As an annual tradition, we’ve compiled a list of stories for you, in no particular order, that highlights the most reflective and important reporting from Florida this year. We salute these hard-working journalists who endeavor to tell the critical stories of our beloved state.
2022
Posted inLessons from the Marjories
Our Dinner with Marjorie
When friends came to visit author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings at her rural wooden farmhouse, they could be sure of several things: good conversation, stiff drinks, and a sumptuous meal.
Posted inWater Quality
Hope for a Languishing Lagoon
In the Indian River Lagoon of 20 years ago, Capt. Billy Rotne could hook a spotted seatrout on cast after cast. But today, the lagoon’s seatrout numbers are 90 to 95% below historic levels. After a decade of intense algal blooms, the Lagoon is making fragile gains. “We’re about halfway home,” says one expert.
Posted inIsland Impermanent
Part I: Erosion and Erasure on Egmont Key
Since European contact, Egmont Key has played a role in nearly every major U.S. historical period. In the 1800s, the U.S. Army used Egmont Key to imprison Seminole captives, and historians have described conditions on the island as a concentration camp. Over the last decade, the Seminole Tribe of Florida has launched a robust investigation into this period of Seminole removal to piece together and better understand this little-known chapter. But the window to document that history is quickly closing.
Posted inIsland Impermanent
Part II: Safeguarding a Touchstone
Egmont Key has lost more than half of its land mass since its first survey in 1877. Sea levels have risen here by nearly 8 inches, and projections estimate that seas could rise an additional 1 to 4 feet by 2100. While some worry that losing the island would be an incalculable loss to Gulf Coast Florida’s cultural heritage and ecological resources, others believe the best way to manage the island is to let nature run its course.
Posted inIsland Impermanent
On Egmont: Words from Tribal Members
On August 16, 2022, The Marjorie joined members of the Seminole Tribe and Tribal staff on a boat trip to Egmont Key. Two young Seminoles, Mahala Billie Osceola and Carmello Shenandoah, joined as well. This was their first visit to Egmont Key. After the trip, Mahala and Carmello wrote a few words on what they learned about Seminole history and their experiences on the island.
Posted inRising Seas and Cultural Sites
A Race Against Erosion for Turtle Mound
Turtle Mound, the tallest shell mound in the mainland United States, is an example of what it looks like when proactive measures are taken to preserve and monitor a coastal mound. But for this mound and hundreds of Indigenous cultural sites in Florida, archeologists are asking how long they can race against erosion.
Posted inLessons from the Marjories
For the Everglades, the Best Way to Care: Go There
A century ago, most Floridians viewed the Everglades as menacing wastelands. As a professor at Rollins College, Leslie Kemp Poole has found that nothing helps her students — and people overall — know and care about the Everglades more than to visit it themselves.
Posted inDispatches from a Sinking State
The Core of My Gullah/Geechee Identity is Survival
One generation of land loss and displaced cultural traditions is all it takes to put a Gullah/Geechee community’s culture in jeopardy. Glenda Simmons-Jenkins describes the cultural displacement her community experienced after State Road A1A cut through her neighborhood in 1976.
Posted inRising Seas and Cultural Sites
Q&A: Why should we care about the threat of sea level rise to Florida’s cultural sites?
Why should people care about the threat of sea level rise to Florida coastal cultural sites while dealing with present dangers like a global pandemic? What lessons can other coastal places draw from Florida?