Expert stonemasons from the Bahamas who settled in and around Coconut Grove helped to build one of Coral Gables most popular – and iconic – landmarks.
Editor’s Note: This story was originally published by WLRN Public Media on May 15. The Spotlight is re-publishing this story under a partnership agreement with WLRN.
On a hot afternoon last August, the Venetian Pool in Coral Gables seemed almost idyllic. Little kids swam under the waterfall and into a cave. Their parents sunbathed under lush palm trees.
Built from coral rock with two towers, a bridge and a waterfall, the Venetian Pool is best known for its iconic Mediterranean Revival aesthetic.
What’s less-well known: How the pool’s enduring appeal was crafted by Bahamian immigrants who settled Coconut Grove and nearby neighborhoods.
Today, the Venetian Pool is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and it annually attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors.
Long before the landmark became one of South Florida’s most popular tourist attractions, however, it was an eyesore.
Originally a quarry in the early 1920s, it was the source of much of the coral rock used to build homes and structures in Coral Gables. What was left after removing the rock was a large pit that wasn’t very attractive to potential home buyers and developers.
The solution: transform the pit into a pool.
The people who quarried the coral rock to build many buildings in Coral Gables and the Venetian Pool more than a century ago were expert stonemasons from the Bahamas.
The contributions those Bahamian pioneers made to Coral Gables, particularly their quality craftsmanship, are being highlighted this year during the city’s centennial celebration.
While the Venetian Pool represents the grandeur of their artistry, the two small Coral Gables neighborhoods where they lived showcase the durability of their work: the Golden Gate and MacFarlane Homestead subdivisions that sit next to (and are often considered a part of) Coconut Grove.
Both neighborhoods were built by Bahamians and Black Southerners during racial segregation, and feature original century-old homes in the Bahamian bungalow and shotgun wood-frame styles.
They have survived despite hurricanes and the test of time.
The Venetian Pool first opened in 1924, a year before Coral Gables was incorporated, under the name “Venetian Casino.” It quickly became a popular attraction.
“ Not much has actually changed of how it looked a hundred years ago to what it looks like today,” said Assistant City Manager Carolina Vester, who started her career with the city over 20 years ago as a lifeguard at the pool and later worked as its manager.
“And that’s the beauty of preservation.”
In preparation for the city’s centennial anniversary celebrations, the pool has been undergoing renovations since October. It is scheduled to reopen later this year.
The Contribution of Bahamian Workers
At the turn of the 20th century, a large portion of Miami’s Black population was from the Bahamas. Many farmers from there would travel seasonally to South Florida to work the region’s agricultural crops.
“As laborers, they built churches and residences, hotels and businesses for Coral Gables, ‘The City Beautiful,’” said Dorothy Jenkins Fields, a Bahamian descendant and founder of the Black Archives Foundation.
“I’m always so proud to be able to say that, because we were a big part of making it beautiful — not only with the construction, but also with the gardens and the landscaping.”
Entrepreneurs advertised their construction projects in Bahamian newspapers to attract workers.
The site where Coral Gables Senior High School is today was once a tent city for construction workers.
By the 1920s, Bahamians became essential to the local economy.
“These early pioneers knew how to use lumber to construct buildings, but they had no idea of how to deal with coral rock, which is the foundation of South Florida,” while Bahamians had experience using coral rock back home, said Marvin Dunn, a retired and renowned local historian and author of Black Miami in the Twentieth Century.
Many houses as well as structures around the city — like the Alhambra and Douglas entrances — were built with coral rock.
During this time of racial segregation and institutionalized racism, Bahamian workers faced many challenges here, including exploitation, unsafe working conditions and even displacement.
“There were no protections against accidents or injuries. Some people, in the course of building Coconut Grove and Coral Gables, died in accidents. No compensation. The amount of pay was barely above the level to sustain a family,” Dunn told WLRN.
Bahamians and Black Southerners who had been living near the University of Miami were pushed out to make way for student dormitories.
As part of a deal with Merrick and the university, community members moved across U.S. 1 to an area now known as the Golden Gate and MacFarlane Homestead subdivisions.
“ In the mornings, they would work for George Merrick…. And in the afternoons, they would come and they would build their homes,” said Carl Leon Prime, president of the Lola B. Walker Homeowners Association and third-generation MacFarlane resident.
In his neighborhood, there are 36 original bungalow and shotgun-style houses with apparent Bahamian influences that have survived for more than a century. Many are listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
“It shows real craftsmanship and attention to detail that you can’t get anywhere else,” Prime said.
Today, many residents of those communities are descendants of the neighborhoods’ pioneering families.
Leigh Cooper-Willis, 34, grew up in Golden Gate, like generations in her family before her. “[My family] came to work for George Merrick, and then they lived in this house,” said Cooper-Willis, a fourth-generation descendant. “And then my grandfather was born on that property. Then my mother, and now I live there with my family, [with] my son.”
Prime also lives in the house that his grandfather built in 1936 at another location and moved to the current spot two years later.
“ We can tell the family history in the avocado trees in the yard,” Prime said.
When his grandfather moved the house, a tree was already planted there. Near it is the tree that his father planted and, between them, is the avocado tree that Prime planted himself as a child.
Earlier this year, the city of Coral Gables celebrated the predominantly Black neighborhood bordering Coconut Grove by unveiling a new historic marker at the corner of Grand Avenue and South Dixie Highway.
Jimena Romero and Julia Cooper are reporters at WLRN.
Thank you for the very nice history article.
One important correction: The stone that was quarried at Venetian Pool and used for various houses and the entrances to Coral Gables is oolitic limestone, not coral rock. Oolitic limestone is the bedrock for most of South Florida.
True coral rock, also called Florida keystone, is fossilized coral reef; one can see coral structures in it. Quarried in the Florida Keys, Florida keystone has been used to clad some buildings, most notably the 1931 US Post Office and Courthouse in downtown Miami.
Thanks again for an interesting history article!