Cocolobo Cay Club

{{Short description|Former private club in Biscayne National Park}}

The Cocolobo Cay Club, later known as the Coco Lobo Club, was a private club on Adams Key in what is now Biscayne National Park, Florida. It was notable as a destination for the rich and the politically well-connected. Four presidents (Warren G. Harding, Herbert Hoover, Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon) visited while president, and numerous U.S. senators including John F. Kennedy visited the club. It was established by millionaire Carl G. Fisher as a getaway in 1922, passing to motor boat racer Gar Wood, then to Nixon friend Bebe Rebozo in 1954. The main club building burned down in 1974 after the property was incorporated into Biscayne National Monument, and the remaining structures were destroyed by Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

Establishment

File:Cocolobo Cay Club Harding 1.jpg

American entrepreneur Carl G. Fisher, who was responsible for much of the development of Miami Beach, bought Adams Key, once known as Cocolobo Key, in 1916. With partners Charles W. Kotcher and Jim Snowden, Fisher built the Cocolobo Cay Club by 1918,{{cite news |last1=Bertelli |first1=Brad |title=Keys History: Exclusive Cocolobo Key Club saw the Wealthy, Yachys and the Radiophone |url=https://keysweekly.com/42/keys-history-exclusive-cocolobo-key-club-saw-the-wealthy-yachts-the-radiophone/ |access-date=15 December 2023 |publisher=Keys Weekly |date=May 8, 2023}}{{cite web|last=Leynes |first=Jennifer Brown |title=Recreational Development of Miami and Biscayne Bay |url=http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/bisc/hrs/chapter3.pdf |work=Biscayne National Park Historic Resource Study |publisher=National Park Service |accessdate=3 December 2012 |author2=Cullison, David |page=1 |date=January 1998 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213030959/http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/bisc/hrs/chapter3.pdf |archivedate=13 December 2013 }} named for the native pigeon plum (Coccoloba diversifolia)Shumaker, p. 57 The two-story club building had ten guest rooms, a dining room, and a separate recreation lodge. Members included Warren G. Harding, Albert Fall, T. Coleman DuPont, Harvey Firestone, Jack Dempsey, Charles F. Kettering, Will Rogers and Frank Seiberling.Miller, pp.19–20

Harding was a frequent visitor. A March 1923 trip was made with companions Albert Lasker, chairman of the Lod & Thomas advertising agency, who would resign the chairmanship of the United States Shipping Board on July 1 under investigation, Harding's personal secretary George B. Christian, Fisher, John Oliver La Gorce of the National Geographic Society, James A. Allison, who brought the party to the club from Miami on his yacht Seashore,{{cite news|title=President Goes on a Fishing Trip|newspaper=The New York Times|date=March 16, 1923}} and others.{{cite news|title=President's Party is on Fishing Trip|newspaper=The Sun (Baltimore)|date=March 16, 1923}} The club was the destination of the annual Miami Committee of One Hundred outing each January during the 1920s and 1930s.{{cite news|title=Golf and Yachting at Miami Beach|newspaper=The New York Times|date=January 25, 1931}}

Decline and revival

The club had declined with the Wall Street crash of 1929 which saw Fisher lose his fortune, but was revived by Garfield Wood in 1934.Shumaker, p. 59 Wood owned the club outright after a foreclosure sale in 1937.{{cite news|title=Gar Wood Gets Florida Club|newspaper=The New York Times|date=September 7, 1937}} Among their clients were avid fisherman Herbert Hoover and his family. Wood sold the Cocolobo Cay Club to a group of investors led by Florida banker Bebe Rebozo in 1954, who renamed it the Coco Lobo Fishing Club. Clients guided by the Joneses included then-senators John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Herman Talmadge and George Smathers through the 1940s and 1950s.Shumaker, p. 61 In 1965 the clubhouse was damaged by Hurricane Betsy, going unrepaired.{{cite news |last1=Bertelli |first1=Brad |title=Keys History: The Rise & Fall of the Ccolobo Cay Club on Adams Keys |url=https://keysweekly.com/42/keys-history-the-rise-fall-of-cocolobo-cay-club-on-adams-keys/ |access-date=15 December 2023 |publisher=Keys Weekly |date=May 16, 2023}}

During congressional debate on the establishment of Biscayne National Monument in 1968, Rebozo unsuccessfully approached the bill's sponsor, Congressman Dante Fascell to get Fascell to withdraw the bill, which would require Rebozo to sell the property to the government.{{cite news|last=Penn|first=Stanley|title=President-Elect Finds He Can Relax, Unwind with Floridian Rebozo|newspaper=The Wall Street Journal|date=December 27, 1968}} In 1973 Rebozo still owned the {{convert|77|acre|ha}} on Adams Key,{{cite news|last=Cannon|first=Lou|title=Rebozo Income Soared in 1969 to $170,800|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=November 18, 1973}} finally selling it to the Park Service for $550,000.

Biscayne National Park

The two-story Lodge featured a wide front porch looking onto a lawn.{{cite web|title=Cocolobo Cay Club|url=http://historymiamiarchives.org/guides/?p=digitallibrary/digitalcontent&id=39|work=Claude Matlack Collection|publisher=History Miami|accessdate=3 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304041258/http://historymiamiarchives.org/guides/?p=digitallibrary%2Fdigitalcontent&id=39|archive-date=4 March 2016|url-status=dead}} Following its acquisition by the National Park Service, the club burned down on December 21, 1974. The two-room "casino", a separate building for games and cards, was repaired by the Park Service and used as a meeting place for students visiting the key. The caretaker's residence was rehabilitated for the use of the key's resident ranger.{{cite news|last=Platero|first=John|title=Four Presidents Slept There: Boaters Can See a Once-Exclusive Key|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-02-07-mn-41019-story.html|access-date=3 December 2012|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=February 7, 1988}} All of the Cocolobo structures were destroyed by Hurricane Andrew in 1992.{{cite web|title=Adams Key|url=http://keys.fiu.edu/gazetteer/tr1.htm|work=Key Names Gazetteer|publisher=Florida International University|accessdate=3 December 2012}} Adams Key is now a day-use area, with two Park Service families residing on the island{{cite web|title=Adams Key|url=https://www.nps.gov/bisc/planyourvisit/adamskey.htm|work=Biscayne National Park|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=3 December 2012}} where the club used to be.

References

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Bibliography

Miller, Lloyd (2008), Biscayne National Park: It Almost Wasn't, LEMDOT Publishing. {{ISBN|978-0-615-17494-5}}.
Leynes, Jennifer Brown; Cullison, David (1998), [https://web.archive.org/web/20121202111209/http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/bisc/hrs/hrs.htm Biscayne National Park Historic Resource Study], National Park Service
Shumaker, Susan (2012), Untold Stories from America's National Parks: Israel Lafayette "Parson" Jones, Sir Lancelot Jones and Biscayne National Park. Public Broadcasting Service.

Category:Biscayne National Park

Category:Seaside resorts in Florida

Category:Defunct resorts in the United States

Category:1922 establishments in Florida