RE Log - Fall 2022

FALL 2022 Ransom Everglades LOG 15 the clear blue waters of Biscayne Bay, cradling a natural freshwater spring that had attracted Seminoles as well as earlier frontiersmen. In the future, Kirk would use it to provide freshwater to U.S. naval barges during the Spanish-American War. The land presented challenges to the Munroes, who found “rugged rock, primeval forest, dense undergrowth matted with a tangle of pines and palmetto scrub,” as Kirk recorded in a handwritten note. “Suburbs! It is more like a ‘Scrububs,’” he joked — and from that point on, the name “Scrububs” stuck, reflecting a defining tension between the frontier hardships they endured and the civilizing influence they would have. Like innkeepers Charles and Isabella Peacock and Commodore Ralph M. Munroe (no relation, oddly enough), the inhabitants of “Scrububs” were part of a small cohort of northeastern settlers who had already made money elsewhere, leaving them with a desire (as Parks puts it) not so much to “take from the frontier” as to “give to it.” If that phrase brings to mind the words of one Paul C. Ransom, it’s no surprise: Ransom was not just The desk of Kirk Munroe, who wrote children’s novels, can be seen in this early interior view of Scrububs. their neighbor but a good friend whose project Kirk and Mary Barr oversaw from the beginning. Kirk and Mary Barr were literary people, and one of the things they brought to the Grove was literary culture. Kirk arrived with some fame already as a prolific and widely-read author of “boys’ books.” From a desk atop a windmill on the edge of the property that he dubbed the “Tower of London,” he would go on to write many more, primarily adventure novels and pioneer tales set in subtropical locales that resembled the landscape around him. Mary Barr was the daughter of novelist Amelia E. Barr, and she was uniquely brash and outspoken for her time. Together, they founded or helped found numerous organizations, including the Coconut Grove Housekeepers Club, the Biscayne Bay Yacht Club, and the Coconut Grove Library, which they filled with books from their own collection. The Munroes helped give shape and structure to the Grove, which was at that point a fledgling community of barely 100 people. But they also held onto some of the most liberatory aspects of pioneer life. They lived in a spirit of openness to others that defied the usual boundaries of race, ethnicity and class. Kirk and Mary Barr welcomed everyone into their home and shared their love of literature with any and all who lived in the Grove, from Seminole families to residents of the nearby Kebo community of Black Bahamians. Kirk was in such frequent contact with the Seminoles that, at one point, he even worked as a liaison of sorts between the tribe and the U.S. government. The Munroes also took pride in living with the land and pushed to protect the area’s natural flora and fauna. As the first president of the Coconut Grove Audubon Society, Mary Barr was well known for plucking egret feathers off the hats of well-to-do ladies. After a manatee with a harpoon injury washed up on the shores of Scrububs, Kirk not only nursed it back to health but also led a successful campaign to persuade the state to enact new animal protection laws. In an ironic twist of fate, a piece of Scrububs’ primeval landscape ultimately played a role in making Coconut Grove considerably less primeval. When landowner Julia Tuttle sent a letter Photograph of Mary Barr Munroe standing by a lime tree, ca. 1890. Photo courtesy of HistoryMiami (formerly Historical Museum of Southern Florida), Ralph Munroe Collection.