LOST REEF COTTAGE

1737 SW 12 Street, Miami, FL 33135
www.crockettartworks.com
email: crockettartworks@bellsouth.net

Featured on www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p173947

Located adjacent to "the Mission" :

web log: www.welcometothemission.com/


Garden Gate - Entrance to Lost Reef Cottage and Gardens


For a panoramic glimpse of "street view," check out the mind-bending technology of
Google Maps for the site: http://www.shortenurl.com/GoogleMap_Cottage

Your happy hosts: Paul Hampton Crockett, Alan Langdon


Devoted to the Playful Pursuit and Passionate Refinement of the "Florida Dream."

An Invitation to a Magical Place

For larger view, click on image. Return to page via back arrow.

Situated in a magical garden setting behind a 1937 Mediterranean Revival style (or “Old Spanish”) home in Miami’s historic Shenandoah neighborhood, Lost Reef Cottage offers a spacious, private, and utterly comfortable retreat from the fast-paced city outside its walls. The place is named after an ancient coral reef excavated most unexpectedly in the course of working on its garden, sitting just outside its front door, offering a quiet reminder that all of the Earth as we know it was birthed from the sea. In Miami terms (and please don't laugh at this!) the Cottage sits on "higher ground," a momentous eight feet above sea level!

The "Coral Chamber" just outside the front door shortly after its discovery in 2003, (temporarily!) filled with rainwater after a heavy deluge.

Meanwhile, outside the garden gate, Miami's population continues to swell and its traffic problem continues (unbelievably!) to worsen on an infrastructure of roads and highways already long since outgrown by the strapping city. Longer and more hateful commutes have become a daily ordeal for many, and a huge common negative diminishing quality of life. Rampant discourtesy, an overabundance of truly awful drivers, and long stretches to travel on too-few arteries have all led to a sense of mounting frustration, with road rage simmering always just under the surface and no end in sight. Against that dark backdrop, the Shenandoah neighborhood has become something of a shining beacon, highly prized for its central location-- only minutes from downtown, Brickell Avenue, Key Biscayne, Coconut Grove, and Coral Gables.

"Drive to Cocoanut Grove, Miami, Fla."

Despite its multi-cultural clumsiness and considerable array of very real big city problems, Miami remains at its mysterious heart a jewel of rare quality. A "new" city in relative terms, incorporated only in 1896, this grand vision of a moonlit Metropolis arising from the swamp has always drawn in unreasonable numbers the dreamers, rogues, knaves, and visionaries called by the dream or come to exploit it. That remains so.

When the world was younger: the mouth of a pristine, crystal-clear Miami River at Biscayne Bay, 1900's.

In a sense we have all washed up upon its shores, bearing the cargo of our own cultural assumptions, beliefs, ways, dreams, and contributions. So here we are. And where are we to head from here? I have little idea, and that's all right. In fact, to me that's what makes it all interesting. This city, my home town and the backdrop of my life thus far, refuses absolutely to be bound by "reason," or any logic other than its own dynamic becoming.

Miami "once upon a time": Brickell Avenue (above), Ocean Drive (below). Imagine.

The apparent chaos that is today's Miami is by no means for everybody. Yet for the engaged and curious, those of sufficiently stubborn disposition, hopefully some sense of humor, and an open heart, the place is alive, virtually electrified with possibility, with an unparalleled breadth and range of experience, perspectives, and connections all freely available for the plucking. Whatever might be the purpose of your stay, our simple and singular intention is to make it as comfortable and refreshing as possible. To put it simply, the Cottage and its gardens have been created, tended, and loved as a sanctuary, all for the sharing.


An early beacon of hospitality-- Henry Flagler's Royal Palm Hotel, along a pristine Miami River. Yet another fragment of "the Magic City's" rich and vast heritage, alive only in memory.

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From the multi-colored clay barrel tile capping roof and tower above to the tile floor within, no expense has been spared in renovating and enhancing the property to both honor its past and to offer its guests the modern comforts they desire.

Its furnishings and decorations are eclectic and both modern and antique, reflecting that elusive spirit of magic that has drawn so many here over the years. Original art by Paul Hampton Crockett decorates the walls. (www.crockettartworks.com ) An excellent, quirky library invites a guest to curl up with a good book and enjoy some quiet time.

