A long and varied history

The history of Hutchinson Island and the Stuart area has it all—peaceful Indian tribes and rumrunners, farmers and pirates—all drawn to the area for its unparalleled beauty and abundant fishing.

The seas along the coast of southeast Florida served as a popular route for Spanish ships returning from Mexico laden with silver and gold. While the waters were less dangerous than the open sea, they held their own dangers in numerous reefs chiefly along the area known as the Treasure Coast. In fact, the coast earned its name for the abundance of wealth that sank here. It was these shipwrecks that first introduced Spanish explorers to the earliest known inhabitants, the Ais Indians.

Spanish sailors reported the intrepid feats of the Ais fishermen who would paddle alongside whales in dugout canoes armed only with a mallet and three wooden plugs. The fisherman got three chances to drive the plug into the whale’s blowhole, suffocate him and then tow him to shore. An exhibit at the Elliott Museum immortalized this form of fearless angling.

Early farming

By the mid 1700s, disease, warfare and slavery had claimed the Ais tribe, and in 1811, the Spanish governor of Florida issued a land grant for the area to James Hutchinson who then moved to the island, now named for him, to avoid the raiding Seminoles. Unfortunately for Hutchinson the island proved to be no kinder as pirates raided his plantation destroying his crops and capturing his slaves.

However, in the area now known as Martin County, fishing and plantations flourished and the Indian River became a highway for pineapples, lemons, fish and other items being shipped up north. Eventually, with the arrival of the railroad in Stuart, farmers were able to load their crops directly onto railroad cars for a faster trip to market.

The House of Refuge

Even with plantations dotting the landscape, the area remained so sparsely inhabited that the federal government built a series of houses to provide shelter for shipwrecked sailors. In March 1876, Gilbert’s Bar House of Refuge was completed on Hutchinson Island and staffed by members of what came to be called the US Coast Guard. Later known as US Coast Guard Station No. 207, the beautiful home served as a lookout in WWII for enemy attacks by air, land and sea. The House of Refuge today serves as a treasured Maritime Museum.

Presidents and rogues

It was Grover Cleveland, who loved to fish the waters of the St. Lucie and earned its reputation as the “Fishing Ground of Presidents.” He and his wife arrived in Stuart by private railroad car first in 1900. The Clevelands loved the area so much that they purchased waterfront land in Stuart where the City Hall now stands. Cleveland continued to fish these waters until his death in 1908.

The Real McCoy

By 1915, the area of Hutchinson Island known then as the Blue Lagoon of the Coral Strand (now Sailfish Point) was owned by brothers Bill and Ben McCoy. Bill earned his own place in history when, after his trade of carrying tourists along the Indian River slumped in 1920, he became a rumrunner. Evading the authorities for years during Prohibition, McCoy earned a stellar reputation among his peers—even a grudging admiration among “revenuers”—as a man of his word. His seal on a barrel of rum meant it was genuine and of good quality. Thus, the term “Real McCoy.”

In more modern times

In 1935, the McCoy family sold the Blue Lagoon of the Coral Strand to James Rand of the Rand Corporation. He built the bulkhead that forms the current marina.

In the 1980s, Mobil Land Development opened the private community of Sailfish Point with a high standard of quality that set it apart from other area developments. Seeking out the most prominent name in golf, developers chose Jack Nicklaus to design one of his first courses here in 1981. The resulting layout of 18 holes, stretching along the Indian River, the Atlantic and inland lakes set new standards in golf course development and continues to please golfers of all abilities. In 2008, the Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf course was completely renovated by the Nicklaus team, retaining its beauty and adding new challenges for members of this private, golf community.

Today, Sailfish Point is a vibrant community with 520 homes and home sites, a stunning oceanfront property that realizes all the beauty that drew people to this untamed coastline for hundreds of years.