Juno Beach Pier
https://marinelife.org/conservation/pier/ https://discover.pbcgov.org/parks/Locations/JunoBeach-Pier.aspxNote: You’ll find a second copy of the Original Juno Beach Fishing Pier at Stop 15.The 990-foot-long Juno Beach Pier is a magnet for both casual visitors who are interested in the views as well as for avid saltwater fishermen. Admission to the pier is only $1 for spectators and $4 for fishermen.Why is this pier so great for fishing? Fish are very attracted to the area, both for feeding and breeding. The strong Gulf Stream current sweeps warm water from the Gulf of Mexico up along the Atlantic coast. It runs very close to shore in this area and so the waters get deep quickly. Did you know that fish migrate depending on the season? This area is like I-95 for fish! As you walk out on the pier and as the water deepens, you may even see different species of fish swimming below. From May to July, fishermen flock here to catch huge snook. Other species often caught include pompano, jacks, Spanish mackerel, bluefish, cobia, and kingfish. This is not the first pier in Juno Beach. The original Juno Beach Fishing Pier was built 1½ miles south of here in 1949. It was only half as long but for years was the town’s main tourist attraction. It was the only pier between Cape Canaveral and Lake Worth. That pier cost $40,000 to build and was sold to private owners a decade later for $47,000. In 1984, a Thanksgiving storm hurled 20-foot waves at the badly corroded structure and damaged it beyond repair. It wasn’t until two decades later, in 1999, that Palm Beach County took on the task of building this modern replacement at the cost of $2.5 million. Some local residents, with fond memories of the original pier, still refer to this as “the new pier.” It was designed not only to be bigger but also to be sturdy enough to withstand major hurricanes. Though it’s County owned, the pier is managed by the Loggerhead Marinelife Center, which is dedicated to protecting our sea turtles. They take special care of the underwater areas around the pier and keep them clear of debris and fishing tackle that can pose risks to turtles and other marine life. The Marinelife Center also runs special programs here for children.Looking at the pier you’ll see the Pier House, where you can enjoy snacks and refreshments, buy bait, and even rent a fishing rod. The historical marker at this location describes the Original Juno Beach Fishing Pier that was located about 1.6 miles south of this location at Mercury Road which is just east of the Juno Beach Town Center. Construction of the original pier was completed in 1950. The pier was open until 1984, when a Thanksgiving weekend storm tore out the center of the pier.
Juno Beach Park
This Palm Beach County park is a busy place throughout the year. Residents and tourists alike come here to visit the pier and the beaches that are supervised by lifeguards. Along with free parking, the amenities include picnic tables, showers and restrooms. The park is at the very north end of our town, where Juno Beach borders the town of Jupiter.https://discover.pbcgov.org/parks/Locations/Juno-Beach.aspx
Juno Dunes Natural Area (West Tract)
(This West Tract is most easily accessible by car from U.S. 1, a half mile north of Donald Ross Road.)https://discover.pbcgov.org/erm/NaturalAreas/Juno-Dunes.aspxhttps://floridahikes.com/junodunesJuno Beach has two natural areas that are unique in South Florida, not only because of their 569 acre size but because they preserve 12 distinct natural ecosystems with plants, insects, and animals adapted to each.Stop at the information kiosk that’s right by the parking entrance. It has lots of interesting photos, maps and documents that explain some of the diverse discoveries that you will find. Pick up a brochure. By the way, a morning walk is preferable as most of the trails are unshaded.Just a short distance along the easy Sawgrass Nature Trail, you’ll be surrounded by a variety of small oak trees. Moving further along, you’ll see that our coastal forest gets taller. Soon, you’ll come to an elevated boardwalk leading you through the seasonal marsh with its ferns, willows, and noisy crickets. At its end, you reach a shaded observation platform.If you venture beyond that and follow the longer Scrub Oak Hiking Trail, with its white sugar sand, you’ll enter a very different environment of pine forest. See if you can find any gopher tortoises as they crunch through the brush. You might even spot one of the entrances to their homes in burrows which can be as much as 12 feet deep and 40 feet long! Gopher tortoises are referred to as a keystone species because they share their burrows with other animals, including indigo snakes, Florida mice, gopher frogs, and even burrowing owls. These tortoises are considered threatened; they and their burrows are protected under state law.If you continue further west, you’ll reach the Intracoastal Waterway. There you will find a public boat dock and a two-story observation platform. By creating this cove for boaters, the County also created an expanded habitat for mangroves as well as adding acres of seagrasses.If you take the time to stroll through these trails, you’ll be amazed at how diverse this natural environment is, starting with rough looking coastal scrub and becoming a mosaic of wetlands, forests and dunes.