Lost Reef, detail 2003 P. Crockett

The cottage is available for short or longer-term rental. Central a/c, security system, driveway parking privileges. Central, convenient, and easily accessible location. Enjoy Miami as the natives do. At least the lucky ones!

Welcome.

A GREAT Location.

Biscayne Morning 1996 P. Crockett

If you are visiting Miami for the first time, or haven't been back in a while, it's well worth taking a little time to think about the areas of town that are most likely to serve you well as a "home base." If you want to be near the South Beach or Miami Beach, Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, Brickell, North Miami, Key Biscayne, or Downtown areas, but not in any of them, our location is unparalleled.

Click to view Larger Map. The green pin marks the location of the Cottage; just click on any of the blue tabs to help explore its surroundings.

Even if you aren't exactly sure what you will be doing during your visit or where you'll be spending your time (perhaps the ideal way to travel!), it's a great idea to take a look at a map and get a general feel for where you might want to be. Even a few minutes would be time well spent. Why not take a few moments to ponder this Google map to figure out exactly where you want to be, in relation to wherever you might wish to stay:

Just click to view and "navigate" Larger Map.

Just play with it a little and let it help you get your bearings: using the zoom (in and out) plus/ minus features, and the "pan" (arrow) features to move the map itself about, will help provide an excellent "visual" on the lay of the land, quite possibly helpful as you decide where you might like to lay claim to your own "place in the sun" for the time of your stay.

View of City Skyline, from Rooftop

However you might choose to do a little homework, you may be very glad you did. First, Miami is a big place, geographically. Roughly 40 linear miles (or about 64 km.) of highway connect its northern boundary (let's say Miami Shores) and its southern tip (at Homestead), and at its widest the city ranges over 20 miles, east to west. In an urban area as intense and convoluted as this one-of-a-kind subtropical metropolis, that covers an awful lot of ground, a journey in space and time that can seem almost surreal. The place is cobbled together, too, of an astonishing number of different neighborhoods of all kinds, large and small, along the way. In many of those areas you're just as likely to hear two languages as one, and in some of those English will not be among them.

Then, there's the traffic. It gets worse and worse. Miami was recently ranked 4th in the nation for congestion in the 2007 National Urban Mobility Report (just ahead of Philadelphia, and second behind L.A.), and that is most definitely not good news.

All of that said, Miami is indeed a wonderful place, bursting with rare opportunities and blessed with beautiful vistas of land, sea, and Florida's famously big sky. With just a little forethought, you'll have done your best to make the memories of your stay here sweet ones. You can always sit in bumper-to-bumper traffic, or be cut off, cursed out, or generally driven to your wits end back home, or on another trip!

And, if at all possible, let's not forget to work some fun into all of this. !

We All LOVE the Water...

Biscayne Morning Paul Hampton Crockett

Yes, it's true; we have no pool at the Cottage. (Though we do have a splendid waterfall alongside the coral reef.) But if you love to swim, and feel passionate about being in the water outside in the golden sunshine, that is far from the end of the story.

We are just a stone's throw from Biscayne Bay and from the Atlantic Ocean, as well as a number of perfectly fine (and in some cases absolutely magnificent!) swimming pools. So if feel the water calling, you should definitely be aware of these options.

(I must note that as a boy growing up in Miami, I and my closest friends spent much of our time in the water, yet only a bit of it in pools. Of course we loved our pool time. The kids in my family learned to swim in summer classes at Shenandoah public pool, shortly after we'd learned to walk. The best part, of course, was the ice cream afterwards!)

Several of our guests have enjoyed that pool, which happens to be quite nice, generally uncrowded, and only blocks from the Cottage (1.1 miles and 3 minutes, according to Google maps). Admission will set you back $1.00!

Shenandoah Pool, 1805 SW 22nd Ave, Miami, FL 33145
Tel. : (305) 856-9549

On a grander (and suitably more expensive) scale is the truly legendary Venetian Pool in Coral Gables. That place offers an experience I cannot recommend highly enough, for children of all ages.

All that being said, while growing up most of our swimming time was spent in open salt water, mostly in Biscayne Bay.

