Hurricane Irma Discovery

While last month's Hurricane Irma damaged some of our local historical resources, especially along the river's edge, it did bring at least one pleasant surprise in the form of an old wooden canoe! Luckily the canoe was discovered by Randy Lathrop, who rescued it from the amongst the debris and knew exactly what to do to ensure that it got preserved and studied.

Photo by Randy Lathrop

Randy's discovery has garnered national attention. Check out the story on ABC news for more details and great photos!! According to Randy's Facebook page carbon dating on the canoe indicates that it might date back as far as 1640!

The River Monster



The Garmon's Book

 As I was eating my lunch yesterday on the dock at the end of Valencia Road and Rockledge Drive and looking out over the Indian River, I noticed an area out towards the middle that seemed to be very disturbed, although the river was calm everywhere else. While it is common to see schools of fish, dolphins or manatees causing all kinds of hijinks in the water this was a large area that seemed to be slowly moving up the river. I watched the area for a while and never saw anything break the surface, so my imagination naturally turned to a fascinating story that two of our volunteers, Jim and Bonnie Garmon came across in an 1895 issue of the Florida Star and reprinted in their latest volume of published tidbits culled from our archives. The story apparently appeared in several northern newspapers and was sent in by a reader who had seen it and wondered if it was true.

TITUSVILLE, FLA., March 24.--For a month or more there have been reports that there was an immense sea serpent in the Indian river, which showed a a disposition to fight when molested, but these reports, up to yesterday, were regarded as the product of the overwrought imaginations of rivermen. Yesterday, however, the truth of these reports was confirmed by the appearance of the monster off this place.

About 9 o'clock yesterday people on the wharf waiting for the steamer saw a great black object resembling a hogshead floating in the river about seventy-five yards from shore. The object appeared to be lifeless and those who saw it thought it was a piece of wreckage. Capt. Simmonds and Fred White resolved to investigate. They took a boat and rowed toward the object. When within twehty-five feet of the object the men were surprised to see it show signs of life, and a moment later were horrified when a wicked-looking head, with basilisk eyes, was darted at them with a hiss that could be heard half a mile. The men backed water for life, and the monster began to uncoil itself and move. It went through the water like a snake, was about sixty feet in length, and its body in the thickest portion was as large as a barrel. The head of the monster was similar to that of a snake, and for about six feet along its back there appeared to be a row of fins. The body of the reptile tapered gradually to a pointed tail. The monster moved down the river in plain sight of hundreds of people who were on the wharf. As it passed the men who had gunes began shooting at it, and the reptile resented these shots by erecting its head six feet or more and emitting several hisses. Then it sunk below the surface and was seen no more.




Dragon Point at the South End of Merritt Island

 Capt. Simmonds and Fred White, who went out to inspect the object, were so overcome when they reached the shore that restoratives had to be applied. They say that they saw rows of immense teeth in the reptile's mouth, and that its breath was most noxious. About midday a steamer arrived from the south and reported passing the monster thirty miles below Titusville. The appearance of the monster has demoralized tourist travel on the Indian river, and the houseboats of the wealthy northerners have been deserted.

The editor of the Star reprinted the article and then noted that, "The whole story is pure exaggeration emanating from the mind of some egotistical newspaper correspondent."

WHAT DO YOU THINK????

Tragedy on the Banana River



Georgiana Cemetery, Merritt Island, Brevard County, FL

In the beautiful Georgiana Cemetery on Merritt Island, sits a stone that has puzzled and fascinated Brevard County residents for years. The stone documents the deaths of Myrtle, Mary and Martha Smith three daughters of M.G. & E. Smith who all died on Wednesday June 14, 1916. The fact that all three girls died the same day has led to endless speculation on how they might have met their fate, from the obvious illness to more sinister implications. After searching the microfilm of the two local newspapers of the time and finding no mention of the girls I wrote to the Vital Statistics Department in Jacksonville to obtain copies of Martha and Myrtle's death certificates, they could not find one for Mary. There finally in black in white was the cause of death which was listed as "drowning, caused by storm."  