Loggerhead Marinelife Center and Eleanor Fletcher
https://marinelife.org/Note: You’ll find a second copy of the Eleanor Fletcher Plaque at Stop 15.The Loggerhead Marinelife Center is our major tourist attraction in Juno Beach, drawing more than 350,000 visitors a year. Its mission is to promote conservation of the ocean ecosystem with a special focus on protecting threatened and endangered sea turtles.The history of this amazing institution starts out with the fascinating story of a woman named Eleanor Fletcher. After moving here from Massachusetts, she developed a deep fascination with sea turtles and loved to share this passion with others. She even rented a small apartment in order to create her Children’s Museum of Juno Beach. Right by the main entrance, you’ll find a historical plaque with photos of Eleanor, her museum, and information about her devotion to sea turtle education. Palm Beach County recognized the value of Eleanor’s work and eventually offered her a larger space in what was a former motel. By 2007, and after ten years of fundraising, a purpose-built museum and sea turtle rescue center were built where you are now standing. Today, the campus contains a sea turtle hospital, recovery pools for injured turtles, a research lab, exhibition areas, classrooms, a restaurant, and a gift shop.The Marinelife Center also carefully studies sea turtle nesting patterns. Each morning, from March through October, team members patrol the beach and count how many new nests were made the night before. From the flipper and tail prints in the sand, they can even tell which species made each nest: green turtles, loggerheads, or leatherbacks.Today, the Marinelife Center is a leading international authority on sea turtle research and rehabilitation, as well as marine conservation. It further carries out its mission by organizing turtle talks, daytime beach walks, evening turtle walks, beach cleanups, fishing lessons for kids, and special events such as releasing injured sea turtles are healthy enough to be released back into the ocean.
Juno Dunes Natural Area (Oceanfront Tract)
Juno Dunes Park has awesome nature trails! If you’ve already visited the Natural Area West Tract on the west side of U.S. 1, you’ll be very surprised how different this tract is. Back in the year 1696, a group of English settlers was shipwrecked near here as they were on their way from Jamaica to Philadelphia. Take a moment to look around and imagine what Jonathan Dickinson and his party would have seen as they struggled ashore: the coastal dune covered with tough grasses and vines; behind that, a strand of natural forest, and farther in, rugged coastal scrub. The area was not very inviting and did not offer the promise of much to eat! The nearest European settlement was more than 200 miles away.This 42-acre area is one of the very rare tracts of coastal land in Florida that is relatively undisturbed; it looks very much like Dickinson would have seen it in those days. What surprises you will find in this small area! Take a few minutes to examine the County’s information kiosk at the entrance and learn how many different ecosystems are in this tract. Each has unique plants, insects, and animals that have adapted. Just a short distance inside the Natural Area, you’ll be deep within the shady marine hammock environment. Helpful signs along the path will give you lots of interesting details. Further on, you’ll emerge into palmetto scrub along with bushy oaks. Notice the pure white “sugar sand” at your feet which is typical of these Florida coastal environments. Did you know that the highest point in the state of Florida is only 345 feet above sea level? It’s located at Britton Hill, west of Tallahassee. That makes Florida the state with the lowest high point in the US. If you look to the north from where you are standing, you can spot a hill with a lookout gazebo. This ancient sand dune is only 44 feet above sea level; while it’s certainly not a peak, it’s believed to be one of the highest natural points in Palm Beach County. There’s an easy, paved trail leading up to the lookout, where you can see broad views stretching from the ocean to the Intracoastal Waterway.
