COMMUNITIES
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in the Gulfstream,” South Beach resident and Fort Pierce
Mayor Bob Benton said. “Tons and tons of Army hardware,
hand grenades and bombs.”
“When they decommissioned the base, the sailors would
give us engines and a lot of stuff. I knew a guy who found a
buried Jeep. He dug it out, cleaned it up and drove it around
for years,” said O’Dell. “Paint, ropes, ammo — they were all
dumped out to sea in the Gulfstream. They didn’t want it to
get into civilian hands.”
To this day, ordnance washes up on Hutchinson Island
beaches several times a year after heavy surf.
Only one building built by the Navy on South Beach is left,
the old Days Inn just west of the jetty. Now set for demolition,
at the time it was the hospital with the best view in the
area. The oldest building from before the war is just west of
the old hospital on Seaway Drive. Also set for demolition, the
two-story Mediterranean style building was converted into a
dental clinic for the base.
‘FIRST ESTATE’
The first estate on South Beach was built in the 1930s by
an eccentric Ohio man named Eric Scwartz who kept a lion
on the property. Because of DDT contamination, the house
on Faber Cove was carefully dismantled with pieces of the
unique construction integrated into the clubhouse for the 18-
unit Coconut Cove Marina condominium community.
The Pelican Yacht Club was built with land bought from
the Navy and donations from businesses. After extensive
remodeling over the years, the club has become the second
largest waterfront facility in St. Lucie County with the capacity
to host large civic and social functions. Rebuilt after a 1988
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The brand new Coconut Cove Marina was built on the location of the first
waterfront estate built on South Beach.