Stiltsville
Cluster of wood houses on pilings above open water, survivors of a wild prohibition-era bay community.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Stiltsville in Biscayne Bay opens with Crawfish Eddie Walker, who built the first stilt house a mile offshore in the early 1930s, deliberately beyond the reach of Florida's gambling laws, selling bait, beer and a chowder he called chilau. It follows the wild bay community that grew up around him, from the Quarterdeck Club's Life magazine fame in the early 1940s to the free-drinks pitch at the Bikini Club two decades later. Several hurricanes tested these structures over the decades that followed.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
The Barnacle Historic State Park
Octagonal-roofed pioneer bungalow raised on pilings above a bayfront homestead, later lifted to add a hidden ground floor.
Biscayne National Park
Vast open-water preserve of coral reefs, mangrove shoreline, and dozens of historic shipwrecks.
Miami Marine Stadium
Cantilevered concrete grandstand over a boat basin, covered in graffiti for decades of abandonment.
Cauley Square Historic Village
Restored railroad-era village of packing houses and cottages turned garden shops, tea room and antique stores.
Matheson Hammock Park & Marina
Saltwater atoll pool carved from limestone by Depression-era crews, tide-fed and ringed by palm-shaded walkways.
Biltmore Hotel Miami Coral Gables
Landmark Spanish Revival resort with a Seville-inspired bell tower and a storied, allegedly haunted past.