After finding this out I went back to the newspapers and searched again with no luck, so I put it in a drawer and was at least happy that I knew what had happened to them. A few months ago I received another inquiry about the stone from Faye Roberts in Alabama and I responded with what I knew. When she asked for more details I informed her that despite my best efforts, that was all I had been able to find out. Intrigued she contacted a friend who had access to a database of historic newspapers from throughout the country that we did not have access to. There she found the full and heartbreaking story curiously published in the pages of the New Smyrna News on Friday June 23, 1916.

The paper relates that J.J. (Joseph) Ramsey, his daughter Florence, a son of about 10 years old and three of his grandchildren, the Smith sisters, decided to go from Merritt Island across the Banana River to get to the beach where they planned on camping for a week to play in the surf and hunt turtles. Although "a heavy cyclonic gale was raging," Mr. Ramsey decided to cross to the beach anyway. The boat, an ordinary sized rowboat equipped with a sail, six people, a tent and a month's supply of provisions was overloaded even for good weather. About a mile from the eastern shore a shift of wind tore the sails down to the water capsizing the boat and throwing the occupants into the water. Although Mr. Ramsey got his daughter and the three girls to the side of the boat they were unable to hold on and they were drowned. Mr. Ramsey and his son held on to the boat and when it was driven near the shore they were seen and rescued by William Venty, one of the camping party whom the Ramseys intended to join. Miss Ramsey's body was recovered on Thursday and the little girls on Friday. It was reported that in Miss Ramsey's clinched hand was a lock of hair, proving that she had tried to catch and save at least one of her nieces.

As if the story wasn't tragic enough the author related that the three girls were the only children of M.G. (Martin Gaither) Smith of Rockledge who had lost his wife Elizabeth, their mother, giving birth to the last of the three girls. Thus Mr. Smith was "left alone in his sorrow."

It is still a mystery to me why the local papers did not report on the accident, perhaps it was just too hurtful to Mr. Smith and his father-in-law, who I am sure had a tremendous amount of guilt to live with, but I am glad that after all these years we finally know what happened to the girls. The last line of the article states "The sympathy of the entire community goes out to the bereaved family and especially to Mr. Smith," and even today almost a hundred years later I am sure you will agree with me that it is hard not to feel that way upon hearing the story.

Indian River Country

Yes, I did mean Country not County! This is actually the title of three volumes compiled by library volunteers Jim and Bonnie Garmon. Jim and Bonnie joined us at the library several years ago and began indexing obituaries published in our microfilm of the Cocoa Tribune newspaper. While reading through the papers in search of the dearly departed they began to notice fascinating news articles that gave first hand accounts of historical events and provided previously unknown information of some of our area's early pioneers. As a result they decided to transcribe these stories, index them and publish them so that others could enjoy them as well.  The first volume covers 1880-1889, the second 1890-1892 and the third 1893-1894. The books are available for sale at http://stores.lulu.com/jimandbonnie and the Garmon's are generously donating their profits from the series to the library. THANKS GUYS!

If you have an interest in the history of the area during that time period or have ancestors that were here then, these books are a gold mine. Where else will you find out that in 1844 there lived, just south of the lighthouse at Cape Canaveral, a Dr. Holbrook, a learned physician of great skill and prominence from Charleston, S.C. who lived in a one room palmetto cabin where he dwelt like a recluse, amid hundred of volumes of valuable books. He was the only physician on the Indian River and he never failed to respond to any call for his professional services. His only solace in life seemed to be his books and his flute, an eight-keyed instrument "in the use of which he was an artist."

Or how about Mr. Manahan, an Irishman and tailor by trade, but a "poet by nature and pen" who every day wrote poetry to his much older Jewish wife and who had a favorite and well trained pet, a huge racoon, which he called Aristophanes. The coon accompanied him at all times but hated Mr. Manahan's apprentice lad, James Kelly, and took every opportunity to bite and scratch his face and legs.  As a result of this treatment "a fearful feud" existed between them and although the boy made many attempts to destroy the coon, he always escaped unharmed.

These stories and more were taken from the microfilm collection of the Central Brevard Library where many other interesting stories are waiting to be discovered!