Sebastian Inlet : Tides of Change

Recently, my family and I took the time to drive down to Sebastian Inlet for the afternoon and to swim in the tidal pool area of the north park. So many memories, flooded back to me as I drove towards our destination along A1A. My four kids in the back of the car, much as I was at their age, chattering away, excited to play in the salty water and sun, without a care in this world. Back in my childhood, in the 70's, A1A looked alot different than it does today. Floridana Beach had a lot less house and no condos, Melbourne Beach didn't stretch too far past the 7-11, south of the Spessard Holland Golf Course, and there were many miles of lush palm frond bushes separating the view of the beach from the passing cars. Occasionally as you traveled down there were breaks in the bushes where locals could access the beach, and give you a view of the untouched beauty of the surf.

As I was growing up, camping was a large part of our lives. My father, who worked for the State and didn't make a lot of money, found that vacationing with a large family was more cost efficient that way; it makes up the bulk of my child hood memories. He knew someone who worked for the Sebastian Park Camping area, so we were able to get a site in the south park area whenever we wanted. The Camping area back then was beautiful with tall pine trees that provided a relief from the sun, and a pleasant camping area. People were put on waiting lists for months just to get a spot in that camping area. The fishing at night was a large draw. My Father and Uncles would fish till late in the night under the bridge, and off the jetty, with all the other people crammed in there. As a kid, I was deathly afraid of walking over the grates on the jetty, with the roaring ocean, and breaking waves underneath. At night, it felt as though you were stepping out into the darkness, hoping you wouldn't fall to a watery grave on the rocks below. There were too many people fishing along the sides of the jetty to walk around, so I would close my eyes and quickly try to jump across the grates, trying to push down the fear in the pit of my stomach.

Some of my other memories of the Park, were of the tidal pool area, which some liked to go to, but it wasn't like it is today. Back then the tidal pool area was surrounded by pines and was much more shallow than it is now. All these qualities meant more mosquitoes, and the water was really warm with a mucky bottom. Usually only people with really small children would go there, because the surf was much too deep and rough; which hasn't changed. But one of my favorite past times in the camping area, was if we got one of the sites in the back of the park, it would back up to the mangrove wetlands area. This meant all the Fiddler Crabs we could catch. My cousins and myself had hours of fun finding and catching crabs for our Dads to use as bait. You had to hide from site long enough for the crabs to come out of their holes, then you had to quickly try to grab them from behind, so that you wouldn't get pinched by that one big claw. I also miss the sound of the breeze through the pines as you sat there under their shade on a hot summer's day waiting for that very gust of wind to cool you down. It was much simpler times when you're a kid.

Now a days Hurricanes have killed the trees on both the north and south side parks. The State in an effort to make the best of the situation, has paved the dirt roads that once wandered around the primitive camp sites, and made other "improvements". The tidal pool has now been dredged, to make a really nice swim area, but all the flavor just seems to have been plowed over. Everything seems a little too.....unnatural, and barren. But I found some pictures and some history of the Inlet that show that this area really has a forever changing face, and Hurricanes will always have major impacts to what we have created there.

 This is Sebastian as it looked in the late 1930's. This cut was actually created in 1885 - 1886, and was called Gibson's Cut or Gibson's Folley in mocking laughter. Gibson was a Turpentiner from Georgia, who wanted access to his land holdings.

This Picture was taken in 1937 at the Inlet. I bet fishing back then was spectacular.  The rocks you see were the beginnings of the jetty that was placed to help protect from erosion in 1924.

 From the beginning of the cut, hurricanes and tropical storms have all taken their toll on the project. Sometimes widening the waters, and sometimes filling it back in, but each time improvements were made to stop the effects. In 1941 - 1942 the Inlet was completely closed by a Northeaster that clobbered the island. In September of 1947, the Navy used some of their left over munitions to blast the channel back open, as seen here.

In 1948, the Indian River was flooded, and so it was deemed necessary to recut Sebastian from a northwesterly flow to a southwesterly flow, thus creating the tidal pool area. 

In 1962, construction of the A1A bridge began, and in 1968, construction of the north jetty began. In 1972, Sebastian Inlet State Recreation Area was born, bring me back to the beginning of my story. Since then many hurricanes and storms have left their marks and have caused the State great amounts of money. 

As we look back at all the changes to our area, and what we have lost or gained, we should always remember that although someone built it, we all need to help preserve it. Sebastian Inlet is truly apart of Brevard County's heritage that we can continue to enjoy.






Portions of the history were referenced :
http://www.theberkmans.com/fishing/Fishing_Melbourne/History_of_Sebastian.html