Brevard County claims the distinctive title of "America's Space Coast." The emphasis today is on the American space program, but Brevard's history began long ago, with an unusual system of rivers that provided food, transportation and a livelihood. With the Atlantic Ocean as an eastern boundary, Brevard once stretched so far south it passed the northern shores of Lake Okeechobee. It still contains two large inland lakes, Poinsett and Washington, and the brackish water of Mosquito Lagoon. The Banana River begins just south of the Lagoon and parallels the Ocean half the length of the county. The St. Johns River forms the western boundary and the Indian River -- part of the Intracoastal Waterway -- hugs the mainland the complete length of the county.

Old texts refer to this part of Florida as "The Indian River Country."

The people of the Indian River Country are semi-amphibious. Their babies are rocked to sleep with the lullaby of the ocean wave or the whispering soprano of the river ripples. Their children go to school in boats instead of on foot, and the old folks go to church in the same way instead of in buggies; and -- shall I say it -- the ladies go on shopping and gossiping excursions also in boats. The river, in fact, is the great highway of the country; its transportation line, its picnic route and its lovers' lane, all in one.

Excerpted from
On the Indian River
by C. Vickerstaff Hine
copyright 1891
 

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