April 9 Miami Herald article: Vizcaya Museum and Gardens Picking Up the Pieces.
Vizcaya Museum and Gardens Has Hired Conservation Solutions, Inc., to Restore the Statues and Masonry Work Damaged in Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma

One turn-of-the-century gargoyle needs a new face. A marble sphinx lost its head. And an urn at Vizcaya Museum and Gardens has to be put back together, after it crumbled in last fall's hurricanes like a regular Humpty Dumpty.

Seven restoration workers are using their tools to refashion the antique sculptures that pepper the grounds of the former bayside home of businessman James Deering.

Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma battered Vizcaya's concrete barge and statues—leaving some figures cracked and lying on their sides. Others were tossed in the surf.

"After the hurricanes, it was almost difficult to orient oneself, let alone examine statuary,'' said Joel Hoffman, executive director of the museum. "Obviously, it was just painful to see these incredibly important works of art enduring these climatic challenges.''

Conservation Solutions Inc., a national group that arrived in February, has previously restored artifacts from Vizcaya, as well as other historic pieces, including some salvaged from the Titanic and on display now at the Miami Museum of Science. To read more, click here.

 

December 8 Naples Daily News article: FEMA pledges million to save historic Everglades City Hall/Courthouse
A dilapidated piece of Collier County history has been saved.
Everglades City Mayor Sammy Hamilton claimed victory in the fight to refurbish the steadily crumbling Everglades City Hall/Courthouse, which served as the county seat from 1928 to 1960. Federal Emergency Management Agency officials pledged to spend several million dollars to renovate the historic building after it suffered substantial damage during Hurricane Wilma, Hamilton said. To read more, click here.

 

November 18 Sun Sentinel article: Delray faces long road to restoration of storm-damaged landmarks.
Delray Beach — Hurricane Wilma unleashed havoc on this seaside town, but members of St. Paul's Episcopal Church are grateful the storm didn't repeat the 1928 hurricane that destroyed their initial church building.

Other buildings and places enjoyed by residents also sustained varying degrees of damage, including Old School Square and the Cornell Museum of Art and History.

St. Paul's, at 188 S. Swinton Ave., sustained major damage to many of its buildings, some of which were built in 1929 and others after World War II. A house on church property will have to be demolished after the hurricane rendered it inhabitable. The cost to repair the buildings is estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, said the Rev. William "Chip" Stokes.

"The interesting thing about St. Paul's, the current building was built after its predecessor was knocked down by the 1928 hurricane," Stokes said. To read more, click here.

 

November 8 Palm Beach Post article: Loxahatchee museum marks historic occasion, rebounding from '04 storms. 
When the Loxahatchee River Historical Museum opened its doors to board members and supporters for a special reception Saturday night, there was a palpable sense of relief in the air.

The plucky institution, devoted to telling the story of the river that snakes through northern Palm Beach County and southern Martin County and the region that surrounds it, had made it, after all.

Traces of hurricane damage — a marred roof, soaked carpets — were gone. So were the days of trying to run the museum, and the nearby affiliated Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse and DuBois Pioneer Home, out of makeshift office space.

Yes, the Loxahatchee Museum was back. But not from Wilma. Rather, it was finally reopening after a 13-month recovery from the one-two punch of Frances and Jeanne. To read more, click here.

 

October 28 e-mail from Remko Jansonius:
“Vizcaya Museum and Gardens in Miami got a bad beating from Wilma. In spite of hurricane shutters windows blew open in some of the historic rooms. Most of them are more or less fine, but in one room everything got soaking wet or sprayed with salt water (we are right on Biscayne Bay.) In spite of flood doors we got 4 feet of water in the basement, which houses the café, gift shop, storage (not for collections!). Everything there is trashed. After 3 1/2 days we pretty much got all the standing water and soaked supplies and merchandise out of there. This has been one of our major concerns, because we fear mold growth when/if the weather changes. We do have electricity from a generator, but the a/c system is broken. So far we have had unusually cool weather - thank goodness!! The hammock got stripped some more, the canopee has gotten thinner, a bunch of large trees being downed. Trees fell on two historic structures. In the formal gardens a number of statues were damaged. The Stone Barge in the bay got badly damaged.

Considering what other areas (i.e. Louisiana and Mississippi) have experienced following Katrina, things are not that bad. However, as we continue to assess damage and clean up, it becomes all the more clear that recovery will take quite a while.”

