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USDUNPS NRHP Registration Form
<br /> Jungle Trail
<br /> Indian River County, Florida
<br /> Page 8
<br /> NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES
<br /> CONTINUATION SHEET
<br /> Section 8 Page 2
<br /> (Narrative Summary of Significance, Continued)
<br /> lands. Despite these land grants, the Indian River area had few farms and homesteads in 1845 when Florida became a
<br /> state. An additional Seminole uprising between 1855 and 1857 coupled with Florida's secession from the Union in 1861
<br /> did not provide a favorable climate for settlement of the Florida east coast and Indian River area. Union steamships
<br /> patrolled the coastline, including the inlets at Indian River, St. Lucie, and Jupiter, to prevent the export of goods to the
<br /> Confederacy. The Homestead Act of 1866 was enacted by federal legislation following the end of the Civil War in order to
<br /> speed settlement of under-populated areas and facilitate reconstruction. The Homestead Act and the government land
<br /> surveys of 1871 both contributed to the permanent settlement of the Indian River area. The primary means of travel was
<br /> the Indian River, a 157-mile long, coast parallel lagoon with several natural and human-made inlets. Old military roads,
<br /> mapped during the Second and Third Seminole Wars, also provided overland routes through the region (Ives 1856).
<br /> Settlements began to appear along the Indian River lagoon in the 1880s and 1890s. The Indian River Narrows
<br /> had homesteads scattered on both the mainland and barrier island at this time (Kitching 1890). One of these settlers,
<br /> Sylvanus Kitching, prepared a map showing the names of 65 families occupying the sections around the Narrrows. The
<br /> advent of Henry Flagler's Florida East Coast Railway, completed from St. Augustine to Miami in 1896, attracted the rich
<br /> and famous to Florida's east coast, and initiated a wave of land speculation known as "the Florida boom" (Johnson 1965).
<br /> Visitors to the Indian River area came by train, and many were interested in acquiring land for farms, to lease or for
<br /> investment. Both sides of the Indian River Narrows were beginning to develop into farms, citrus groves, and tourist
<br /> destinations. The maritime hammock of the barrier island directly opposite Vero Beach provided a lush backdrop for a
<br /> new development of winter homes, known as Riomar. Riomar included a clubhouse, rental cottages, and golf course
<br /> (Peniston 1985).
<br /> One early settlement in the area was at the Bethel Creek House of Refuge, built in 1876 on the dunes overlooking
<br /> Bethel Shoals (Johnston 2000:23). The Bethel Creek House of Refuge was part of a chain of structures along the Florida
<br /> east coast that provided shelter for shipwreck survivors and other travelers. A unit of the U.S. Life-Saving Service (later
<br /> the Coast Guard)and their families lived in the area around the House of Refuge and served as staff. Other pioneer
<br /> families were scattered north of the House of Refuge toward Johns Island, occupying the lagoon shoreline and some of
<br /> the larger islands.
<br /> Johns Island, one of the larger natural islands in the Indian River Narrows, was beginning to development into a
<br /> small farming community in the 1890s (Johnston 2000:31). The island was subdivided into farming tracts, and the
<br /> community had a post office, school, church, and cemetery. Principal crops included beans and winter vegetables,which
<br /> were shipped across the lagoon to the docks at Gifford and Quay(Winter Beach), and then hauled from the docks to the
<br /> railroad. To the north of Johns Island, adjacent to the narrowest part of the lagoon, more settlers were scattered on lands
<br /> they had purchased directly from the government under the Homestead Act. Travel was mostly by boat, though a network
<br /> of rough paths and wagon tracks developed along the river.
<br /> Charles F.G. Kroegel, originally from Germany, settled his family in the area south of Sebastian in 1881. The
<br /> Kroegel's homestead included the area on the mainland side of the Indian River lagoon known as Barker's Bluff(Johnston
<br /> 2000:26-27). The bluff was actually an imposing Indian shell mound that was mined for road fill between 1890 and 1908.
<br /> Johnston (2000:27)cites an 1895 article appearing in the Indian River Advocate that poked fun at the tensions between
<br /> mainland and barrier island residents. Apparently the residents of the island were jealous of the shell-paved roads and
<br /> new railroad of the mainland,while they lacked even a trail connecting the island settlements. The Kroegel family,
<br /> however, contributed more than shell to the developing Indian River Narrows area (Johnston 2000:37-39). Paul Kroegel,
<br /> one of the family's sons, became interested in protecting the pelicans that inhabited the lagoon and coast of the region.
<br /> Kroegel enlisted members of the Audubon Society and leading ornithologists, like Frank Chapman, who helped in the
<br /> designation of Pelican Island as a federal bird preserve, ordered by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1903.
<br /> The Enos community, established in 1890, was located north of the Braswell property at the southern end of the
<br /> Orchid-Narrows Road. Named for Dr. Herbert Enos, the community included a post office and two-story hotel (Johnston
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