House of Refuge Museum at Gilbert's Bar

Built in 1876 as one of ten shipwreck-rescue stations the U.S. Life-Saving Service strung along Florida's Atlantic coast, this weathered pine-and-cypress cottage is the last of them still standing — and the oldest surviving building in Martin County. A keeper and his family lived here alone, watching a stretch of reef where northbound ships routinely grounded on Gilbert's Bar; the boathouse rescue gear, cistern, and dormitory beds where survivors slept are all in place. Later a Navy lookout post in WWII, it's now operated as a museum by the Historical Society of Martin County on a rock ledge with sea turtles nesting below.

What to order

Go at low tide and walk the exposed Anastasia limestone reef out front where dozens of wrecks piled up; admission is about $18 adults, $9 kids. Under 90 minutes to see it all.

Hours

Mon–Sat 10a–4p · Sun 1p–4p