Charles Deering Estate (also known as Deering Estate at Cutler) was the

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

home of

Charles Deering Charles Deering (July 31, 1852 – February 5, 1927) was an American businessman, art collector, and philanthropist. He was an executive of the agricultural machinery company founded by his father that became International Harvester. Charles's ...

until 1927 when he died at the estate.

Description

Deering lived on the DeeringEstate.org - About Us
, Last checked on 2010-07-27. property for five years, from 1922 to 1927. The property consists of a three-story wooden house built in 1900, known as the Richmond Cottage,Miamidade.gov - Deering
, Last checked on 2010-07-27. and a three-story stone mansion. Other buildings were also built on the property to serve as auxiliary buildings to the estate. Charles Deering Estate is located in the Cutler neighborhood of

Palmetto Bay, Florida Palmetto Bay is a suburban incorporated village in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The population was 24,439 as of the 2020 US census. Palmetto Bay includes three neighborhoods that were former census-designated places, Cutler, Ro ...

. The grounds include what is thought to be the largest virgin coastal tropical hardwood hammock in the

continental United States The contiguous United States (officially the conterminous United States) consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states and the Federal District of the United States of America. The term excludes the only two non-contiguous states, Alaska and Hawaii ...

. The estate was acquired by the state of Florida in 1985. The estate is owned by the State of Florida and is managed by the Miami-Dade County Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces Department. After the death of

in 1927 the property was maintained by his family. In 1982 after his daughter died the property became available for sale. In 1984 the estate was purchased by Finley Matheson which fought to get it turned into a state park. In 1985 the

State of Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to th ...

purchased the land for $22.5 million. The Deering Estate is a national landmark listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It became part of the National Register of Historic places in 1986 by meeting the requirements in all categories. It is also part of the

Organization of Biological Field Stations The Organization of Biological Field Stations (OBFS) is a nonprofit multinational organization representing the field stations and research centers across Canada, United States, and Central America. While it has no administrative or management c ...

through its collaboration with

Florida International University Florida International University (FIU) is a public research university with its main campus in Miami-Dade County. Founded in 1965, the school opened its doors to students in 1972. FIU has grown to become the third-largest university in Florid ...

School of Environment, Arts and Society. By being part of the organization they receive assistance in order to improve their effectiveness in supporting critical research, education and outreach programs. For more than 30 years, researchers have studied the unique ecological, geological and archaeological features of the property. The Deering Estate is situated in the only portion of the Everglades Restoration Project within an urban setting and which is easily accessed by the public. In August 2019, the Deering Estate Foundation was granted $200,000 for capital improvements. This will expand the cultural and ecological field station and research site. The funds will provide renovations for a 10,700 square-foot field study research center. The research facility will provide temporary living quarters for up to 14 researchers, a archival library and a field staff office for the Deering Estate and Deering Estate Foundation. The house and grounds were featured several times in the 1980s TV series ''

Miami Vice ''Miami Vice'' is an American crime drama television series created by Anthony Yerkovich and produced by Michael Mann (director), Michael Mann for NBC. The series stars Don Johnson as James "Sonny" Crockett and Philip Michael Thomas as Ricardo ...

'',ntlworld.com - The Afternoon Plane Loc2
, Last checked on 2010-07-27. and the estate was the starting location for '' The Amazing Race All-Stars'' in 2007.Waymarking.com - The Amazing Race 11
Last checked on 2010-07-27.

History

The Richmond Cottage

The Richmond Cottage was built by S. Howard Richmond, agent for the Perrine Land Grant Company, as his family home, at the end of the 19th century. An addition which converted the home into a 22-room hotel was completed in 1900. The hotel was managed by Richmond's wife, Edith M. The Richmond Cottage was described as being the "most southerly hotel on the mainland of the United States". Charles Deering bought the Richmond Cottage in 1916 over the next several years he added different structures to the estate, including a carriage house, pump house and power house. He also enclosed his estate with a limestone and concrete wall and built the boat turning basin in Biscayne Bay. In 1922 he completed his three-story Mediterranean Stone House and moved to Cutler in 1922.Metropoliton Dade County Historic Preservation Board. "The Deering Estate" The Charles Deering Estate Historict S.W. 167 Street and Old Cutler Road: Designation Report. Miami: Metro-Dade, 1985. 5,6. Print. This publication can be found at The Main Librar

