If you think of Coconut Grove as only a trendy shopping and entertainment area, you're missing its claim to fame as Greater Miami & Miami Beach's oldest community. Long before Miami existed, hardy, sea-loving people built a small village on the edge of a tropical wilderness.

Coconut Grove's first settlers came from the Bahamas and were soon joined by a worldly group of individualists – sailors, intellectuals, naturalists, millionaires and artists – who gave the Grove its enduring identity and live-and-let-live lifestyle. Although now part of Miami, its history endures in its numerous historic sites, rambling lanes and weathered stone walls.

If you can join a pair of perceptive eyes with a rare type of historic tunnel vision, you can still get a glimpse of what Coconut Grove offered its pioneers 150 years ago and discover what sets it apart from the rest of Miami.

1. Peacock Park

2820 McFarlane Road

Peacock Park is a public bayfront park that honors Charles and Isabella Peacock, who built Miami’s first hotel, the Bay View House, here in 1883. They inaugurated the area’s first tourist season, and the small hotel became the gathering place for the nascent Coconut Grove community.

2. Woman’s Club of Coconut Grove

2985 S. Bayshore Drive

In 1891, Flora McFarlane, South Florida’s first woman homesteader, organized the Housekeeper’s Club to bring the women of the community together. The present building, designed by Walter DeGarmo with native oolitic limestone (coral rock), opened in 1921. In 1957, the club changed its name to the Woman’s Club of Coconut Grove. Although access to the building's interior is reserved for members, visitors may see the beautiful building from the outside and wander around its vibrant outdoor garden.

3. The Coconut Grove Library

2875 McFarlane Road

In 1895, the “Pine Needles,” a club for young girls, founded the Coconut Grove Exchange Library upstairs in the Peacock Store. The men of the community built a library building in 1901. In 1963, T. Trip Russell designed a new building on the site and incorporated a replicated façade of the original building into his award-winning design.

4. Eva Munroe’s Grave

2875 McFarlane Road

The iron fence to the left of the library entrance surrounds the grave of pioneer Ralph Munroe’s first wife, Eva Hewitt Munroe, who died in 1882. It is Miami’s oldest marked grave.

5. The Coconut Grove School

3351 Matilda Street

Now a public elementary school, The Coconut Grove School is the ancestor of the first public school (1887) in what is now Miami-Dade County. The original H.H. Munday-designed building of the present school, visible from Matilda Street, opened in 1911.

6. The Barnacle

3485 Main Highway

This State of Florida historic site is Miami’s oldest home in its original location. The Barnacle, designed by owner Ralph M. Munroe in 1891, offers visitors the opportunity to almost re-enter the “Era of the Bay” before Henry Flagler’s railroad came to Miami in 1896 and sparked rapid development. Often called the “Father of Coconut Grove,” Munroe was a pioneering photographer, author, sailboat designer and environmentalist.

About the Author

Arva Moore Parks was an esteemed historian and local preservationist. She wrote a version of this article in 2003 for the Miami Heritage Guide, a book that was produced in collaboration with the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau.

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