Charles Deering Estate

Charles Deering Estate

The Richmond Cottage as it looks today.
Location Palmetto Bay, Florida, USA
Coordinates 25°36′56.217″N 80°18′23.3388″W / 25.61561583°N 80.306483000°W / 25.61561583; -80.306483000Coordinates: 25°36′56.217″N 80°18′23.3388″W / 25.61561583°N 80.306483000°W / 25.61561583; -80.306483000
NRHP Reference # 86000325[1]
Added to NRHP March 11, 1986

Charles Deering Estate (also known as Deering Estate at Cutler) was the Florida home of Charles Deering until 1927 when he died at the estate.[2]

Description

Deering lived on the 444 acres (1.80 km2)[3] property for five years, from 1922 to 1927. The property consists of a three story wooden house built in 1900, known as the Richmond Cottage,[4] and a three story stone mansion. Other buildings were also built on the property to serve as auxiliary buildings to the estate. Charles Deering Estate is located in the Cutler neighborhood of Palmetto Bay, Florida.

The grounds include what is thought to be the largest virgin coastal tropical hardwood hammock in the continental United States. The estate was acquired by the state of Florida in 1985.

The house and grounds were featured several times in the 1980s TV series Miami Vice[5] and it was the starting line for The Amazing Race All-Stars in 2007.[6]

History

The Richmond Cottage

The Richmond Cottage a year after it was purchased by Charles Deering in 1916.

In 1900 the wooden house was built and soon after S.H. Richmond's wife, Edith, opened the house as an Inn called the Richmond Cottage.[7] Guests who stayed at the Richmond Cottage, according to the 1900 register of the Inn, include Henry Morrison Flagler and James Ingrahm. The Richmond Cottage was named the most southern hostelry in the continental United States by The Miami Metropolis in 1901.[8] The 1904 City Directory describes Cutler as, "A few houses, with two good stores, those of Tweedell Brothers, and Brown and Moody, each of whom has built up a thriving business with the surrounding country. Cutler has daily mail and three wharves from which boats take freight and passengers to and from Miami. There is one good hotel, the Richmond Cottage which overlooks the bay."[7]

Charles Deering bought the Richmond Cottage in 1916 and moved to Cutler in 1922.[9]

Charles Deering

Main article: Charles Deering
Portrait of Charles Deering, c. 1914 by Ramon Casas i Carbó

Charles Deering was born on July 31, 1852 in Paris, Maine.[2] He was the son of William Deering, founder of Deering Harvester Company, and brother of millionaire industrialist James Deering. Deering is remembered as an American businessman and philanthropist.

In 1873 Deering graduated from the United States Naval Academy and served as an officer in the Navy until 1881. Deering then became secretary of his father's company, which merged with McCormick Harvesting Machine Company and became International Harvester in 1902. After the merger, Deering became the chairman of the board for International Harvester.[2] Charles Deering died at the age of 75 at his estate at Cutler, at 11:30 P.M. on February 5, 1927.[2][9] After Charles' death, the estate was left to his wife and children.[9]

Cutler Burial Mound

The Cutler Burial Mound is a prehistoric mound on the Charles Deering Estate. It is one of the few surviving prehistoric mounds in Miami-Dade County. The mound is about 38 feet by 20 feet at the base, and about five feet high. Artifacts from the mound are from the Glades II and III periods. The mound has been disturbed repeatedly. Henry Perrine, Jr, son of Henry Perrine, removed several skulls from the mound in the 1860s while searching for Black Caesar's treasure. Ralph Munroe dug in the mound in the 1890s. In the 20th century, neighborhood children dug in the mound and removed bones and artifacts. Some of those bones have been returned and reburied in the mound. The mound is believed to contain 12 to 18 burials of Native Americans. The mound is accessible via a boardwalk.[10][11]

Cutler Fossil Site

Main article: Cutler Fossil Site

In 1979 a sinkhole on the Deering Estate was found to contain bones of Pleistocene animals associated with bones and artifacts of early humans. The site was eventually acquired by Miami-Dade County, and is now part of the Charles Deering Estate Park.[12]

Hurricane Andrew

Main article: Hurricane Andrew
Buildings on the Deering Estate with still-water marks from storm surge measured at 16.5 feet (5.0 m)

