The sand ridge that forms west Hobe Sound has been part of the north-south
travel path for centuries. In modern times, US-1 was built on the ridge.
This corner marks the intersection of US-1 with the narrowest part of the
intracoastal waterway in the area. Bridge Road covers the gap between island
and mainland over the narrow. In the late 30's and early 40's the convergence
of the two natural paths seemed a prime location for a cafe, motel and gas pumps.
Built of native tidewater pecky cypress (cut from Kitchen Creek and
milled locally), The Cypress Cabins and Restaurant opened December 7th,
1941 - not an auspicious day for opening a business catering to tourists.
Hobe Sound proper had been developed two decades earlier at the Olympia stop
on the Celestial Railroad. Hobe Sound boasted a four block downtown fronting
the tracks, a winter population on Jupiter Island, and a community of service
workers living in Hobe Sound, Gomez and Banner Lake. Things soon changed as
Camp Murphy opened in the Jonathan Dickinson State Park. Camp Murphy housed
troops training for jungle warfare. The Coast Guard had a rescue barracks on
the beach a quarter mile north of Bridge Road. With little entertainment in
Hobe Sound, the Rock-ola in the southwest corner lured ranchers, soldiers,
and sailors to adopt this place as home.
Seven owners passed through in the first eleven years. In the spring of
1952 Jack and Pauline MacArthur moved, with their 3 daughters, into the
bedroom over the garage. At that time this was called The Farm, appropriate
as the new owners, Jack and Pauline, both grew up on farms in Michigan. The
family increased in size with the birth of two Native sons, John and Harry.
Things were prosperous until the turnpike opened. When traffic on US-1
diminished, Jack returned to his previous job spending summers sailing ore
freighters on the great lakes. The family always ran the business. The
children helped with cleaning the cabins and pumping gas as well as learning
restaurant chores. In the mid-60's, with two daughters away from home,
Pauline returned to teaching. She taught home economics at Stuart Middle
School. Over the years all of the children moved away. Their careers have
taken them all over the U.S. and other parts of the world. In their retirement
years Jack and Pauline poured coffee and served beer to the Natives. Jack
died in a hunting accident in 1986. Harry, now a chef, returned home in 1989.
He remodeled the kitchen and the business reopened as Harry and the Natives. |
