Stiltsville, a small group of wooden stilt houses, which appear almost out of nowhere when boating Just off Key Biscayne and the Cape Florida Lighthouse in Miami. The grouping has a rich and spicey Miami past including gambling, night clubs, party houses and illegal activities starting in the early 1920’s during Prohibition. The history and facts are pretty murky and there are plenty of conflicts in the historical accounting of Stiltsville activities. What we do know for sure, is that our beloved Stiltsville Village only has seven “houses” today.

The structures were built, at the time, as weekend getaways. Some were built by fishermen like “Crawfish Eddy”, but quickly became dominated by the Miami powerful and elite. Because the location is one mile offshore, it’s thought they were originally built there to be safe from any U.S. illegalities. But between zealous lawmen and hurricanes… eventually Stiltsville which once grew to nearly 30 structures (some historical accountings say more like nearly 60), only seven Stiltsville structures remain, none of which are original.