The only building on this beach: the 1876 House of Refuge.

In 1876 the federal government finished five houses of refuge along Florida's east coast. This stretch of sand was empty, and the shipping lanes just offshore were not. A sailor who washed up here could walk for days without finding food, water or help. The house built to fix that stood at what is now 72nd Street, and it was the first structure ever raised on the land that became Miami Beach.

A lifeline for shipwrecked sailors

Each house was stocked the same way: twenty cots with bedding, dried and salted provisions to feed twenty men for ten days, a chest of medicines, and a chest of books. Somebody in Washington understood that survivors need something to read.

A keeper lived there full time, and the service expected him to bring his family, partly for the work and partly to relieve the loneliness of the place. Hannibal Pierce kept the Biscayne house from 1883. His son Charlie grew up on that empty sand and later wrote it all down, in a memoir that is still one of the best records of pioneer South Florida we have.

Have you ever walked past 72nd Street and known what used to stand there?

Twenty blocks down the same sand, we keep the light on til 10PM.

Where to find us on Collins

Green Market sits at 5101 Collins Ave in Miami Beach, open 7am to 10pm every day. Coffee from the espresso bar starts at $2.50, combos from $5.79. Walk in from the beach, or order on WhatsApp at +1 (305) 876-4513 and we deliver across Miami Beach.