![]() ![]() ![]() The sky became egg yellow, gold and silver. The sun appeared and quickly spread everywhere: on the crest of waves, on foam slathered onto the beach. The rose colors now fed a furnace to the southeast. Our timing had been right the beach began broadening. I even thought that I should save the word "pristine," because never again would it seem appropriate to use. To the west were waterways with myriad isles of cabbage palms and marsh, palmettos, prickly pear cactus and sea grapes.Įverything appeared pink, everything fairy tale and pristine. We climbed the slope of the beach to the edge of the dunes. Color became the inner voice of the ocean's roar. Rose light suffused lower clouds, then higher _ then the sea and sand. Soon the first rosy glow of daylight appeared, giving shape to the clouds. We trotted to keep warm _ at that hour we had the energy. Though in darkness, we easily made out the water's edge, where the sand was firmer. Fishers wearing headlamps were setting up poles on the beach, hoping to catch fish hanging about below the surf. Even then, a half dozen cars were already there. Dudley and I wore layers of clothing and we carried backpacks with water, lunch and gear.Ĭity lights gave way to countless stars as we entered the park shortly after 6 a.m. Rain or freaky cold would be misery enough lightning might fry us.ĭudley and I drove through beachfront New Smyrna in pre-dawn darkness. Tides had to be right or we would be forced inland. We needed an entire day: This would be no fast walk. I asked my photographer friend Dudley Witney to join me. My walk through the National Seashore was partly to honor Doris, partly to satisfy curiosity. Her house is to become an environmental studies center. The other was the Canaveral National Seashore.ĭoris, who also fought to preserve Spruce Creek (a portion now named the Doris Leeper Spruce Creek Preserve) and who established the Atlantic Center For the Arts on the creek shore, died in 2000 at 71. One result was the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. She realized that if the entire seashore could be preserved somehow, remnant Eldora might be saved with it.ĭoris' conservation instincts matched the Space Center's need for big buffers. Nonetheless, she remained there, almost alone. She kept the road to her place from getting paved.īut Doris knew that Eldora was doomed. Doris fought successfully against encroachments by RV park developers and a garbage dump. But village and hotel were long gone only a few houses remained.ĭuring the 1960s and '70s, a Florida hero lived in one of those old houses: the artist Doris Leeper. I had come close to making the walk years ago, when a friend carried me by boat through the Mosquito Lagoon to Eldora, a fishing village that had boasted a hotel from the late 19th century. ![]()
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