Address: 101 W FLAGLER ST MIAMI, FL 33130

Stone House

Stone House was designed by

Phineas Paist Phineas P. Paist (August 28, 1873 – May 2, 1937) was an American architect who was the supervising architect for the Coral Gables Corporation. Paist was an architect working for S. Gifford Slocum at age 20. In 1893 he became an associate of ...

and was completed in 1922. It has 18 inch poured concrete walls, oolitic limestone, coffered ceilings and copper clad and brass doors. After the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, Charles Deering was nervous of what fire could do. He decided to build his Stone House without a stove. There was a kitchen that housed refrigeration cabinets and storage but the cooking was done in the Richmond Cottage. It was his trepidation of fire that had him asking the architect/designer for the 18 inch concrete walls and brass doors. He also added an elevator to the house which was very forward thinking for 1922. The large wine cellar that is located on the first floor was not discovered until after Hurricane Andrew. It was very well hidden behind built-in cabinetry. Hurricane Andrew flooded the first floor and damaged much of it. It was during the clean up process that it was discovered. He intended the house to be used as a showcase for his art collection and books.

Charles Deering

Charles Deering was born on July 31, 1852, in

Paris, Maine Paris is a town in and the county seat of Oxford County, Maine, United States. The population was 5,179 at the 2020 census. The census-designated place of South Paris is located within the town. Because the U.S. Post Office refers to the enti ...

. He was the son of

William Deering William Deering (April 25, 1826 – December 9, 1913) was an American businessman and philanthropist. He inherited a woolen mill in Maine, but made his fortune in later life with the Deering Harvester Company. Life Early life Deering was born ...

, founder of

Deering Harvester Company Deering Harvester Company was founded in 1874 by William Deering. In 1902, Deering Harvester Company and McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, along with three smaller agricultural equipment firms (Milwaukee, Plano, and Warder, Bushnell & Glessn ...

, and brother of millionaire industrialist

James Deering James Deering (November 12, 1859 – September 21, 1925) was an American executive in the management of his family's Deering Harvester Company and later International Harvester, as well as a socialite and an antiquities collector. He built h ...

. Deering is remembered as an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

businessman and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

. In 1873 Deering graduated from the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy ...

and served as an officer in the Navy until 1881. Deering then became secretary of his father's company, which merged with

McCormick Harvesting Machine Company The International Harvester Company (often abbreviated by IHC, IH, or simply International ( colloq.)) was an American manufacturer of agricultural and construction equipment, automobiles, commercial trucks, lawn and garden products, household e ...

and became

International Harvester The International Harvester Company (often abbreviated by IHC, IH, or simply International ( colloq.)) was an American manufacturer of agricultural and construction equipment, automobiles, commercial trucks, lawn and garden products, household e ...

in 1902. After the merger, Deering became the chairman of the board for International Harvester. Charles Deering died at the age of 75 at his estate at Cutler, at 11:30 P.M. on February 5, 1927."Newspaper: Charles Deering Dies At Home Near Cutler. " The Herald iami06 Feb. 1927. Print. After Charles' death, the estate was left to his wife and children.

Cutler Burial Mound

The Cutler Burial Mound is a prehistoric mound on the Charles Deering Estate. It is one of the few surviving prehistoric mounds in Miami-Dade County. The mound is about 38 feet by 20 feet at the base, and about five feet high. Artifacts from the mound are from the Glades II and III periods. The mound has been disturbed repeatedly. Henry Perrine, Jr, son of

Henry Perrine Henry Perrine (5 April 1797 – 7 August 1840) was a physician, horticulturist, United States Consul in Campeche, Campeche, Mexico, and an enthusiast for introducing tropical plants into cultivation in the United States. Early life Henry ...

