October 2015
The McKee Botanical Garden began its life in 1932, when land speculator Arthur G. McKee and architect Waldo E. Sexton opened McKee Jungle Gardens.
Entrance Arbor
This, originally, 80-acre, garden in Vero Beach, Florida was designed by landscape architect William Lyman Phillips from the office of Fredrick Law Olmsted.
The Royal Palm Grove, planted in 2002. The Royal Palm is native to Florida are among the tallest palms in the world
By the 1940s more than 100,000 tourists were visiting the gardens each year.
In the early 1970’s, the development of I-95 and other attractions in the area caused a serious decline in interest of the garden, and by 1976 the Gardens were forced to closed. The property was sold and zoned for development. Fortunately 18 acres of the original 80 did not fall to development, even after lying dormant for 20 years.
In 1994, the Indian River Land Trust purchased the property. An additional $9 million was raised to purchase, stabilize and restore the Garden, and in November, 2001 McKee Botanical Garden was opened.
The stone bridge was part of the original gardens, it was discovered in the 1990s by volunteers, hidden under a mass of weeds.
The Garden features 10,000 native and tropical plants as well as one of the area’s largest collections of waterlilies.
The Hall of Giants and Spanish Kitchen, historic to the Garden, were both meticulously restored to Sexton’s original vision, and in 2002 the United State’s first permitted bamboo structure was built on site.
The Hall of Giants was designed by Waldo Sexton. In the Hall of Giants is this 35 foot long Mahogany table. Said to be the world’s largest one-piece mahogany table. It is a single slab of Philippine mahogany that is 35′ 10″ long and 5″ thick. It was the centerpiece of the Hall of Giants from 1940 until 1976.
Waldo Sexton first saw the table in 1903 at the St. Louis Louisiana Purchase Exposition. He purchased it nearly 20 years later in a basement of a New York City warehouse and had it shipped by boat to Vero Beach.
In 1940, the Hall of Giants was constructed to house the table. During that time the Hall of Giants was a gathering spot for community events, including football banquets, corporate annual meetings and Chamber of Commerce dinners.
The exterior of the Hall of Giants
Opposite the Hall of Giants is the Spanish Kitchen, home of famed old-time Florida cookouts. During the height of the Gardens popularity, white uniformed cooks would prepare steaks and potatoes on the triple grill.
The Spanish Kitchen
Sexton also designed the kitchen and used odds and ends of his personal collections to give the kitchen an old time feeling.
Large cooking pots in The Spanish Kitchen
Tower by Hans Gobo Froebel is the one permanent piece of art in the garden.
McKee Botanical Garden is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and endorsed by The Garden Conservancy as a project of national significance.
For more about the garden check out their website.