THE OCTAGON HOUSE

From   "The View"

Edited by Carolyn Leaman

(Note, the photos mentioned are below)

The Octagon House (eight sided) was located on the lot currently occupied by Olive McKee. It was the home of the Manager of Bryn Mawr Campground. It was a unique structure and if you look closely at the picture you will notice that it was set up on a pillar with umbrella arms stretching out to support the structure. The pictures were taken by the McAlley's in July of 1978. There are many of our current owners who actually camped here in the 1970's. They have some wonderful tales to tell.

The first picture shows the house and the office/store. It is a good picture of our entrance at that time. Notice the "Dog Walk" sign in the right hand corner of the picture on the first row, right side. It is pointing to the beach. Imagine that in today's world.

The bottom picture is of the Octagon House as it looks today. It was moved to Fort Pierce and it is located just off of Route 1 near the Farmers Market. It has been restored and now sits on pillars. It has become an office for a local business.  Our thanks go to Mini McAlley for sharing the pictures with us and to Doris Richards of the Sands Lakeside for taking the picture of the restored building.

The last picture is of Bryn Mawr Camp Resorts. It is a brochure that was available and has been saved by many of our residents. There are some interesting things in the picture that we would like to mention. If you will look to the area above the tennis court, you will see the tent camping area. This was before the 1980 additions of the lots supplied power by Florida Power and Light. Our marina has only one dock and is quite small. There were no private docks along the lagoon because the lots were not available for sale. On the ocean side, you will see the old Red Tail Hawk restaurant. In looking at the picture, there was only one parking lot. Bryn Mawr had locations in St. Augustine, Fort Pierce and Key Largo. We believe the St. Augustine and Key Largo locations are still active. In the 1970's there were many more travel trailers than motor homes.   The green area to the left of the tennis courts is the home of the five towers of Ocean Harbour North. When you look at the whole picture you realize how open it looked with the few trees at that time.