Celestial Railroad Historical Marker
The marker you see here was erected in 1932 by the Daughters of the American Revolution. It commemorates the Jupiter and Lake Worth Railway which for six years operated right where you are standing from 1889-1895. It was nicknamed the Celestial Railroad after an old poem by Nathaniel Hawthorne.The 7½ mile line served a vital purpose during those times. Just north of here, the Indian River Lagoon was the main north-south water highway for steamboats running up the east coast of Florida. However, that lagoon ends at the Loxahatchee River in Jupiter. Just south of here was the 30-mile-long Lake Worth, but the lake was essentially landlocked and had no navigable access to the ocean. It was this train line, then, that connected those two key bodies of water.The history of the Celestial Railroad is more fully covered at Stop 12 in Town Hall Park where you will also see photos of the train and its exact route.Here’s an interesting fact! On this plaque, you’ll read that it refers to Ocean Drive as being U.S. 1 rather than A-1-A as we know it today. That’s because until 1957, this stretch of road was still the main highway between Maine and Key West. Due to fears that this essential road might be washed out by hurricanes, the government built a new section a bit further inland in order to bypass this coastal stretch. Unfortunately for the owners of all the motels that lined this road, that was really bad for business.
Juno Beach Camp Historic Site
At this same site, there’s some other interesting history!Oscar and Hulda Erikson emigrated from Sweden and moved here from New York in 1932. Oscar, who was a professional carpenter, built a set of rustic guest cabins on these dune slopes. Together with a small roadside convenience store, they called this the Juno Beach Camp. At the time, this entire area all the way down to the Seminole Golf Club was uninhabited. What the Erikson’s built here was the kernel of a tourist industry that became the mainstay of the town’s economy in the 1950s-1970s. Juno Beach eventually had as many as 17 oceanside motels at one time, almost all of which were family owned and operated. Oscar and Hulda upgraded their Juno Beach Camp over the years and the accommodations evolved from being basic cabins to being modern motel rooms and oceanfront cottages. The name also changed over the years to being the Juno Beach Cottages and then the Juno Beach Motel.Oscar was one of the town’s founding fathers when Juno Beach was incorporated in 1953 and he served on the early Town Commission. The Erikson’s presented the town with its first Christmas tree. The town still carries on an Erikson yearend tradition serving “glögg”, a hot Swedish mulled wine, at its annual Christmas-by-the-Lake party.The Erikson’s are commemorated today with the street at the entrance to Loggerhead Park being named Erikson Way.
The Motel Era Historical Plaque
In the decades after World War II, Juno Beach was an almost solid stretch of motels all along Ocean Drive, with many being directly on the ocean. One of the images on this plaque gives you a good idea of what you would have seen if you were driving along Ocean Drive in the decades from 1950 to 1970. Motels lined both sides of the road and competed with each other by boasting of their modern amenities. These included black-and-white televisions in the rooms, air-conditioning, swimming pools, and even kitchenettes.One of the more interesting promotional ideas of this era was to build a tunnel under Ocean Drive directly connecting a motel to the beach. It’s still in use, and you’ll find the entrance right behind the low brick wall nearby. It was built by the owner of the Juno-by-the-Sea motel and allowed its guests to avoid the heavy traffic on Ocean Drive during the winter season. You may wonder why the traffic was so bad then. Before 1957, I-95 and Florida’s Turnpike did not exist. It’s hard to imagine today, but this stretch of Ocean Drive was still U.S. 1, which was the main east coast highway between Maine and Key West.Although the Juno-by-the-Sea motel has long been closed, one wing of its building remains and has been serving multiple purposes over the years. It was once used as the Juno Beach Police headquarters. It was later the home of Eleanor Fletcher’s Children’s Museum of Juno Beach prior to its being relocated where the Loggerhead Marinelife Center now stands. Today, these former motel rooms serve several roles that include: a base for the county lifeguards; a recycling center for beach trash; and public restrooms for beachgoers.
Zephyr Way Historic District
U-shaped Zephyr Way is near the intersection of Donald Ross Road and Ocean Drive. Viewing it is a bit like stepping into a time machine and seeing Juno Beach as it was in the 1950s. These low-rise beach houses were built on small plots and were typical of old Juno Beach with lots of natural shade, pastel colors and Bermuda shutters.Since the town adopted its first zoning code in 1954, many of these houses would not meet today’s more rigorous code requirements. However, the town wanted to protect and preserve quaint neighborhoods like this and so designated them Historic Preservation Districts. This allows owners to restore or reconstruct these houses as long as they maintain their Old Florida cottage style.