 

October 28 e-mail from Annette Fromm:
“The Deering Estate at Cutler, down the road a few miles from our brother-property, Vizcaya, also was hit by Hurricane Wilma. Luckily, except for a bent weather-vane, broken roof tiles, and torn screens, our historic buildings are intact. During Hurricane Katrina, our submarine doors did not hold the water, but interior drains took care of removing the incoming water. Also during Katrina, we had water damage in both building's interiors.

Most damaged during Wilma was our landscaped areas and the over 350 acres of natural areas. The historic mango and avocado groves nurtured by Charles Deering and revived after Hurricane Andrew were once again hard hit. Among the larger trees toppled were the sausage tree and a significant black olive on the main grounds and one of three old native gumbo limbo trees on the hammock trail.

Our staff with assistance from the County's Natural Areas Management team have broken their backs all week clearing the public areas. Areas outside of the Estate have been made accessible to the homebound (all schools and many offices have been closed all week because of lack of infrastructure) public. Our Cutler Days, Heritage Celebration, was postponed til a spring date.

We've been powered by generators all week. That allowed us to use the phones. Today was a pleasure to come to the property and find the electricity and access to computers!”

 

October 28 e-mail from Cecilia Dubon:
“We at the Miami Children's Museum did OK. Our grounds were beat up, we lost our awning, and there was some water that came in through doors on our playground...other than that, we're OK. The storm was the strongest we've seen since Andrew, so it was nerve wrecking. The power to the museum was restored yesterday and we've been open on donation basis since then with a limited schedule to abide by curfew set by the county.”

 

October 28 Florida Sun Sentinel article:
Museums reopening, but most entertainment in S. Florida is postponed. Cancellations and reschedulings are, with some exceptions, the near-term rule at South Florida's concert halls and playhouses as recovery from Hurricane Wilma continues.

Confronted with power outages, gas shortages and nightly curfews that prevent people from venturing out, programmers have canceled or pushed back most events that were scheduled for the next few days.

But culture-starved, curfew-bound residents may have an out, assuming they have gas to spare. Some area museums, which operate during daytime hours when no curfew is in effect, have already reopened or plan to do so as early as today. To read more, click here.

 

October 27 e-mail from Rachel Talent of the Bass Museum:
“We have electricity back this morning. Our generators worked as hoped for the environmental and security systems. At this point there does not seem to be any major damage to the building, but extensive damage to the grounds. Most staff have not been able to make it here due to extreme gas shortages. They live at some distance in areas with more severe damage and have very legitimate concerns about being stranded. As of this morning, Miami Beach is still under a curfew and a boil water order (if you actually have it - some coworkers do not). Most of us do not have electricity at our homes and don't expect to for some time. One staff member just rode his bike 1 1/2 hours to get here.”

 

October 27 Florida News Press article: Historic sites have little damage.
Trees are down all over Edison & Ford Estates grounds, but restoration work unscathed

The Edison & Ford Winter Estates look like ... well, like a hurricane blew through. The grounds are nearly impassable because of debris and uprooted trees, and cleanup crews are everywhere.

But even as they pick up fallen limbs, staff members couldn’t be more grateful. To read more, click here.

 

October 25 Miami Herald article: Historic Everglades City Hall hit hard
The three-foot moat of muck that engulfed the historic city hall here began to recede Tuesday morning. But it did little to alleviate Mayor Sammy Hamilton's anxiety.

The white Greek revival building, two stories high and fronted by four soaring columns, is a landmark in this tiny Everglades outpost.

Easily the largest building in town, city hall anchors the traffic circle and provides one-stop shopping for licenses, library books and utility payments. Built in 1923 when Collier became a county and tiny Everglades City was the county seat, it's housed mayors and provided shelter from at least one hurricane.

"There's a lot of history here," Hamilton said of the building, where trials for Collier County were held in its second-floor courtrooms.

But years of life in the often unforgiving Everglades have taken a toll. Cracks in the walls are visible from the outside and at least one of the columns on the porch is eroding.

The relentless winds of Hurricane Wilma, which took a path straight across Everglades City, may have scored the final blow.

Portions of city hall's roof were torn off, opening the second floor to the sky and sending water streaming into the city clerk's office. Muddy floodwater lapped at the already weakened—and in some areas sinking—foundation. To read more, click here.