As you approach Everglades National Park, you'll see the Ernest F. Coe Visitors' Center on the right just before you reach the park entrance itself. The Coe Visitors' Center should be the first stop for most anyone journeying to the park, especially if you haven't been here before. There are exhibitions about the natural and human history of the park; you can speak with rangers and get questions answered.
Who was Ernest Coe and why is he so honored? He was a professional landscape designer who moved to Miami from Connecticut at the age of 60. He became a champion for the creation of Everglades National Park during the 1920s. Coe formed the The Everglades Tropical National Park Association in 1928 along with David Fairchild (of Fairchild Tropical Gardens fame) and Marjory Stoneman Douglas, and lobbied relentlessly for creation of the national park until Congress finally passed legislation authorizing the creation of Everglades in 1934.
But the battle for the park wasn't nearly over. A 1932 aerial survey of the original proposed 1.3 million acres for the park noted only a quarter of the land was state-owned; the remainder would have to be acquired through donations or purchases, including use of eminent domain. Coe was equally relentless in raising funds to secure the needed acreage until Everglades National Park finally opened in 1947. One interesting name participating in that 1932 survey: Frederick Law Olmstead Jr., son of the creator of New York's Central Park. Olmstead Jr. was an advocate for the preservation of land through the National Park system and the creation of Everglades National Park.
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Who was Ernest Coe and why is he so honored? He was a professional landscape designer who moved to Miami from Connecticut at the age of 60. He became a champion for the creation of Everglades National Park during the 1920s. Coe formed the The Everglades Tropical National Park Association in 1928 along with David Fairchild (of Fairchild Tropical Gardens fame) and Marjory Stoneman Douglas, and lobbied relentlessly for creation of the national park until Congress finally passed legislation authorizing the creation of Everglades in 1934.
But the battle for the park wasn't nearly over. A 1932 aerial survey of the original proposed 1.3 million acres for the park noted only a quarter of the land was state-owned; the remainder would have to be acquired through donations or purchases, including use of eminent domain. Coe was equally relentless in raising funds to secure the needed acreage until Everglades National Park finally opened in 1947. One interesting name participating in that 1932 survey: Frederick Law Olmstead Jr., son of the creator of New York's Central Park. Olmstead Jr. was an advocate for the preservation of land through the National Park system and the creation of Everglades National Park.
NEXT STOP: Botanical Detective Work
RETURN TO THE TOUR PAGE —||— RETURN TO THE MAIN PAGE