For a decade, Robert Reed Gladwin rode the rails, learning the promise and the pitfalls of each community along Florida’s east coast. As a railway messenger for the Southern Express delivery service, he was typically armed, safeguarding packages, payrolls and valuables as they moved up and down Henry Morrison Flagler’s ever-expanding Florida East Coast Railway.
Are you new to the area and want a primer on the history of Florida? Or maybe you’re an old-timer who wants to put some of the pieces of Florida’s history together. Everyone may find answers to their questions about Florida History when Dr. Ben Brotemarkle, executive director of the Florida Historical Society, delivers the keynote address, “The Complete History of Florida in Less than an Hour,’’ at the Eighth Annual Treasure Coast History Festival this Saturday. The free festival, which runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., is at the grounds of the St. Lucie History Center, 414 Seaway Drive, Fort Pierce, and Brotemarkle’s talk is at 12:45 p.m.
Deep in a forest, a strangler fig [Ficus aurea] envelopes a towering cypress tree. Although widely thought to be an invasive species, it is actually native to Florida, with fossils suggesting their presence millions of years ago, and botanist Thomas Nutall describing them in 1846.
A food exhibit celebrating the nation’s 250th anniversary opens Jan. 24 in St. Lucie Village and will run through the end of the year.
Upcoming Events: Jan. 2 - March 7, 2026
Collard greens have earned their place as one of the most dependable winter crops in Florida. They’re sturdy, unfussy, and remarkably productive from late fall through spring. In my garden, they’re the standout crop each season.
A retired architect with deep roots in Martin County has built on his long-standing interest in historic preservation to write about the nation’s midcentury history as seen through the eyes, and especially the ears, of a journalist who covered the popular music scene from the 1930s to the 1970s.
The Vero Beach Museum of Art, one of the most visited small art museums in the country, is about to elevate its presence — literally and figuratively.
Aesthetic Dentistry of Stuart is a practice built on the belief that exceptional dentistry should support the health, comfort, and confidence of the whole person, not just their teeth.
You never really know who’s sitting behind the microphone at a local jam session. That unassuming saxophonist blending into a Fort Pierce Jazz & Blues Society Tuesday night jam may have been a professor at Berklee College of Music.
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