, removed several skulls from the mound in the 1860s while searching for Black Caesar's treasure. Ralph Munroe dug in the mound in the 1890s. In the 20th century, neighborhood children dug in the mound and removed bones and artifacts. Some of those bones have been returned and reburied in the mound. The mound is believed to contain 12 to 18 burials of Native Americans. The mound is accessible via a boardwalk.

Cutler Fossil Site

In 1979 a

sinkhole A sinkhole is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer. The term is sometimes used to refer to doline, enclosed depressions that are locally also known as ''vrtače'' and shakeholes, and to openi ...

on the Deering Estate was found to contain bones of

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

animals associated with bones and artifacts of

early humans ''Homo'' () is the genus that emerged in the (otherwise extinct) genus ''Australopithecus'' that encompasses the extant species ''Homo sapiens'' (modern humans), plus several extinct species classified as either ancestral to or closely relate ...

. The site was eventually acquired by

Miami-Dade County Miami-Dade County is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. The county had a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Florida and the seventh-most populous county in ...

, and is now part of the Charles Deering Estate Park.

Hurricane Andrew

On August 24, 1992,

Hurricane Andrew Hurricane Andrew was a very powerful and destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that struck the Bahamas, Florida, and Louisiana in August 1992. It is the most destructive hurricane to ever hit Florida in terms of structures damaged o ...

struck

South Florida South Florida is the southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the other two are Central Florida and North Florida. South Florida is the southernmost part of ...

as a Category 5 hurricane, the third-strongest

tropical cyclone A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Dep ...

to make landfall in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, with winds of 165 mph (270 km/h). Andrew "destroyed 25,524 homes and damaged 101,241 others." Hurricane Andrew ravaged and damaged the property of Deering Estate. The water front property was devastated by waves that reached as high as the second floor of the buildings. Water rose more than from sea level and caused major flooding on the property. The Richmond Cottage was taken off its foundation and splintered by the hurricane. It took seven years and $7.2 million to restore the location. Deering Estate at Cutler reopened to the public in 1999 and officially opened in 2000.

The Deering Estate Foundation

The Deering Estate Foundation, Inc., organized in 1989 and strives, "to raise public awareness, outreach, understanding and the enjoyment of the Deering Estate at Cutler and to raise funds to support education, research, exhibits and collections, natural conservation and historical restoration and preservation." The offices of the foundation are located on the third floor of the Richmond Cottage. Is a community based charitable 501(c) Florida Corporation and the philanthropic partners of the Deering Estate.

Gallery

File:Charles Deering Estate, Miami, FL 2.jpg File:Miami and Key West 06.23.2008 034.jpg, The Richmond Cottage (left) and the Stone House. View from the Atlantic File:Sm1551 deering cutler.jpg, alt=Richmond Cottage, Charles Deering Estate Original House File:Charles Deering Estate, Miami, FL 4.jpg, Charles Deering Estate File:Deering Estate - Stone House.JPG, The side of the stone mansion that faces the east. File:Charles Deering Estate, Miami, FL 3.jpg, Charles Deering Estate File:Deering Dock.jpeg, Photograph of Deering's lawn and key shaped dock File:Miami and Key West 06.23.2008 030.jpg, Looking out of the Stone House at Charles Deering Estate File:Miami and Key West 06.23.2008 026.jpg, Charles Deering wine cellar in the Stone House (renovated) File:Deering Estate - Stone House-2.JPG, The side of the Stone mansion that faces the south. File:Miami and Key West 06.23.2008 016.jpg, Stone House at Charles Deering Estate (looking from the main courtyard) File:Charles Deering Estate, Miami, FL.jpg, Charles Deering Estate

References

* * ''Florida'', DK Eyewitness Travel Guides, 2004, pg. 90

External links

Deering Estate at Cutler

The story of Preserving a Landmark Tree at Deering Estate in Miami {{authority control National Register of Historic Places in Miami-Dade County, Florida Historic house museums in Florida Museums in Miami-Dade County, Florida Art museums and galleries in Florida Houses in Miami-Dade County, Florida