The Dawn of Tourism Historical Plaque
This stop will take you back to the 1930s and 40s, when the first beachside cottages were attracting tourists to the area. Apart from showing you colorful advertising and aerial images from that era, the plaque also shows how the Surf Cottages motel served as a Coast Guard station during World War II. The Coast Guard patrolled the area between Jupiter and the Lake Worth Inlet at the time, when German submarines were active along this coast.
The First Town Hall Historic Plaque in Town Hall Park
Can you believe that the first Juno Beach Town Hall was in a former gas station!Though Juno Beach was incorporated as a town in 1953, it didn’t have any offices. Town Commission meetings were held in different motels and restaurants. By the time the town’s year-round population grew to 250 in 1961, officials decided they needed a permanent meeting place. Seeing that the gas station on this site was to become available, the town leased the building from the Standard Oil Company for just $1 a year. It was cleverly converted it into a combined Town Hall and police station. In 1974, the town purchased it with a mix of public and private funding. As the town rapidly grew, it built today’s Town Center by Pelican Lake in 1991. Over the years, this original Town Hall site remained vacant until residents convinced the Town Council to dedicate it as a park in 2018.Now here’s an interesting geology fact for you! As you stand in the park, turn your back to the ocean and look to the west. You’ll see a dramatic change in elevation. You’re seeing part of the Atlantic Coastal Ridge which runs the entire east coast of Florida. This natural dune rises steeply to reach an elevation here of 44 feet above sea level.Another interesting fact: Because you’re standing between this high ridge on one side, and the oceanfront dunes on the other, all the rainwater and groundwater naturally flows south. This is what feeds Pelican Lake today, and which fed the natural marsh that preceded it.
Celestial Railroad Historical Plaque in Town Hall Park
You can briefly park your car on Venus Drive while visiting this historic site.This is an interesting story!Before this short railroad line opened in 1889, the entire region between Jupiter and Miami was very sparsely inhabited. Getting lumber and manufactured goods to the settlers was exceedingly difficult and it was equally difficult for them to sell whatever they grew or caught. There were no natural ports, and no practical roads.Why was ocean access so difficult? There was no Lake Worth inlet back then, although occasionally there would be a very shallow passage. Although small sailing boats could land near the beaches, strong ocean currents and often-adverse winds made travel times and conditions very unpredictable.What about overland travel? Steamboats from farther north in Titusville ran for over 100 miles up and down the Indian River Lagoon, just inside Florida’s coastal barrier islands, but that lagoon ended at Jupiter. Between Jupiter and Lake Worth, wagon transportation was very difficult as the terrain was hilly, sandy, and rough.The solution to this dilemma was to build a 7½ mile long narrow narrow-gauge railway just inside the coastal dune. This connected Jupiter and the new village of Juno, which was on the northern end of Lake Worth near today’s Publix at PGA Boulevard and U.S. 1. This train line created a vital link between the paddlewheel steamboats ending in Jupiter and shallow boats which then began operating on the 30-mile, north-south Lake Worth. The railroad charged the whopping fare of 75 cents for this short trip, equivalent to about $22 now.At the front of the park is a plaque showing the train’s route and a photograph of one of its engines.This train ran right past where you are standing and continued south along the route of Ocean Drive and U.S. 1. Between the two stations, one resident said at the time, there was “nothing more than a few shacks and pineapple patches.” Its official name was the Jupiter and Lake Worth Railway, but it earned the nickname “Celestial Railroad”. Why?Since the northern station was named after the Roman god Jupiter, the southern one was creatively named after Jupiter’s wife, Juno. Between the two stations, the railway had two uninhabited stopping points: What could be better than to name them after two of the gods’ children: Venus and Mars! How fitting, then, that an early visitor dubbed this “the Celestial Railroad.”During the six years it operated, the railway opened the Lake Worth region to trade, settlement, and tourism. The little village of Juno even became the seat of the then-huge Dade County, which covered today’s counties of Saint Lucie, Martin, Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade. The heyday of the Celestial Railroad came to an end in 1895 when tycoon Henry Flagler built his Florida East Coast Railway further inland through often-flooded wetlands. His line extended to Palm Beach and he even built a railroad bridge across the Lake Worth Lagoon directly to his Royal Poinciana Hotel. At the time, it was the largest wooden building in the world and could accommodate 2000 guests. Once his railroad was completed, there was no longer any use for the Celestial. Flagler’s line was much faster and efficient, meaning people and goods didn’t have to switch back and forth between boats and trains.It’s interesting to note that in 1950, the women of the Juno Beach Garden Club took on the job of naming all the town’s new streets. Keeping with the celestial theme, streets were often named after Roman gods, goddesses and places associated with them.