On August 24, 1992, the third most powerful Category 5 hurricane to make landfall in the United States struck South Florida. Hurricane Andrew packed winds of over 170 miles per hour (270 km/h) and, "destroyed 25,524 homes and damaged 101,241 others."[13]

Hurricane Andrew ravaged and damaged the property of Deering Estate. The water front property was devastated by waves that reached as high as the second floor of the buildings. Water rose more than 16 feet (4.9 m) from sea level[14] and caused major flooding on the property.[15] The Richmond Cottage was taken off its foundation and splintered by the hurricane. It took seven years and $7.2 million U. S. Dollars to restore the location. Deering Estate at Cutler reopened to the public in 1999 and officially opened in 2000.[15][16]

The Deering Estate Foundation

The Deering Estate Foundation, Inc., organized in 1989 and strives, "to raise public awareness, outreach, understanding and the enjoyment of the Deering Estate at Cutler and to raise funds to support education, research, exhibits and collections, natural conservation and historical restoration and preservation."[17] The offices of the foundation are located on the third floor of the Richmond Cottage.

The Deering Estate Foundation - Board of Directors[18]
Executive Committee Position Directors Trustees
Eric Haas President Henry Aguilera Rick Cohen
David A. Marley Vice President Heather Bell Sallye Jude
David Turner Treasurer Kristina Cunetta Peter England
Buff March-Bye Secretary Liede DeValdivielso Mary Young
Walter Flores Philip F. Ludovici
Suzuyo Fox David Peyton
Lynn French Edward Rosasco
James Harris Scott A. Silver
Col. Brodes Hartley, Jr.
Susan Mac Arthur
Becky Roper Matkov
Manny Miranda
Paul Neidhart
Betty Noe
Sergio Pinto
Brandi Scott
Scott A. Silver
Vicki Simmons-Hinz
Jocelyn Tennille
William Thiele
James Thomas
Daniel Yglesias

See also

References

  1. ↑ National Park Service (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Newspaper: Charles Deering Dies At Home Near Cutler. " The Herald [Miami] 06 Feb. 1927. Print.
  3. ↑ DeeringEstate.org - About Us Archived January 10, 2010, at the Wayback Machine., Last checked on 2010-07-27.
  4. ↑ Miamidade.gov - Deering Archived July 22, 2010, at the Wayback Machine., Last checked on 2010-07-27.
  5. ↑ ntlworld.com - The Afternoon Plane Loc2 Archived October 24, 2012, at the Wayback Machine., Last checked on 2010-07-27.
  6. ↑ Waymarking.com - The Amazing Race 11, Last checked on 2010-07-27.
  7. 1 2 Metropoliton Dade County Historic Preservation Board. "The Richmond Era" The Charles Deering Estate Historict S.W. 167 Street and Old Cutler Road: Designation Report. Miami: Metro-Dade, 1985. 4. Print. This publication can be found at The Main Library. Address: 101 W FLAGLER ST MIAMI, FL 33130 Phone: 305-375-2665
  8. ↑ Google News Archive, "A Trip From Miami to the Homestead Lands." The Miami Metropolis 19 Apr. 1901. Print.
  9. 1 2 3 Metropoliton Dade County Historic Preservation Board. "The Deering Estate" The Charles Deering Estate Historict S.W. 167 Street and Old Cutler Road: Designation Report. Miami: Metro-Dade, 1985. 5,6. Print. This publication can be found at The Main Library. Address: 101 W FLAGLER ST MIAMI, FL 33130 Phone: 305-375-2665
  10. ↑ Carr: 96, 117, 149
  11. ↑ Cohen, Howard (November 30, 2012). "Deering Estate replaces boardwalk over Cutler Burial Mound". The Miami Herald. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
  12. ↑ Carr: 29, 45
  13. ↑ "Preliminary Report Hurricane Andrew 16–28 August 1992". NOAA.gov. Retrieved 12 August 2010.
  14. ↑ "NOAA Photo Library" (Web). National Weather Service. Retrieved 12 August 2010. Still-water marks from storm surge measured at 16.5 feet.
  15. 1 2 "Hurricane Andrew". Deering Estate at Cutler. Retrieved 12 August 2010.
  16. ↑ Pettit, Mary. "Estate at Cutler" (Web). Social Affairs Magazine. Retrieved 13 August 2010.
  17. ↑ DeeringEstate.org - About The Foundation
  18. ↑ "Board of Directors - Deering Estate". Retrieved 5 May 2013.
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