BISC: Boca Chita Key Traditional Geocache
MulderNScully: I will have to arrange to replace this one soon. Thanks
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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This geocache is part of the Biscayne National Park GeoTour that seeks to highlight the four distinct ecosystems that melt into one another, creating rich edge communities, or "ecotones." These ecotones support an incredible array of wildlife, including hundreds of species of colorful fish, animals, and plants found nowhere else in the United States.
For 100 years, the National Park Service has preserved America’s special places “for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations.” Celebrate its second century with the Find Your Park GeoTour that launched April 2016 and explore these geocaches placed for you by National Park Service Rangers and their partners.
geocaching.com/play/geotours/findyourpark
The park's most popular island provides visitors with a variety of facilities. There is a campground with picnic tables and barbecue grills. Additional picnic tables and barbecue grills are located on the south side of the harbor near the open-air pavilion. Saltwater toilets are available, but since there is no freshwater or electricity on the island, there are no sinks or showers. A half-mile hiking trail starts just east of the restrooms. The trail continues to the south end of the island curving back north and emerging near the pavilion and picnic area. The island's crowning glory, and Biscayne National Park's de facto symbol, is the 65-foot ornamental lighthouse built by Mark Honeywell, one of the island's former owners, in the 1930s. The lighthouse is open intermittently whenever park staff or volunteers are on the island. The observation deck provides a fantastic view of the islands, bay, ocean, and the Miami, Key Biscayne, and Miami Beach skylines.
History
Mark C. Honeywell, a wealthy industrialist and his wife who owned the island off their house in the Miami beach, built the structures as part of his development plan after he bought the island in 1937, and built up the structures between 1937 and 1940.; however, the building built between 1937 and 1939 do not exist now. The Honeywells built it as their holiday resort. They built many structures which included a chapel, a lighthouse, a pavilion for holding picnics, a generator room, and also a garage. An arch bridge was also built across an existing canal. The August Geiger Firm were the architects and builders of the structures, which were built in modern architectural style with use of limestone, concrete and asphalt. The retreat was a popular venue for holding parties when Honeywells and their guests crossed over to the island from the Miami beach in luxury vessels. On such occasions, a canon located near the lighthouse on the harbour was fired as a welcome gesture to the guests.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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