September 11 Remembrance
In a cool, shady area beside the bubbling fountain on the north side of Town Center, you’ll see an inscription: “A place to reflect on our nation’s strength, resolve, and unity after the acts of terror on 09/11/01.”There, you’ll see a sculpture created by West Palm Beach artist Mark Fuller who stated: “This design appears intentionally not as a mournful lament to the events of September 11, 2001, but as an image of peace and tranquility.”In his design, the base of the sculpture resembles the twin towers of the World Trade Center. Arising from them is a heart of remembrance in which there are four doves recalling the airplanes that were hijacked that day.
Town Center and Police Department
This stop will begin by telling you how Town Center was created, and will then take you on a tour of the building itself.The beginnings of Town CenterOur Town Center relocated here at the north end of Pelican Lake in 1991. It used to be in what’s now Town Hall Park and had been housed in a converted gas station. This impressive transformation was financed with a combination of public and private funding.What was on originally on this site? Before 1950, when Juno Beach was in its infancy, this was nothing but scrub land. This plot was one of the first to be sold by its developer and the attractive Seminole Restaurant opened here soon after. It catered to tourists who flocked to the Juno Beach Fishing Pier, which was just a block away at the end of Mercury Road. After the restaurant was sold, the site became the home of the newly founded United Methodist Church in 1959, which later moved to its present location further north on Ocean Drive.Why is this called Town Center and not Town Hall? For good reason! The townspeople wanted this to be more than just government offices, a Town Council Chamber, and the base for our Police Department. They were so eager to have a community center, they even helped fund it through a special bond issue. Today, it lives up to those hopes. Apart from serving its governmental functions, the Town Center houses a lending library, public meeting rooms and hosts a wide variety of social and civic events throughout the year. These include: a Valentine Party for couples married 50 years, a June picnic celebrating the town’s founding, Oktoberfest, presentations by the Historical Society, and year-end holiday festivities. Every morning, locals regularly get together to chat and sit out on the porch overlooking the lake.The Juno Beach Civic Association also sponsors events here throughout the year, including a July Fourth breakfast, Town Council candidate debates, Citizen-of-the-Year awards, and guest presentations. Various informal community groups and clubs also meet here.This is a busy place and, as some would say, Town Center is “the heart of Juno Beach.”The CourtyardLet’s begin our tour here in the courtyard. Look atop the flagpole and you’ll see the sea turtle flag—with the town’s logo. (Doesn’t that sea turtle look like it’s grinning?) On the paving stones in the courtyard, you’ll see bricks recognizing the names of various citizens: present and past members of the Town Council, notable members of the town staff, Citizens-of-the-Year, and donors.Near the archway, there’s a splendid large bronze sculpture of a sea turtle swimming underwater.Tour the Town Center buildingNow let’s tour the building itself.Step inside the lobby. On the wall to your right, you’ll see a tall painting titled “The Spirit of Juno.” It portrays the Celestial Railroad of the 1890s, sea turtles, a pelican, our beaches, and our protected natural areas. This work by a local artist was commissioned after he won a town-sponsored competition. The other walls in the lobby have lots of interesting historical photos of the town, including one of the original Seminole Restaurant. There are various sculptures, too, including a cute one showing turtle hatchlings emerging from their eggs.Be sure to explore the Council Chamber on the ground floor. Along with various curiosities on the walls, there is typically a rotating exhibit of work by local artists. This is sponsored by the town’s Friends of the Arts committee.Now return to the lobby and walk upstairs. (Or take the elevator just as you exit the Council Chamber.) You’ll discover more historical photos lining the walls. If there’s no meeting taking place in the Celestial Conference Room, you’ll find interesting photos about the historic former town of Juno.Continue down the walkway to the library, and admire the magnificent view from its terrace overlooking Pelican Lake.The Juno Beach Police DepartmentWe’ll end our tour with the Police Department. Although you can’t visit it, you may be curious to learn a few facts.Today, Juno Beach has a population of about 3300; back in 1953 when the town incorporated, it had a mere 130! Nevertheless, the town’s founders were determined to have their own police department, separate from the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.Our Police Department currently has 16 sworn officers. They work in close collaboration with the neighboring departments of Jupiter and Palm Beach Gardens and have a unified communications network. In addition to having standard patrol cars, the department also has a volunteer citizen team, and specialized beach patrol vehicles.The department is proud that it takes a proactive approach to policing, and works in close partnership with the community. It even has the support of active volunteers. Juno Beach residents often remark what a close relationship they have with their department, and this is typified by monthly Coffee-with-a-Cop chats.
