong linearity of the east central and southeast Florida coastline, its low fractal dimensionality (Rial n.d.), indicates the steadiness and consistent directionality of these forces. Chaotic events like storms, on the other hand, produce drastic BI and lagoonal modifications via overwash and tidal inlet cuts, and leave chaotic, or irregular (“squiggly”) backbarrier shorelines, the former producing overwash fans, and the latter producing flood tidal deltas (Figure 3-6).

Figure 4-19. Cartographic signatures of geomorphic stability and instability. Map to left is most north, right map is most south”

Alan Brech, NEITHER OCEAN NOR CONTINENT: CORRELATING THE ARCHAEOLOGY AND GEOMORPHOLOGY OF THE BARRIER ISLANDS OF EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA, 2004.
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Translation: Breaks occurring during storms create overwash fans. (e.g. IRP and Sailfish Point). Tidal inlets produce flood tidal deltas, somewhat like the old Gilberts Bar. BI = Barrier Island; ACR = Atlantic Coastal Ridge. —-Todd Thurlow, “Time Capsule Flights:”(https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDaNwdmfhj15bmGNQaGhog9QpkQPAXl06)
The shifting sands of time… So many wonderful memories, and so many more to make as times and sands continue to change.

IRP Marriott today, Google Maps. — IRP Marriott today, Google Maps 2015.

Wide view, red dot is IRP Marriott. — Wide view, red dot is IRP Marriott 2015. Sewall’s Point east.

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The IRP Marriott today/photos:(http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/pbiir-hutchinson-island-marriott-beach-resort-and-marina/)