Cauley Square Historic Village

This guide to Cauley Square Historic Village near Miami follows Mary Ballard, who arrived in South Dade in 1949 expecting a quiet retirement and instead bought a set of condemned wooden buildings. It traces the site back to 1903, when farmer William Cauley built a packing house beside Henry Flagler's new railway, and the rowdy stop that grew up around it, with a saloon, a speakeasy and worse. You'll hear what a tornado and a hurricane did to the village before Ballard ever arrived. Look for the brick paths threading between the old workers' cottages as you walk.