Eleanor Fletcher and the Children’s Museum Historical Plaque
Note: You’ll find a second copy of the Eleanor Fletcher Plaque at Stop 4.This plaque tells the impressive story of Eleanor Fletcher, who came to Juno Beach as a real estate agent in the 1970s. Fascinated by sea turtles, she began learning everything she could about their behavior. Eleanor’s collection of shells and other curiosities became so large that she rented an apartment here on the second floor of 350 Celestial Way just to exhibit them. She named it the Children’s Museum of Juno Beach. In 1983, Palm Beach County gave Eleanor’s Children’s Museum a new home in Loggerhead Park, which evolved into today’s Loggerhead Marinelife Center.
Mercury Road—Juno Beach Businesses in the 1950s
Back in 1950, when Juno Beach was first developing, the building on this corner at number 350, was the only commercial building in town that wasn’t a motel. Called The Trading Post, this was a restaurant and was quite a hub of activity. When Juno Beach was incorporated as a town in 1953, there were no government offices. However, you could usually find the Town Clerk seated at a table by the restaurant’s entrance where she conducted official business. Town Commission meetings were periodically held here as well.As you stand here, take a look down the Mercury Road toward the ocean. In 1950, the Bessemer Properties Corporation intended to create Juno Beach as a tourist destination and the main attraction was the Fishing Pier at the end of this block and. In their vision, they imagined this street would become the Juno Beach Shopping Center, with bustling tourist shops on both sides. It never turned out that way, but there were busy motels soon after.Imagine what life was like here back in the 1950s. Apart from the busy tourist season, Juno Beach was a quiet community. Most residents were in the motel business, one way or another. The nearest supermarkets were in Jupiter and Riviera Beach. Palm Beach Gardens didn’t exist and once you crossed the Intracoastal Waterway it was mostly farmland. The nearest hospital was in West Palm Beach. Your telephone would be a “party line”, shared with several other families, and to make a call, you’d have to ask the Operator to dial the number for you.
Original Juno Beach Fishing Pier Historical Plaque
Note: You’ll find a second copy of the Original Juno Beach Fishing Pier at Stop 1.At the east end of Mercury Road, you’ll find a historical plaque describing the original Juno Beach Pier and with interesting photos. It was made of steel and spanned 550 feet into the ocean.Completed in 1950, it was part of a vision Bessemer Properties Corporation had for the development of Juno Beach. At that time, it was the only pier between Cape Canaveral to the north and Palm Beach, to the south. The pier was the major local attraction and was popular with both residents and visitors. Anglers came here to catch snook, bluefish, pompano, and sharks.In 1984, a Thanksgiving weekend storm hurled 20-foot waves at the badly corroded structure, tearing out its center. The pier had become too damaged and costly to repair. As part of the demolition of the site, the fire department burned down the two-story entrance building in a training exercise; the pier was taken down the following year.
“The Castle”
This private residence at 301 Ocean Drive certainly lends an aura of mystery to Juno Beach! This unique home was created by a retired Chicago builder in 1985, intending to create a dream house for his wife. With turrets, archways, and faux leaded-glass windows, it appears to have been transported from renaissance Italy. Its interior was furnished with suits of armor and other period items. There’s even an imposing imperial Roman eagle with outstretched wings on the roof, and a statue of a Roman centurion standing guard at the front entrance!Everything is not what it seems, though: The exterior walls, which look like stone, are actually stucco.
