PCSoFla’s founder, Gaston Drake ’94, made his fortune timbering in South Dade for the construction of the railroad to Key West and the first bridge from Miami to Miami Beach. Join Everglades historian Cesar Becerra and fellow Tiger families on Saturday, December 5 at 11 a.m. for a leisurely hike on rugged terrain inside a pineland that is the perfect setting to tell of the story of logging in South Florida. Cesar has spent the last 30 years studying the logging history of the Everglades. He will be focusing on Dade County Pine and explain how logging operations like the Drake Lumber Company operated. Cesar will explain why Dade County Pine was so valuable in 1910 and tricky to get to and the uniqueness of that community.

Cesar is the author of half-a-dozen books on South Florida history, including The Logging History of the Everglades, and the former publisher of The Everglade Magazine, an award-winning publication printed during Everglades National Park’s 50th anniversary. He has walked, hiked, slogged, canoed, kayaked, airboated and swamp buggied all across the Everglades and is the assistant caretaker of Camp Everglades — the site we will visit and the largest private inholdings inside any national park. In 1997, the Miami Herald named Cesar an “Everglades Evangelist.” He has personally interviewed more than two dozen loggers associated with the logging of the Everglades and his exhibit on the subject travelled to 20 museums around Florida in 1995. He recently returned from Australia, where he followed in the footsteps of William and Mary Brickell before they relocated to South Florida.

• To insure social distancing, participation will be limited to 20.
• Email info@PCSoFla.org to reserve your spot.
• Cost is free to dues-paying members of the Princeton Club and their families; $10 for non-dues paying Tigers.
• Meet at 11 a.m. the Everglades National Park’s Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center parking lot, 40001 State Road 9336, Homestead FL 33034.
• Bring a bag lunch.

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