Cocoa Beach in Brevard County, Florida — The American South (South Atlantic)

The Thousand Islands

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.

Erected 2017 by The Brevard County Historical Commission, and the Florida Department of State. (Marker Number F-938.)

Location.

The Thousand Islands Marker with boat ramp to the right out of the picture. image. Click for full size.

By Tim Fillmon, December 27, 2017

2. The Thousand Islands Marker with boat ramp to the right out of the picture.

28° 18.563′ N, 80° 36.858′ W. Marker is in Cocoa Beach, Florida, in Brevard County. Marker is on Ramp Road 0.2 miles west of South Brevard Avenue, on the left when traveling west. Touch for map. Marker is at the boat ramp in Thousand Islands Conversation Area. Marker is at or near this postal address: 540 Ramp Road, Cocoa Beach FL 32931, United States of America.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 6 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies. I Dream of Jeannie (approx. 1.8 miles away); Georgianna United Methodist Church (approx. 4 miles away); Georgiana Railway: 1892-1894 (approx. 4 miles away); Provost Hall (approx. 4.1 miles away); Carter-Fuller Mound Complex (approx. 5 miles away); The Last Naval Battle of the American Revolutionary War (approx. 5 miles away); United States Air Force (approx. 5.6 miles away); Ulumay (approx. 5.9 miles away).

Also see . . . Thousand Islands. (Submitted on January 1, 2018, by Tim Fillmon of Webster, Florida.)

Categories. • Environment • Man-Made Features • Native Americans • Waterways & Vessels •

Credits. This page was last revised on January 2, 2018. This page originally submitted on January 1, 2018, by Tim Fillmon of Webster, Florida. This page has been viewed 44 times since then. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on January 1, 2018, by Tim Fillmon of Webster, Florida. • Bernard Fisher was the editor who published this page.