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The Seacrest Scrub is a fragment of a large ridge of predominantly scrub habitat that ran north-south between a freshwater swale that is the present-day Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway and an inland lake/marsh system dominated by Lake Ida and the former Lake Louise. The first road in this area was a sand road that was cleared in 1890 between Lantana in Palm Beach County and Lemon City at the north end of Biscayne Bay in Dade County. No record of this road's location has been found, but it presumably ran somewhere in the vicinity of the Seacrest Scrub. The first major disturbance on this ridge was the construction of Henry Flagler's Florida East Coast (FEC) Railroad around 1895. This railroad was built on the eastern border of the site, and the site was among the lands given to Flagler as an incentive to build the railroad. Remnants of old "lighter" pine stumps indicate that large slash pines were logged near the railroad tracks not long after the railroad was constructed. The railroad was followed in the early 1920s by U.S. Highway 1 (present-day Old Dixie Highway), which was built immediately east and parallel to the railroad. The Florida East Coast Canal was dredged one-half mile east of the site in the early 1900s to a width of 50 feet and a depth of 5 feet. It was taken over by the federal government and renamed the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway in 1927, and dredged to 100 feet wide and 8 feet deep in the 1930s. Also in the 1930s, the E-4 Canal was dug through the lake/marsh system one-half mile west of the site, draining Lake Louise and lowering water levels in Lake Ida. Prior to 1940, very little development occurred in the vicinity of the site. Gulf Stream Estates was platted south of the site in 1927, and Gulfstream Boulevard was built west across the FEC railroad tracks from Old Dixie Highway. The Florida land boom collapsed in the late 1920s, and no houses were built in this subdivision until the 1950s. U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) aerial photographs from 1940 show a sand road extending north along the present route of Seacrest Boulevard from the end of Gulfstream Boulevard. This sand road may have been used for access for farming activities on the western half of the site. The 1940 USGS photo shows that the western half and the middle of the eastern half as being cleared, with large areas of bare sand. The eastern cleared area was accessed by another sand road running north from Gulfstream Boulevard. The cleared areas occupied two-thirds of the site. Only the scrubby flatwoods in the center of the site and the scrub along the FEC railroad tracks remained intact. These cleared areas remained visible on aerial photographs into the 1970s. Because the Seacrest Scrub Natural Area is on the highest portion of the coastal ridge, and the clearings are on the higher portions of the site, it is likely that they were made for the growing of pineapple plants. Florida's pineapple industry collapsed in the late 1930s when it was affected by fungal diseases and the completion of U.S. 1 to Key West opened the market to less-expensive Cuban-grown pineapples. Farming activities probably ended before the site was acquired by the Trygendeer Corporation at a bankruptcy auction in 1939. The cleared areas were located on scrub soils, so they very likely contained scrub vegetation. A small area of scrubby flatwoods may have existed just east of Seacrest Boulevard, where a large slash pine is present. The eastern cleared area has revegetated better than the western cleared area, since it had seed sources on both sides. The western cleared area, isolated from the remaining scrub by scrubby flatwoods, was colonized initially by slash pines, with sand pines regenerating slowly from distant seed sources in the absence of fire. Dumping and off-road vehicle traffic coming from Seacrest Boulevard may have contributed to Brazilian pepper invasion along the western edge of the site. After World War II, development accelerated. New subdivisions crept closer to the site as Delray Beach expanded to the north and Boynton Beach expanded to the south. In 1949, Seacrest High School, the present-day Atlantic Community High School, was built south of Gulfstream Boulevard. In 1950, the County Commission obtained an 80-foot road right-of-way to extend Seacrest Boulevard from Gulfstream Boulevard northward to meet Green Street at Woolbright Avenue. The Seacrest Boulevard extension was built shortly thereafter. In the 1950s, residential development growth continued. By 1952, portions of Gulfstream Estates were being replatted and houses built. A 1953 USGS aerial photo shows houses present north of Gulfstream Boulevard and reclearing of the pineapple-farmed land north of the site. In 1954, the Chapel Hill subdivision was platted 1/4 mile west of the site, and in 1955, the Mission Hill subdivision was platted on the west side of Seacrest Boulevard. Chapel Hill developed quickly and was built out by the early 1960s; Mission Hill developed more slowly, with vacant lots remaining into the early 1970s. On the land to the north of the site, Seacrest Estates was platted on the eastern half, with the first house built in 1957. This subdivision was essentially built out by 1965. On the western half, the former pineapple-farmed land was platted as Sky Ranch Estates in 1959. This subdivision developed slowly, with the first house built in 1961 and vacant lots remaining into the mid-1970s. On the south side of the site, approximately half of the lots in Gulfstream Estates and its replatted subdivisions had been built by 1965. It would be the late 1970s before all the houses on the south side of the site had been built. A 1965 Palm Beach County Property Appraiser's aerial photograph clearly shows the perimeter mowed areas as wide or wider than their present width on the north, west, and southwest borders of the site. These areas were presumably established when the adjacent subdivisions were built. The southwest mowed strip was not contained within the Seacrest Scrub, but was on the land lying immediately south of the Natural Area. The southern perimeter mowed strip was not present until the 1980s, when it was established in response to pressure from adjacent homeowners. In 1974, a 10-foot utility easement was granted to the City of Boynton Beach that crossed the site from north to south through the scrubby flatwoods. Water and sewer lines were installed shortly thereafter. A cleared strip for these lines is visible in the 1977 Property Appraiser's aerial photographs, as are a series of 10 to 12 east-west parallel cuts in the site's vegetation. These cuts may have been made for surveying purposes. The vegetation cuts and cleared utility strip opened the site to illegal dumping, and off-road vehicle (ORV) use of the site increased, with many ORV trails becoming visible by the early 1980s. In 1979, the Josephine Latino subdivision was platted at the extreme northeast corner of the site along the FEC railroad tracks. Duplexes were built in the subdivision in the early 1980s. In 1990, a wildfire burned several acres of scrubby flatwoods in the southern portion of the site. In 1992, the owners of the Seacrest Scrub, Cedar Grove Investments, made an unsuccessful attempt to increase the number of residential units allowed to be built on the site. This increase was strongly opposed by area residents and environmentalists. After a series of heated public hearings spanning several years, the request was denied. In May 1994, the site was purchased by the County, the City, and the State for $2,050,000. The amount contributed by each partner was as follows: Palm Beach County - $1,081,295, the City of Boynton Beach - $80,000, and the Florida Communities Trust - $888,705. |
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 Coastal Resources |
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Lakes,
Estuaries and Lagoons |
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Mosquito Control |
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Natural Areas |
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Permitting and Regulation |
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