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The Forgotten Frontier: Florida through the Lens of Ralph Middleton Munroe
Rarely can we pick up a book that visually transports us back more than 100 years to a virgin frontier now long covered over with concrete and skyscrapers.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1977
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October 1, 2023
Ralph Middletown Munroe heard about the wilderness of South Florida from a visiting wrecker of the Florida Reef. An avid sailor, the Staten Island native loved nature. His grandfather was a member of Concord, Massachusetts’ ‘Social Circle’ that included Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Louisa May Alcott. Emerson and Thoreau’s philosophies encompassed “the love of nature, the virtue of self-reliance, and the devotion to the simple life.”
Initially to access the Miami area, he first sailed to Key West, the ‘Wrecking Capital of the World” that was populated by Bahamian ‘Conchs” and Cuban cigar makers. Then, he took a smaller boat north 150 miles. Visiting for a month in 1877, Ralph Munroe discovered the ‘simple and genuine life.’ In 1881, be brought his ailing wife to Miami’s Coconut Grove. Unfortunately she died and he buried her by the river. Later, he reinterred her by the Coconut Grove library, which you can see today by its entrance. He returned north in 1882, but every winter he visited until he moved to this tropical paradise in 1889.
Ralph Munroe was a founder of Coconut Grove, the first commodore at the Biscayne Bay Yacht Club, ‘designer of shoal-draft’ sailboats, and co-authored his biography, The Commodore’s Story. His home, the Barnacle, with its boathouse is a historic tourist destination.
Fortunately, Mr. Munroe loved photography and began photographing the area in 1883 with his Blair Camera Company of Boston “large, mahogany, bellows camera.” He had his own dark room equipment to develop his pictures. The glass plates were stored in his attic and sold with the house to the State of Florida in 1973.
His pictures are of the disappearing wildness of South Florida’s mangroves, hammocks, palmettos, pines, oaks, orchids, compties, white-tailed deer, panther, and snakes. Photographed are the Devil’s Punch Bowl, the Natural Bridge, and two twisted coconut tees. While the two entwined coconut trees died after being struck by lightning, they “were immortalized in the Coconut Grove Library Association logo” and briefly in the city seal when Coconut Grove was incorporated from 1919 to 1925. Interestingly, palm trees are not native to Florida, but Royal Palms were.
His photographs portray an intimate look of the thriving and vibrant life and community of the early settlers - Kirk and Mary Barr Munroe, Flora MacFarlane, Charles and Isabella Peacock who had arrived in 1875, the Brickells who moved in 1870, the children, the Bahamians, and the Seminoles. There were a mix of ‘genuine pioneers’ and Eastern ‘swells.’ His collection includes the first school house, Peacock Inn, and Paul Ransom’s camp and school for boys that later became Ransom Everglades school built on the same site,
There were prior settlers, who had come and gone, as the U.S. purchased Florida from Spain in 1821. The U.S. Army had established Fort Dallas during the war with the Seminoles until 1842. William English had platted a village of Miami on the south bank of the river in the 1840s before joining the California Gold Rush. Five Houses of Refuge were established along the Florida Coast.
The area changed in 1896 with the arrival of the railroad. Springs disappeared with the creation of the Everglades. Development and the Florida land boom forever changed the landscape. Ralph Munroe died in 1933.
The natural and manmade wonders are preserved timelessly in black and white images. I loved this book set in my hometown. I lived in Coconut Grove for six years when I first moved here. If you have an interest in Miami and its early settlers and images, I glowingly recommend this book.
Initially to access the Miami area, he first sailed to Key West, the ‘Wrecking Capital of the World” that was populated by Bahamian ‘Conchs” and Cuban cigar makers. Then, he took a smaller boat north 150 miles. Visiting for a month in 1877, Ralph Munroe discovered the ‘simple and genuine life.’ In 1881, be brought his ailing wife to Miami’s Coconut Grove. Unfortunately she died and he buried her by the river. Later, he reinterred her by the Coconut Grove library, which you can see today by its entrance. He returned north in 1882, but every winter he visited until he moved to this tropical paradise in 1889.
Ralph Munroe was a founder of Coconut Grove, the first commodore at the Biscayne Bay Yacht Club, ‘designer of shoal-draft’ sailboats, and co-authored his biography, The Commodore’s Story. His home, the Barnacle, with its boathouse is a historic tourist destination.
Fortunately, Mr. Munroe loved photography and began photographing the area in 1883 with his Blair Camera Company of Boston “large, mahogany, bellows camera.” He had his own dark room equipment to develop his pictures. The glass plates were stored in his attic and sold with the house to the State of Florida in 1973.
His pictures are of the disappearing wildness of South Florida’s mangroves, hammocks, palmettos, pines, oaks, orchids, compties, white-tailed deer, panther, and snakes. Photographed are the Devil’s Punch Bowl, the Natural Bridge, and two twisted coconut tees. While the two entwined coconut trees died after being struck by lightning, they “were immortalized in the Coconut Grove Library Association logo” and briefly in the city seal when Coconut Grove was incorporated from 1919 to 1925. Interestingly, palm trees are not native to Florida, but Royal Palms were.
His photographs portray an intimate look of the thriving and vibrant life and community of the early settlers - Kirk and Mary Barr Munroe, Flora MacFarlane, Charles and Isabella Peacock who had arrived in 1875, the Brickells who moved in 1870, the children, the Bahamians, and the Seminoles. There were a mix of ‘genuine pioneers’ and Eastern ‘swells.’ His collection includes the first school house, Peacock Inn, and Paul Ransom’s camp and school for boys that later became Ransom Everglades school built on the same site,
There were prior settlers, who had come and gone, as the U.S. purchased Florida from Spain in 1821. The U.S. Army had established Fort Dallas during the war with the Seminoles until 1842. William English had platted a village of Miami on the south bank of the river in the 1840s before joining the California Gold Rush. Five Houses of Refuge were established along the Florida Coast.
The area changed in 1896 with the arrival of the railroad. Springs disappeared with the creation of the Everglades. Development and the Florida land boom forever changed the landscape. Ralph Munroe died in 1933.
The natural and manmade wonders are preserved timelessly in black and white images. I loved this book set in my hometown. I lived in Coconut Grove for six years when I first moved here. If you have an interest in Miami and its early settlers and images, I glowingly recommend this book.
December 16, 2018
Beautiful photographs by Coconut Grove pioneer Ralph Munroe accompanied by informative narrative make this large format Florida history a winner. I learned something I didn't know on almost every page. Well worth checking out if you want to know about how South Florida before Flagler came to be.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews