‘Our story is beautiful:' Miami's historic ‘Blacks-only' beach turns 80

Miami Herald

a day ago

N. Patrick Range II has heard his grandmother M. Athalie Range's stories about the history of Virginia Key Beach Park — the memories of taking the ferry to visit the island, hosting celebrations and churches holding sunrise services.
But the conversations he remembers most are about the fight for preserving it: Hearing his grandmother — the first Black person to serve on the Miami city commission — trying to get people to understand that the beach was worth saving at a time when there was consideration given to selling off the beachfront to private developers. His grandmother, he said, understood the deeply held memories of a community who made Virginia Key Beach Park, Miami's Blacks-only beach, a sacred place and the significance it held.
Read more: It started as a Blacks-only beach. A lot of Miami history has been made on Virginia Key
'She understood that, and understood the importance of the community, and understood the importance of our youth and those who hadn't even been born yet, being able to enjoy and appreciate the park, and not just Black people, but also the entirety of the Miami community, understanding what this was and what it meant for us,' Range said.
Range, 48, said the restoration of the park is critical at a time when the preservation of Black history faces political headwinds across the state and nationwide. But as the park celebrates its 80th anniversary this year, he envisions more, including the promise of a long-planned Black history museum that would highlight the Black immigrant story in Miami.
'The idea was that because of the historical significance of Virginia Key in our history here in Miami, that this would be an ideal place to showcase a history museum dedicated to the Black immigrant experience, and also to give some a nod and recognition to those who were here before us, like the Native Americans who certainly have presence here and significance here in this land,' Range said.
Athalie Edwards, who was named for Range's grandmother, is the chair of the Virginia Key Beach Park Trust, and says that the park is making progress on necessary upgrades to their amenities such as the train and carousel, holdovers from the park's early days during Jim Crow. 'We're working on it, however, we would like to present the information to the public all at one time,' she said, adding she wasn't at liberty to discuss the matter further.
The plans for a museum do appear to be marching forward. At a May 13 Key Biscayne village council meeting, Edwards announced a groundbreaking ceremony for the museum scheduled for Aug. 1, but that has been delayed citing some 'important attendees' unable to make the ceremony. The museum would honor both the civil rights legacy and the environmental significance of the park, Edwards said at the time.
Despite the delay, she said, there is so much more to celebrate when it comes to the park, which is commemorating its history with a three-day celebration that will include a Friday birthday celebration including complimentary cake, ice cream and free vehicle entry.
On Saturday, the festivities continue with a community fun day, which includes treats, a waterslide for children, a beach clean up along with tours and collecting oral histories from people who've visited the beach in its earlier years. The celebration concludes Sunday with the Poetry Potluck spoken word series.
'Our story is beautiful. It came through some hard times, through segregation, the Jim Crow era. However, it's still a beautiful story that should be told,' Edwards said.
RELATED: This museum would tell the story of Miami's segregated era. It has stalled for years
Before Virginia Key Beach became known as the first beach for Black people in Miami-Dade County, civil rights activists with support from the local NAACP held a wade-in in May 1945 at the whites-only Haulover Beach.
That prompted Dade County commissioners to establish Virginia Key's beach as a 'colored-only' beach only three months later, on Aug. 1, 1945. Before the causeway was completed in 1947, it was only accessible by boat or ferry.
Known for family gatherings and 'splashdown' parties, the park became a sacred place for Black people to visit and make their own, including holding weddings and baptisms there.
In 1979, the county transferred ownership to the city of Miami, and closed the park three years later citing maintenance costs. Following conversations about private development at the beach, a group of citizens organized the Virginia Key Beach Park Civil Rights Task Force. Shortly after, the city commission established the Virginia Key Beach Park Trust to oversee the development of the property.
The park was closed for 26 years before it reopened in 2008, following restoration efforts.
Range said in that time, the park had overgrown with exotic flora and fauna. 'During the years when the park was closed, many invasive species of plants overgrew in the park, things that were not native or natural to the land,' he said. One of the first things the trust did was remove the plants. They then added necessary amenities such as restrooms, power and water. Other fixtures of the park such as the minitrain and the carousel were also restored.
The park's trust has had its fair share of controversies. In 2022, Miami commissioners voted to oust the board members, which included Patrick Range, and replaced them with city commission members. Councilwoman Christine King became the trust's board chair and the board appointed two Black attorneys to the board. Range criticized the decision to remove the trust's board members as politically-motivated.
In a statement, King said the beach is 'a powerful reminder of the generations whose advocacy turned adversity into legacy' and is a 'testament to our community's strength, pride, and rightful place in the story of Miami.' She did not respond to a request for comment on the status of the museum, but has said in the past she is not in favor of large-scale development.
Edwards came into her role in 2023, just as the dust was settling from the shake up, she said, adding much of her work has focused on providing the board with details and updates about the park and letting them know ways they can support it. 'When I got here, everybody was willing to participate and provide us our support, but they really wanted to know what we needed,' she said.
Edwards said the trust has expanded its public outreach efforts, including having school field trips and working with senior citizens at Carrie Meek/Charles Hadley Senior Center to collect their oral stories related to the park. She also acknowledged the trust is working with a vendor to get the train back operating and that the carousel is undergoing repairs.
For Edwards, the preservation of the park is just as personal to her as it is to Range. 'My stepdad's from Allapattah, and I talk about it in every interview that I do, that was the only beach that he could visit,' she said. 'Mind you, they were all the way inland and driving all the way down here. There's stories some people tell us, before even the causeway was here, that they had to come by boat and ferry. Their grandparents or their parents took them.'
Edwards said the park's preservation and 80th celebration helps honor those such as Lawson Thomas who fought for Black people to even have a beach in Miami-Dade County. She noted that activists risked their lives so that Black people could enjoy recreation, and even then she pointed out that Black people were given the worst part of the beach.
'We made it the best part of the beach for us, the people,' she said.
Despite his criticisms, Range said celebrating the park this weekend is a chance to 'bang the drum for Virginia Key Beach Park' and make people aware of it and its importance given the current political climate.
'This is an opportunity to counteract that, to let the local politicians know that our history is important to us and we're not just going to let it go away,' he said. 'We're going to celebrate it and we expect you to celebrate it with us and promote it.'
If you go:
WHAT: Historic Virginia Key Beach Park 80th Anniversary
WHEN: Friday, Aug. 1 - Sunday, Aug. 3
WHERE: Virginia Key Beach Park
COST: Free
INFO: https://www.eventbrite.com