'Waveland' - Life in Our Border Town, 1880 - 1925

By Bob Davidsson
        Waveland was Palm Beach County's northernmost border town from 1909 to 1925. Today, it is a ghost town from the past, but one with a history worth remembering.
        The riverfront community, built on 100 acres of land between the Indian and St. Lucie rivers, was purchased by pioneer Henry William Racey in 1855. His land tract was located southwest of Jensen Beach, east of the community of Rio, and extended south onto Sewell's Point.
        The history of Waveland predates the establishment of its first post office in 1880 by nearly 4,500 years. The region's first inhabitants were the ancestors of the Ais Indians. Mount Elizabeth, the native tribe's southernmost ceremonial site, rose 60 feet above the 19th century pioneer community.
        During the Second Spanish Colonial Period (from 1785 - 1821), Waveland was the terminus of two Spanish Land Grants. The Kingdom of Spain awarded sections of land along the Treasure Coast to James Hutchinson, Samuel Miles and Eusebio Gomez as payment for their services to its struggling Florida colony.
        The Waveland community made its topographical debut on the A.J. Johnson and Company "Map of Florida" in 1878. Its first appearance on a Dade County map was documented two years later. For the next 45 years confused mapmakers alternately placed the border town in Dade County, St. Lucie County and Palm Beach County after 1909.
       Martin County, created out of the northern third of Palm Beach County in 1925, ended the conflicting border affiliations in 1925 by replacing the Waveland place name with Jensen Beach.

The Hanson-Miles Land Grant
        John M. Hanson petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court in 1842 to confirm a "Florida Land Claim" for five square miles or 16,000 acres of land, originally granted to Samuel Miles by the governor of Spanish East Florida in 1813. He purchased the land from Miles in August 1823. The huge tract of land became known as the Hanson-Miles Land Grant.
        In his court petition, Hanson wrote, "Samuel Miles, a new settler, admitted (to Florida) under the protection of the King of Spain, on July 18, 1813 presented a petition to Governor Sebastian Kindelan y O'Regan of East Florida (1812-15) setting forth the great services performed by him for the supply of troops of Spain in the province, and severe loses and suffering sustained by him in the service of the crown, and considering himself entitled to some favor, asked for a grant of five miles square of land for the construction of a water saw mill at a place fit for this purpose."
        Hanson described the site as "vacant, situated at the mouth of the River Santaluces". Although the saw mill was never built, the land grant included the future site of Waveland, and extended as far south as Tequesta, west of the Gomez Jupiter Island Grant.*
        The Supreme Court withheld its final decision in the land grant case entitled "U.S. vs. Hanson and Others" and ordered a new survey. It would not be accepted until 1889. Meanwhile, the land grant remained an unsettled wilderness.

