Cocoa Beach in Brevard County, Florida — The American South (South Atlantic)
The Thousand Islands
Photographed by Tim Fillmon, December 27, 2017
1. The Thousand Islands Marker
Inscription.
The Thousand Islands formed as the result of an ancient tidal inlet that breached this barrier island and flowed across modern-day Cocoa Beach. The indigenous Ais people, a fisher-gatherer society, lived along the inlet. Their oyster-shell middens gave rise to the tropical hammocks still evident on the islands today. In 1907, a New York hunting club purchased the land through their agent, W.J. Hazelwood, for duck hunting. The Thousand Island Club paid $5,000 to erect a clubhouse across the river at Horti Point, but it burned down on a rainy night in 1912. After World War II, dredge and fill activities for new housing developments modified the islands. During the Mercury and Apollo space programs on the 1950s and 1960s, Cocoa Beach saw an influx of population, and ditches were cut through the shoals to allow larger fish to access the inner marshes for mosquito control. In 1988, the State of Florida purchased the portion north of Minuteman Causeway. Brevard County acquired the remaining southern section of the Thousand Islands in 2007 to preserve and protect the natural beauty, vegetation, and native wildlife of this habitat.
The Thousand Islands formed as the result of an ancient tidal inlet that breached this barrier island and flowed across modern-day Cocoa Beach. The indigenous Ais people, a fisher-gatherer society, lived along the inlet. Their oyster-shell middens gave rise to the tropical hammocks still evident on the islands today. In 1907, a New York hunting club purchased the land through their agent, W.J. Hazelwood, for duck hunting. The Thousand Island Club paid $5,000 to erect a clubhouse across the river at Horti Point, but it burned down on a rainy night in 1912. After World War II, dredge and fill activities for new housing developments modified the islands. During the Mercury and Apollo space programs on the 1950s and 1960s, Cocoa Beach saw an influx of population, and ditches were cut through the shoals to allow larger fish to access the inner marshes for mosquito control. In 1988, the State of Florida purchased the portion north of Minuteman Causeway. Brevard County acquired the remaining southern section of the Thousand Islands in 2007 to preserve and protect the natural beauty, vegetation, and native wildlife of this habitat.
Erected 2017
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by The Brevard County Historical Commission, and the Florida Department of State. (Marker Number F-938.)
Location. 28° 18.563′ N, 80° 36.858′ W. Marker is in Cocoa Beach, Florida, in Brevard County. It is on Ramp Road 0.2 miles west of South Brevard Avenue, on the left when traveling west. Marker is at the boat ramp in Thousand Islands Conversation Area. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 540 Ramp Road, Cocoa Beach FL 32931, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in Florida’s Space Coast. It is also in the American South. Globally, it is in the North Atlantic Region, North America, a Gulf of Mexico state, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once New Spain, the territory of the Mississippian Culture, one of the Confederate States of America, and the Antebellum South.
Other nearby markers. At
Photographed by Tim Fillmon, December 27, 2017
2. The Thousand Islands Marker with boat ramp to the right out of the picture.
Also see . . . Thousand Islands. (Submitted on January 1, 2018, by Tim Fillmon of Webster, Florida.)
Credits. This page was last revised on August 18, 2020. It was originally submitted on January 1, 2018, by Tim Fillmon of Webster, Florida. This page has been viewed 994 times since then and 70 times this year. Photos:1, 2. submitted on January 1, 2018, by Tim Fillmon of Webster, Florida. • Bernard Fisher was the editor who published this page.
