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, USDUNPS NRHP Registration Form Jungle Trail Indian River County, Florida Page 13 NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section 8 Page 7 (Narrative Summary of Significance, Continued) Section 89 of Chapter 20276 Laws of Florida renamed State Road 252 on the barrier island as the Peninsula Road, a forerunner of State Road A-1-A(Florida State Legislature 1941:288). Aerial photographs taken by the United States Department of Agriculture Aerosurvey Program in 1943 show the distinctive course of the road, as well as the extensive citrus groves and jungle of the barrier island (United States Department of Agriculture 1943). Despite these official designations, the road became known locally as Jungle Trail, a term first applied by George Dales, proprietor of the Jungle Treasure House gift shop, and later by Fred Tuerk who purchased the Braswell and Johns Island tracks in 1950 and developed the Jones Island/Indian River Shores area (Fourth District Court of Appeal 2001; Johnston 2000:124-125; Milton R. Jones, personal communication 1989; Lockwood n.d., 1975:27; Stanbridge 1990). Lockwood (n.d.)notes that the Jungle Treasure House was located"perhaps a little north of half way between the Vero bridge and the Wabasso Bridge, facing the river." The treasure house was one stop for tourists and others visitors, along with visits to the Driftwood hotel, a packing house, a grove, and a drive down the Jungle Trail itself. After World War II, the barrier island road was officially designated State Road A-1-A(Figure 8) (Florida Road Department 1950). Within the next decade, the barrier island road changed dramatically. The old road from the Vero Beach Bridge to the intersection with the Winter Beach Bridge was exchanged for a new route for State Road A-1-A, which was closer to the ocean. The old route was absorbed into an exclusive land development at Johns Island (Florida State Road Department 1950, 1960). The old barrier island road from the Old Winter Beach Road along the lagoon and across the Wabasso Beach Bridge Road (County Road 510)would remain, as would the northern segment along the shores of Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge. In 1962, the new State Road A-1-A opened to the north of the Brevard County line. In 1964, when the Sebastian River Bridge was opened the Indian River/Brevard County line was moved north to the middle of the inlet (Figure 9)(Lockwood 1975). The portion of Jungle Trail from the Winter Beach Bridge Road north to where it meets State Road A-1-A reverted back to Indian River County in 1962. It became a secondary county road used mainly by trucks hauling citrus, fishermen, and local traffic. The scenic quality of the road attracted tourists and sightseers, as well as land developers (Figure 10). In 1983 and 1986 developers with plans for large residential developments approached the Indian River County Commission with requests to eliminate the Jungle Trail (Atkins 1986:4A). One 0.5-mile segment of the road, north of the intersection with Wabasso Beach Bridge Road,was realigned in 1989 to allow development of a golf course at the Orchid Island Golf and Beach Club (Moczydlowski 1989a, 1989b). The realigned section, evident on aerial photographs from 1995, represents approximately 6%of the road segment proposed for nomination (Figure 11). Design of the realigned segment follows a route through an oak and cabbage palm hammock and the road bed width is similar to that found on neighboring sections of the road. Support from concerned citizens and preservation organizations led to designation of the road as a local scenic and historic road (Indian River County Commission 1983, 1989), a merit award to Indian River County for preservation of an historic landscape (Florida Trust for Historic Preservation 1990), and as an Urban/Community-based/Historic/Working Landscape Greenway(Florida Greenways Commission 1995).