William Racey Discovers His 'Land of Waves'
        In 1855, novice explorer William Henry Racey of New York sailed to Jacksonville in search of adventure and a future homestead for his family in Florida. His timing couldn't have been worse. He arrived at the start of the Third Seminole War (1855-58).
        Racey purchased a section of land 35 miles south of Jacksonville called "Racey Point" on the St. Johns River, then sailed south into a war zone between the U.S. Army and the Seminole tribe. Good fortune was with him and he experienced no hostile encounters during his travels.
        He entered the Indian River and examined the land granted to James Hutchinson of Georgia and his heirs in 1803 by Spanish East Florida Governor Enrique White (1796 - 1811). The Hutchinsons acquired 2,000 acres of land on what is today called the North and South Hutchinson barrier islands, as well as an original mainland section north of the Hanson-Miles Land Grant.
        The Spanish land grantee homesteaded a section north of Waveland on the west shore of the Indian River until fear of Indian attacks forced him to relocate his family to the barrier island bearing his name in April 1807. His bad luck continued with trespassing vessels and pirates plaguing his seaside plantation.
        Hutchinson drowned at sea when his ship encountered a storm in September 1808 while sailing from St. Augustine to his island plantation during the peak of hurricane season. His land grant remained with the Hutchinson family throughout most of the 19th century.
        South of the Hutchinson Land Grant, Racey noted a large wooded mound looming above the western shoreline of the Indian River. He christened it "Mount Elizabeth" in honor of his mother, Elizabeth Hiscox Racey. Its original name in the Ais Indian dialect is unknown.
         Continuing south along the Indian River, Racey reached the site where Samuel Miles once planned to build a saw mill, the point of land where the Indian and St. Lucie rivers merged as one. Racey discovered his Florida paradise at this land of waves and purchased a 100-acre tract on May 1, 1855.
        Racey returned to New York with the intent of relocating his family to the Indian River property. He never made the journey. The Civil War and family responsibilities delayed his return. He died in 1874 with his Florida retirement dream unfulfilled.
        During the absence of the Racey family, a Waveland post office was established at the home of Dr. William M. Baker on Sept. 2, 1880. Waveland maintained a post office, with a brief relocation of service in 1891, until U.S. mail deliveries were moved to Jensen Beach on Aug. 31, 1918.
        Charles Henry Racey (1861 - 1933), William Racey's son and an optician by trade, lived in New York City until he received word in 1890 that settlers were attempting to obtain his Florida inheritance through the purchasing of delinquent property taxes.
        To defend his property rights, Charles Racey relocated his family in Waveland. They arrived on an Indian River Steamship Company transport vessel and stayed at the home of the postmaster, Dr. Baker, until construction of the Racey estate on Mount Elizabeth was completed in 1891.
        The Racey estate's mansion was a three-story wooden structure, with a 40-by-50 foot ballroom, observation tower, and boathouse with a 400-foot dock extending into the Indian River. During the construction, the top of the ancient Ais Indian mound was leveled, reducing the height of Mount Elizabeth from 60 to 40 feet.
        To promote settlement in Waveland, Racey subdivided his property in 1891, christening the homesteaded site as Arbela. He donated five acres of land for an Episcopalian church and cemetery located at the Crossroads Hill in Waveland.
        The "All Saints Church" was built in 1898 and opened its doors to a congregation of 42 settlers in Waveland. Today, the historic "All Saints Church" remains the oldest continuous religious site in Martin County. The church was added to the Martin County Historic Register during its 120th anniversary on March 12, 2018.
        Fields of pineapples were planted at the base of Mount Elizabeth. Racey recorded his occupation as a "fruit grower" in both the 1900 U.S. Census and in the 1916-18 City Directories.
        Racey was named president of the "East Coast Good Roads League" in 1898. Through his initiative, the first road was built connecting Waveland to Ft. Pierce. He also co-founded the "South Florida Navigation Company" in 1907 to keep inlets and coastal waterways open.
        On Jan. 21, 1921, a kitchen fire quickly spread throughout Racey's estate, destroying the 30-year-old wooden buildings. Charles Racey moved with his family to property he owned in Dade County. The Waveland pioneer resided in Miami until his death in December 1933.

The Mount Elizabeth Archaeological Site
        After the departure of Charles Racey's family, the Mount Elizabeth estate changed ownership several times. Willaford Leach of Chicago, and his wife, Ann, a Coca-Cola company heiress, purchased Mount Elizabeth and surrounding property in 1936. They built a Mediterranean Revival-style mansion named "Tuckahoe" (welcome). It remains at the site today.
        When the Leach family moved to Palm Beach in 1950, their 54-acre property was sold to the Catholic Church. It was the site of St. Joseph's College in the 1970s, and later used for the Florida Institute of Technology which closed in 1987.
        Martin County obtained the Mount Elizabeth property in 1997 and created the "Indian RiverSide Park" for public use. It includes both the ancient mound site and the adjacent "Tuckahoe" mansion.
        The home of Capt. Henry Sewell, built at Sewell's Point in 1889, was relocated by barge from Port Sewell to Indian Riverside Park in 2007-08. Captain Sewell served as a postmaster and legislative representative for Dade County's northern district in the 1890s.
        The archaeological importance of Mount Elizabeth as a native American "East Okeechobee Culture" religious ceremonial center and village site during the Late Archaic Period was acknowledged by the federal government in 2002 by placing it on the Federal Register of Historic Places.
        Archaeologists discovered the mound itself consists of shells and marine life residue from the Indian River and nearby Atlantic Ocean. Mount Elizabeth, the highest remaining Indian mound in South Florida, also contains village pottery fragments and those of neighboring tribes obtained in trade.
        As for Waveland, most of the former community is now county park land or included within the borders of Jensen Beach. The "All Saints Church" and "Waveland Avenue" remain reminders of its history.
(c.) Davidsson, 2020.
     *NOTE: A related article by the author titled "Eusebio Maria Gomez and the Jupiter Land Grant" was published in the August 2010 edition of The Florida Genealogist. Read additional articles posted below and archived in Older Posts.