Pelican Lake Historical Plaque
Note: You’ll find a second copy of the Pelican Lake Historical Plaque at Stop 22.Imagine yourself here 150 years ago when South Florida was virtually unsettled. You would have been standing in an extended marsh, with waters gently flowing southward through Kagan Park and the Seminole Golf Club until they reached Little Lake Worth, where the Oakbrook shopping area is today. This would have been a wild environment: There were alligators living here that were up to 15 feet long!How did that wild marsh get transformed into today’s placid lake? Here’s the story. In the late 1940’s, Bessemer Properties, Inc., which first developed Juno Beach, wanted to make the area more attractive to tourists. They cleared all the vegetation around the lake. In doing so, however, they drove out the large rattlesnakes who inhabited the area. The nearby motel owners and residents had to be on guard! Fortunately, there are no rattlers around here today.How did the lake get its name? People called it Pelican Pond back in the 1950s and 60s, and only later Pelican Lake. Why did the word pelican become attached to the lake? After all, pelicans don’t visit it. And why did the name gradually switch to “lake” after being “pond”? These are two mysteries!Did you know that alligators are very rarely seen in the Lake Worth area today? Once the Palm Beach Inlet was dug, salt water intruded into the lake; gators, being freshwater reptiles, couldn’t tolerate that. Today, they generally remain further inland, up the rivers, streams and canals!
The Creation of Juno Beach Historical Plaque
The plaque here reveals how an area of marshy scrubland became a booming tourist mecca in a little over a decade. This was all the work of a West Palm Beach development company, Bessemer Properties. There are lots of interesting details and images on the plaque.You’ll be interested to learn that the name Juno Beach actually dates from around 1890, but it had no connection to today’s town. Here’s the curious story!As Palm Beach was just beginning to take off as a tourist destination around 1890, a group of developers bought land on the narrow strip on the north end of today’s Singer Island by MacArthur State Park. That was just a short boat ride from the busy new village of Juno at the head of Lake Worth, which was the county seat and which they saw as the future regional center. The developers laid out plots running from lake to ocean and cleverly advertised them with the name Juno Beach. Unfortunately for the developers, their strategy quickly collapsed once word got out that Henry Flagler was planning to extend his Florida East Coast Railway all the way to Palm Beach.As the historical plaque explains, it wasn’t until the late 1940s that Bessemer Properties chose to create a new tourist destination and give it the name Juno Beach.By the way, the lovely fountain here is called Friendship Circle. The path around the lake was funded by donors whose names are inscribed on bricks along the way.
From Motels to Condos Historical Plaque
You’ll find this historical plaque at the bend in Celestial Way, just opposite the beach access path. The Greenbrier was the very first condominium in Juno Beach, opening in 1966. The original West Building across the street was designed in the style of an elegant Southern mansion with tall Greek columns flanking its entrance.This project was the creation of then-mayor Stanley Kagan. It offered snowbirds and prospective year-rounders two-bedroom, two-bath apartments which ranged in price from $18,900 to $19,900. They were modern for their time with central air-conditioning, all-electric kitchens, wall telephones, Formica counter tops, mirrored living room walls, and large screened balconies.Just down the street at 240 Celestial Way is the site of Kagan’s former Beachbound motel which was the first one within the original limits of Juno Beach. In the 1950s and 60s, it was popular with members of the Seminole Golf Club who visited during winter months. Kagan eventually sold the individual motel cottages, and they remain as private dwellings today.
