Museums

Yesterday was an exciting day here. We started the day with a rocket launch from Cape Canaveral. It was carrying supplies to the space station. The clouds covered it up after a brief sighting of it as it was launched. We were able to see it from the stairs on the beach.

We spent the day in Vero Beach. It is a lovely drive down A1A past beautifully sculptured and landscaped homes and villages. Hibiscus bushes loaded with pink flowers border the highway. Our first stop was a history museum devoted to the recovery of treasure from a Spanish treasure fleet that sank in 1715.

This museum offered a film about the shipwreck and the recovery efforts. Divers are still finding remains from this fleet that carried silver, gold, and jewels. It does explain why this area of Florida is called the Treasure Coast. There were some interesting stories of people who have found gold and silver coins on the beach and in the sand dunes.

Here is a photo of some of the silver pieces of eight that have been found.

Forks, spoons, and buckles are displayed here.

This is a replica of the ships that rest on the bottom of the sea in this area.

Here is a cannon that has been recovered. The museum has an outlook area built like a ship.

It was fun to learn a bit of history in Florida. This place was also the site of a Huguenot colony started by the French and wiped out by the Spanish.

Next we moved on to the Art Museum of Vero Beach. This is a very impressive structure with sculpture gardens and lots of exhibits. They currently have an exhibit of the European Masters on display, an exhibit of Katherine Hepburn's movie and stage costumes, and a fun exhibit of marionettes.

Here we have Gary in the sculpture garden. We had a lovely day in Vero Beach!