We will always look back fondly on those days, based in a deluxe treehouse in the mangrove forest alongside Vizcaya, paddling around on homemade rafts in open water here, there exploring winding coves so lush and green we could easily imagine that we'd somehow been transported to the Amazon. We were often joined by the peaceful manatees, who'd swim alongside. Such quiet moments, under big open sky, will remain sweet in our memories, as so beautifully put by my beloved teacher and friend Jane Reno, "as long as we are able to remember beauty."

Think about it: aren't such scenic journeys much more what the "dream of Florida" are all about than any thing or place made by the hand of Man? Take a step beyond the "hotel pool" or its generic equivalents, I dare you! You will be glad that you did. In any event, you'll take home with you an experience worth really remembering.

The places listed below offer some of the most beautiful vistas in the city, if not the State, and really should not be missed. They often serve to remind me of the much more quiet and beautiful soul underlying this crazed city! I go to these places when I need them, and they are always there for me, awaiting patiently. Each is easily worth a trip for its own sake. (The locations can be "plugged" in to the Google map linked in the posting above:

http://www.shortenurl.com/GoogleMap_Cottage

to get an exact "visual" on location, distance, and route. All distances are measured from the Cottage.)

Go on: get sand between your toes! You never know; you might catch a glorious sunset, find the most delicious hot dog you've ever bought from a seaside hot dog stand (OK, for that one, you gotta be really hungry! : ) ), or see birds soaring overhead that you might have seen before only in picture books.

Personally, "you never know" is exactly the way I like to take my adventures.

Here is a short breakdown on local "watering holes":

BEACHES.

These are all excellent and generally very safe places to head out with your beach towels and...whatever:

Hobie Island Beach Park, Key Biscayne 2.8 Mi.

Biscayne Day! Paul Hampton Crockett

Virginia Key Beach, Key Biscayne 4.2 Mi.

Crandon Park Beach, Key Biscayne 7.2 Mi.

Key Biscayne Trail Paul Hampton Crockett

Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park, Key Biscayne 7.0 Mi.

Lummus Park, Miami Beach (South Beach) 6.0 Mi.

South Beach Paul Hampton Crockett

POOLS.

Cool clean chlorinated waters await in a number of public pools within convenient proximity of the Cottage. To view a larger image of the map above, just click on it. You can then return with the back arrow in the browser, to the upper left of your screen.

To get to this map yourself, and thus be able to click on the available links for more information, etc., just visit the link to Google maps mentioned above, click on the blue "Find Businesses" tab right in the top middle, and enter "public swimming pools" as a search.

Wherever you wind up deciding to take your swim, do it safe and have a ball!

Location, Part 2: The "Lay of the Land"

When things were simpler. "Road to Cocoanut Grove," ca. turn of the century.

Miami is a sprawling city, and can be an awfully confusing place.

For larger view, simply click on image. Return to page via back arrow in your browser.

Starting to break it down just a bit, it's helpful to understand that throughout its (relatively) brief history, the metropolis has evolved as an interconnected patchwork of neighborhoods. Here is a current "working" map of Miami's neighborhoods, published by the City:

The Cottage sits in a private urban garden very near the city's center, a small but enchanting part of its history. The proper name for the surrounding neighborhood is "Shenandoah," a once-proud neighborhood that is reclaiming its identity and "voice."

As explored above, the real beauty of our location is that we are only about 5 to 15 minutes from Coconut Grove, Coral Gables, downtown Miami, Key Biscayne, and Miami Beach, allowing a full experience of those generally congested and often noisy places before retreating to your own private oasis. Of the established and generally recognized neighbrohoods mentioned, we are closest to the Grove. Here is a close-up of the map immediately above, with the "smiley face" marking our location:




And another angle on the same map, courtesy of our friend Google:



Our location has served us, and our guests, well. We have had the privilege of hosting satisfied visitors drawn to Miami by any number of events or happenings taking place in various parts of the city. For example, to Coconut Grove, for its epic annual Arts Festival, or one of the annual sailing regattas based there, on the bay front only 1 1/2 miles away; to the Coral Gables area, for events relating to the University of Miami, and to various other parts of the city for weddings, medical procedures, or just general good old-fashioned "just for fun" sightseeing.

Wherever your plans might take you in the Miami area, please give the Cottage your consideration. You are likely to find our location a sweet surprise. In this traffic-jammed, road rage rampant city, "getting there" can be more than half of the battle, and much less of the fun!

Travel safe, Godspeed, and enjoy!