Pelican Lake Ecosystem
Note: You’ll find a second copy of the Pelican Lake Historical Plaque at Stop 19.In the late 1940’s, the developer who decided to create Juno Beach as a resort town wanted Pelican Lake, along with the Fishing Pier, to be key features. At the time, the lake was a marsh and its water level rose and fell considerably depending on the time of year. Kagan Park across the street was part of the marsh.To ensure that the lake would keep a much more stable water level year round, the developers built a weir or low dam at this end of the lake, where the lake drains to the south. Walk a few yards down the road and you’ll find that weir right under the sturdy metal fence. When the lake overflows during the rainy season, the water flows underground, through to the Seminole Golf Course, and from there farther south emptying into Little Lake Worth.You might wonder if the lake contains salt water. In fact, even though it is so close to the ocean, it’s fresh water and is entirely fed by a combination of direct rainfall, underground seepage from the high dunes that you see to the west, and road runoff. You’ll see that the lake has two fountain pumps spraying in the center of the lake; those are there for aeration, providing oxygen for the fish and grasses.Are you ready to take a brief nature walk? If you stroll east toward the ocean along the lake path, you’ll discover birds adapted to different mini environments. The white ibis, famous from Egyptian hieroglyphics, has a long orange beak which is perfectly adapted to poking for insects among the blades of grass. You may see small, red-beaked common gallinules paddling near the shore. Their wide feet enable them to walk in the shallow marshy waters where they feed. You may spot a black anhinga sitting on a pole and drying its outstretched wings after having swum underwater to catch a fish. And not least you may spot a tall-legged and elegant white egret or blue heron, standing dead still and peering down into the water waiting for a small fish to swim by. And then there are our local characters: the large black Muscovy ducks; There’s always debate whether they are cute or ugly!
The Founders of Juno Beach and Kagan Park
This park is named after Stanley Kagan, who was the highly-respected mayor of Juno Beach from 1956 to 1969. During his tenure, the town evolved from being a purely motel economy with fewer than a hundred residents to becoming a town of mostly condominiums and a population closer to a thousand. “Stan the Man” was a nature lover; he even had the state of Florida designate Pelican Lake as a bird sanctuary.In the park, you may see people playing bocce or pétanque in the upper area by Ocean Drive with grapefruit-sized balls.Just to the south of the park is the world-class Seminole Golf Club. This exclusive 18-hole private club opened in 1930 and is ranked as one of the top 100 in the world. It’s famous for having a very challenging course and for having amazing views of the ocean, which also brings gusts of wind that make the course more challenging.If you had stood here in the 1960s and 1970s and looked across to the opposite side of Ocean Drive, you would have seen a famous landmark. The Juno Ball was a water tower that looked like a silver golf ball on a tee. This impressive water tower for the adjacent Golf Club was taller than the Jupiter Lighthouse.The Juno Ball was not only a curiosity, it was a landmark for ocean fisherman. The Gulf Stream is only a few miles offshore here and offers amazing fishing grounds. Fishermen knew that when they were in sight of the Juno Ball, they were at a prime location.
NextEra Energy/Florida Power & Light Company
It’s hard to believe but little Juno Beach is the corporate headquarters of the world's largest utility company, NextEra Energy.NextEra Energy owns Florida Power & Light Company, which is the largest rate-regulated electric utility in the United States, as measured by retail electricity produced and sold. FPL serves more than 11 million residents across Florida.NextEra Energy also owns NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, which, together with its affiliated entities, is the world's largest generator of renewable energy from the wind and sun and a world leader in battery storage.The corporate headquarters isn’t open to visitors, but if you drive by on Universe Boulevard, you’ll see the long canopy of solar panels that recharge a fleet of the company’s electric vehicles.As you drive along Universe Boulevard, notice the shrubs planted in the road’s median. Those are coonties, primitive “living fossils” that survived the dinosaur age. What’s particularly interesting is that they contain a toxin that is deadly to most insects, but not to the rare atala butterfly, once thought to be extinct. When the bright red and yellow atala larval caterpillars feed on the coontie leaves, they absorb its toxin. The toxin gives them a natural defense because birds won’t eat them. The coontie is the sole plant on which atalas live.You will see the atala fluttering here in abundance in midsummer. With iridescent blue-green markings on black wings, and with bright red-orange abdomens, they’re quite a sight.
Seminole Golf Club
The world famous Seminole Golf Club is a private club and was designed by famed golf course designer Donald J. Ross, opened in 1930. It was developed by investment banker E. F. Hutton, on land previously owned by Harry Kelsey. Harry Kelsey was the founder of Kelsey City later renamed Lake Park, which is a few miles south of present day Juno Beach.
