National Register of Historic Places
Jones Family Historic District
Islandia vicinity, Dade County, Florida
The record
- Listed
- October 23, 2013
- Type
- Historic district
- Address
- Biscayne NP, Islandia vicinity
- County
- Dade
- State
- Florida
- Contributing resources
- 2 sites
- Coordinates
- 25.38969, -80.24306
- Reference number
- 13000846
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
The outline is the area recorded for this listing in National Park Service map data, drawn approximately.
USGS Historical Topographic Map CollectionBarry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesBarry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesBarry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries
The story
Written by AI from this property's National Register nomination and the record above; every sentence is checked against its sources before it appears here. Corrections: privacy@treealive.com
The Jones Family Historic District is a historic district near Islandia in Dade County, within Biscayne National Park, with buildings built in stages from about 1898 to about 1912.
Why it's listed
It was listed under criteria A, B, C and D, with local significance in exploration and settlement, historic non-aboriginal archeology, and conservation. Its period of significance runs from 1897 to 1938, tied to Israel Lafayette Jones's 1897 purchase of Porgy Key and key lime cultivation there through 1938, and from 1961 to 1970, tied to the 1970 sale to the National Park Service.
Physical character
Israel, Arthur, Lancelot, and Samuel Jones served as builders and architects of the family's buildings, which stood on foundations of limestone and concrete. What survives is mostly ruins: a farmhouse and packing house foundation, a caretaker's shack, and a hand-dug canal. The main house burned down in 1982, and Hurricane Andrew destroyed the caretaker's house and dock in 1992.
Historical context
Israel was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1858 and came to Florida in 1892, bought Porgy Key from Fletcher Albury in 1897, and Totten Key from Frank T. Budge in 1911. His sons Arthur Jones and Lancelot Jones received Porgy Key in 1929 and worked as fishing guides from 1935. The family sold it to the National Park Service in 1970; Lancelot lived there until Hurricane Andrew drove him away in 1992, dying in 1997.