Beach Camping. Places to Stay. Travel Ideas. Accessible Travel. Eco-Friendly Travel. Pet-Friendly Vacations. More Travel Ideas. Popular Links. Florida Webcams. Toll Roads Info. It begins at Kennedy Space Center and extends to the southern tip of the island near Indian Harbour Beach and the Mathers Bridge that connects the peninsula to the barrier island.
It is a slow moving stream that begins in the marshes of North Merritt Island, crosses the Barge Canal, and flows south to the water between the Newfound Harbor peninsula and the main part of the island. Merritt Island was part of a land grant from the King of Spain to a nobleman named Merritt. It first showed up in in a map drawn by explorer Alvara Mexia. An early pioneer on north Merritt Island was Douglas Dummitt.
He found some native citrus groves, planted some more, and began to ship fruit north in Fort Ann was built in near the present day site of the Haulover Canal to guard against Indian attacks during the Seminole Wars.
The main purpose of the fort was to prevent Indian war canoes from being "hauled over" that narrow part of the island from the Mosquito Lagoon to the Indian River Lagoon. After Dummitt died, an Italian nobleman named Eicole Tamajo , also known as the Duke of Castlellucia , bought the groves in He was married to Jennie Anheuser of the Budweiser beer family. They even partitioned the castle so she had her side and he had his. He finally said the hell with it and moved back to Italy in The castle had 22 rooms and some of the timber used in its construction came from the sailing ship Santa Cruz which had been wrecked on the beach near Daytona.
Most rooms were shaped like the castle itself: octagonal. The shape was chosen in the belief that it would stand up better to hurricanes.
The castle was relocated in the s to Parrish Park in Titusville, but burned down in before it could be turned into a museum. It is believed some teen age idiots set the fire. Locals probably know who did it, but they are keeping quiet. In the late s and early s settlers began to homestead on Merritt Island.
They came from all over the country and started small operations raising cattle, citrus, and other crops. More intense settling of North Merritt Island began in The land had been used for grazing up to 2, cattle owned mostly by non-resident cattlemen. Disputes arose between the new settlers and the established cattle ranchers who let their animals roam wherever they wanted to. There were no fence laws at the time. The main crop of Merritt Island from north to south was citrus.
Groves were cultivated and tons of Indian River citrus was shipped to markets up north via water transportation. Many little towns on the Indian River served the citrus growers with sorting, packing, and shipping operations. Merritt Island was heavily forested with pine trees in those days, and lumber also became an important industry. The area that is now the intersection of State Road and State Road 3 in the heart of Merritt Island was a large sawmill owned and operated by the Fortenberry family.
It replaced an earlier one that had silted in at the location where earlier settlers and Indians had portaged their vessels. This became a main route for shipping citrus and is still in use today as part of the Intracoastal Waterway. In the early days before the first bridge was built to the mainland, travel and shipping was by boat along the Indian and Banana Rivers. The center of Merritt Island was first connected to the mainland at Cocoa in This bridge became an important transportation route from Central Florida into Merritt Island.
Shortly after the bridge was completed, cattlemen on Merritt Island drove their cattle across it to the mainland and did a lot of damage as they went through the village of Cocoa.
A wooden bridge from Titusville to North Merritt Island was built in Many North Merritt Islanders did their business in Titusville for years because it was the closest "big town" with banks and other amenties. A road was constructed northeast of what is now the intersection of State Road 3 and Courtenay Parkway. Today that road is known as Palmetto Avenue. It continued northeast along the route of what is now Audubon Road and crossed Sykes Creek on what was known locally as the "Humpback Bridge".
It is shown as the red route original crossing on the map above. The bridge was taken down in when State Road was completed. The map is by Mcmillen 76 at English Wikipedia - Public domain. USGS Background image. Current and previous route alignments by Gerald McMillen. The Mathers bridge near the southern tip of Merritt Island was built in It was privately owned and charged a toll for years.
The bridge has been replaced more than once, and is still a popular fishing spot for Brevard County residents and visitors. For 52 years it was the location of the rustic Mather's Bridge Restaurant. This popular place closed in It burned down in later years and was not rebuilt.
The site is now owned by Brevard County. A drawbridge over Haulover Canal was built in Luke's Episcopal Church cemetery in what was once the town of Courtenay. Many of the central and north Merritt Island pioneers and their families are buried in the Indianola Cemetery , also known as the Williams Cemetery nestled between the Barge Canal and State Road west of State Road 3.
It was the beginning of the government programs of testing and launching rockets. New people began to move to Merritt Island to work on the program, and many of them lived in Merritt Island. You are commenting using your WordPress. You are commenting using your Google account. You are commenting using your Twitter account. You are commenting using your Facebook account.
Notify me of new comments via email. Notify me of new posts via email. Merritt Island is surrounded by water Diverse selection of homes to live in. Launched from Kiwanis Park. This was our paddle from Kiwanis Island north. This is a screenshot from our MLS.
The iMAPP has an overlay showing the flood zone yellow area and the non flood zone green area Hurricane evacuation area. This is an important sign during hurricane season So what do you think, do the Pros outweigh the Cons for you to consider Merritt Island florida as a place to live?
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