A Prayer for "the Stranger Within our Gates"

By Day...

Returning from a family vacation last summer in Colorado, my brother Whitney and drove into Boulder, returned the rental car, etc., and checked into the Holiday Inn near the airport. The staff was friendly and the place nice enough, but the one thing I will always remember about the stay was finding a poem in our room. And not only finding it there, printed on a laminated card, but really being moved by it. I don't know which caught me more by surprise, but there it was.

Its message surprised and delighted me, and somehow touched me. In today's America especially travel often seems inherently a "tensing" thing, and I found myself melting just a little. For the last couple of weeks the Prayer/ Poem has kept popping back into my mind, and refusing to let go. So I finally sat down yesterday and Googled it, and first found it quoted in a web site by "Jenne Ink," a talented and spirited writer journaling online about her experience of cancer. She had come across the message at the Courtyard Inn in Oklahoma City
( jenneink.blogs.com/jennethink/2007/07/stranger-within.html ).

In skimming only the first few other postings I saw that any number of travelers had also unexpectedly come across the Prayer in all kinds of hotels across the Country (one in Williamsburg, Kentucky at the Cumberland Inn, another the Embassy Suites in St. Charles, Missouri (near St. Louis), etc., etc.) and thought enough of it to post their experiences. It had been discussed on a forum of a national hotel chain. The prayer and its message also showed up on various web sites: alternative lodgings, churches, and others.

So quite obviously it hadn't been just me; here was a message with a power of its own, that all kinds of people in all kinds of places were thirsty to receive. Now seems the time.

And so I share it here, its wonderfully simple language changed only a bit. (I must say, I love it that both of our properties share a common Garden Gate, so the prayer seems a propos in a particular and special way.)

In ancient times there was a prayer for “The Stranger within our gates.”

You are here because you have accepted our invitation to hospitality, and we are grateful and glad. Hosts among the Inuit people, sometimes called the Eskimo, customarily greet their guests with this heartfelt acknowledgment: "You bless our Home with your presence." May you experience peace, rest, and a promise of refreshment while you are here.

May this Cottage and its gardens be your “second” home. May those you love be near you in thoughts and dreams. Even though we may not get to know you, we hope that you will be comfortable and happy as if you were in your own house. Or even happier, and happier still to return at last to your own bed.

May the business that brought you our way prosper. May every call you make and every message you receive add to your joy. When you leave, may your journey be safe.

We are all travelers. From “birth till death” we travel between the eternities. May these days be pleasant for you, profitable for society, helpful for those you meet, and a joy to those who know and love you best.

... And by night.

Amen.

Return to the Garden

When you step outside your front door, this is what you see. Part of the private, peaceful garden surrounding the Cottage, consciously cultivated over the course of years as a sanctuary and place of rest and refreshment for the weary traveler. Also, an intentional celebration of how very rich, alive and green this subtropical area once was (and not so very long ago), before being broken, leveled, and filled by the relentless hand of man, and finally interred under a mantle of cold hard cement.

Here is a photo taken from about the same location, in January 2003. At that point we could have no idea about the wonderful coral reef that lay intact in its ancient beach sand only a few feet underneath the concrete, just to the left of where the photographer would have been standing:



Or, for that matter, what shape or form the garden would take as it was conceived, planted, and tended along the way. I suppose that is a large part of the pleasure of a garden. Concrete needs neither maintenance nor tending, but offers up relatively little in return where it is not needed.

The Miami River, when the Earth was younger.

Should you come and take a moment and stand on this spot, you'll likely hear the sound of wind chimes high up in the trees, strummed by the bay's breezes, and hear or see a few birds of different kinds drop in for a little peace and quiet.

 

A pioneer in what is now Miami Shores, armed with machete and intention fixed firmly upon "progress."
 
Time passes differently in a garden, and more sweetly. It's easy to forget how very close you are to the center of a huge, sprawling, and very urban Miami. And that's the way we like it.

A garden view of the Lost Reef. The bust of the Buddha above was shattered by a coconut falling from far above, and pieced back together by yours truly with coral rock, resin, and paint. Some of the rock was left to show as part of his shoulder. That seemed right, somehow. Some wonderful guests from France christened it "Buddha de la mer," or "Buddha of the Sea," which also feels just right.

We hope that you will, too.