A World Apart

These days, Treasure Coast newspapers frequently boast that Port St. Lucie is the fastest growing city in America, offering dramatic details about overcrowding at the county jail and the astronomical increase in home prices. Yet hardly anything is written about St. Lucie Village, though the stories there could fill volumes—from the Ais Indians who hunted and fished the banks of the Indian River Lagoon in the 1500s to the soldiers stationed at Fort Capron during the Seminole Wars in the 1850s. Later, with the arrival of the Florida East Coast Railway, the village turned into a popular vacation destination for many wealthy politicians. At one point, it even served as the county seat of Brevard, which stretched at that time all along the Space and Treasure coasts.

The reality is that you probably will never read much about St. Lucie Village in the local papers, or even find yourself passing through it. Just a few feet above sea level along the shores of the Indian River, there are only two roads that provide access from Old Dixie Highway to the quaint hamlet.

Read the entire article in the February 2006 issue