Miami Springs Power Boat Club at Stiltsville in Biscayne National Park
If you would like to see Stiltsville, a collection of houses built on stilts in Biscayne Bay, but don’t have a boat, you can take a 2-hour tour operated by the Biscayne National Park Institute. The tour is held on Thursdays through Sundays throughout the year. You can get the current tour fee and make a reservation on Biscayne National Park Institute’s Stiltsville Guided Tour web page.
Stiltsville is located in the northernmost section of Biscayne National Park, much closer to Miami than to the Dante Fascell Visitor Center in Homestead. Because of this, the tour leaves from the Dinner Key Marina in Coconut Grove, which is 30 miles north of the Visitor Center. A drive between the two takes roughly an hour.
Before arriving at Stiltsville, the tour boat swings past the Cape Florida Lighthouse on Key Biscayne. The first lighthouse on this spot was built in 1825, and it had a very interesting history. In 1836, Seminole Indians attacked the lighthouse, setting it on fire with two people inside. One man was killed by a bullet, and the second, assistant lighthouse keeper John Thompson, decided to go out in a blaze of glory by dropping a keg of gunpowder from the balcony onto the fire below, hoping to kill as many Indians as possible and ending his own life, which at the time surely looked like it was going to be a death by fire. Instead, the explosion somewhat lessened the strength of the fire. The Indians assumed the two men were dead, and after ransacking the lightkeeper’s house, took off. A Navy ship heard the explosion and eventually rescued Thompson. The lighthouse was beyond repair, but due to continued fighting with the Seminoles, it wasn’t rebuilt until 1847. This is the lighthouse standing today, though it was made taller in 1855: it is 95 feet tall.
Cape Florida Lighthouse on Key Biscayne
There are six houses left standing in Stiltsville. A seventh, the Leshaw House, burned down on January 11, 2021, which was just two weeks before I did the tour. The current rule per a 2003 agreement with the National Park Service is that if a structure is damaged by more than 50 percent, it must be torn down and all remnants removed at the owner’s expense. However, the damage assessment is not limited to the house itself, but to the entire structure, including the pylons that the house was built on. Thus, if the pylon structure makes up more than 50 percent of the total structure and it can still support a house, it is possible that a new house can be built. At the time of this writing (March 2021), no decision on the fate of the Leshaw House has been made.
Remains of the Leshaw House in Stiltsville, Biscayne National Park
It is illegal to set foot on any of the Stiltsville structures without a permit, so the tour boat circles each of the remaining six houses while the tour guide gives the history of Stiltsville. Even so, it’s a pretty cool tour if you like history. Of all the tours I took while at Biscayne National Park, this is the only one that was fully booked (20 participants). This could be due to the draw of seeing a unique destination like Stiltsville, or it could be just because the tour is not offered daily. Regardless, if you are interested, be sure to book your tour as far in advance as possible.
For more photos and information about the history of Stiltsville, see the Stiltsville web page here on National Park Planner.
Bay Chateau at Stiltsville in Biscayne National Park
A-Frame House at Stiltsville in Biscayne National Park
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Last updated on November 2, 2023
