LIVING HISTORY
THE VERITIES OF
VERO BEACH
Thousands of people gathered to celebrate Vero Beach’s 90th birthday during festivities in October. PARIS PRODUCTIONS
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As the city celebrates 90 years of
growth, the achievements and foresight
of its early pioneers are recognized
BY JANIE GOULD
Like many latter-day retirees who visit towns up
and down Florida’s east coast before deciding to
settle in Vero Beach, a Vermonter named Henry
T. Gifford checked out Titusville, Fort Pierce
and swamps now known as Miami before moving
to Vero in 1887, when it was unnamed, unknown and
mostly uninhabited.
“He came down here for his health, and there was nobody
here but Indians and folks running from the law,” said
third-generation native Charles Gifford, 75, Gifford’s greatgrandson.
“He liked this area, so he went back, packed up
everything — horses and everything — and came down on a
deck barge. The family pitched a tent on the Indian River to
start off with, then built a log cabin.”
The elder Gifford, who had been sheriff and a selectman
in Vermont, was the first official resident of the new settlement.
He planted pineapples, helped build Dixie Highway,
and was responsible for lighting the channel markers in the
river every night, his great-grandson said. In 1891, he applied
for a post office and became the first postmaster for the town
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