Treasure Coast Marina & Boat Yard is located in the villlage of Grant, along the east central coast of Florida. Directly on US Highway #1 and along the shores of the Indian River Lagoon, Grant offers a taste of Florida as it was in the 1950's. Grant is a fishing village, with no other economic base other than a little farming and a few orange groves. This is not a tourist town, although we welcome visitors. "The Mouse" has no presence here...
The site of Treasure Coast Marina & Boat Yard is the former location of a thriving fish processing industry. There has been a commercial "fish house" on this property since 1916. Local fishermen brought their catch to the dock, sold it to the fish house, and it was cleaned, prepared, frozen or iced, and shipped north. Most of it went to the fish markets in New York City and was distributed from there.
The original buildings burned in a fire in the 1950's. It was rebuilt, and the current buildings are those. We have made an effort to preserve as much of the character of the old fish house as possible, and the main building houses many artifacts from the times when the fish house was active.
The net ban laws that went into effect in the 1990's all but destroyed the economy of this area. Families that had been fishing for a living for generations suddenly found themselves with no means of support. The fish house closed down. After several years in an abandoned state, the current owner purchased it and renovated it into the marina it is today.
While the present use of the property is different, the philosophy is to keep this area as pristine and authentic to the old ways as possible. The marina is new, but "old" at the same time. Our pace of life here is slow, we sit and watch the river flow by, and we enjoy our surroundings while carrying on a thriving business here. We have proven that it is possible to mix the old with the new. Come by, have a lemonade, and "set fer awhile". See for yourself what life was like in the "old days".
The name "Treasure Coast Marina" comes from the local legend regarding the treasure from the Spanish Plate Fleet that sank off this part of the coast of Florida in 1715. A group of Spanish ships, filled with bounty from the New World and enroute from Cuba to Spain, sank in a hurricane just off Sebastian Inlet a few miles south and across the lagoon from here. The survivors of the ships salvaged as much of the treasure from the sinking ships as possible and brought it ashore on the barrier island that separates the ocean from the Indian River Lagoon. The local Indian tribe, the Ais (now extinct), watched this salvage operation and even assisted. Then they stole most of the treasure and brought it to this side of the Lagoon and buried it. The story is that it is still here, somewhere... We dig in our spare time! (Not really, but it's fun to think about).
Treasure Coast Marina was devastated by the Hurricanes that hit the Florida East Coast in September 2004. We took a DIRECT hit from the leading edges of both Hurricane Frances and Jeanne. As a result, we were faced with rebuilding not once, but twice, since we had managed a quick rebuild after the first storm, never suspecting that another would take the same path!
After months of hard work, we are completely restored to former days, actually with many improvements over our prior configuration, and many added amenities for our dockage and store customers. Stop by and see our new, improved image!
