Mariah Brown, from Eleuthera to Charles Avenue: the Bahamian builders of Coconut Grove (Coconut Grove, 1880s to 1890)

SUMMARYMariah Brown, from Eleuthera to Charles Avenue: the Bahamian builders of Coconut Grove (Coconut Grove, 1880s to 1890) [Connections: Miami & Lake Okeechobee, Nov 5, 2026]

RECORDState marker F-891 (Coconut Grove Civic Club and Florida Department of State, 2015): Mariah Brown, born 1851 in Upper Bogue, Eleuthera, came to the US in 1880, worked as a laundress in Key West, moved by 1889 to work at Charles Peacock's Peacock Inn, bought a lot on Evangelist Street (now Charles Avenue) for $50 from Joseph Frow, and built in 1890 the first house on the street; her house and E.W.F. Stirrup's became the heart of the African-Bahamian community; she died in 1910. The City of Miami designated the house in 1995 and calls her "one of Coconut Grove's first African-Bahamian residents." Wikipedia records that Bahamian laborers founded Coconut Grove's first Black settlement in the 1880s and were hired because they were thought "the only people capable of withstanding the extreme heat and humidity."

PATTERNBlack islanders built the first mainland resort settlement on the Tequesta coast, decades before the city existed

LENS (WW9)The Grove was built by island people who were here before Miami had a name on paper

OPENWhether Brown or Stirrup families have documented Lucayan, Seminole or other Indigenous ancestry needs deep research (none stated in these sources)

SOURCEMariah Brown House marker (HMdb); Mariah Brown House (City of Miami Historic Preservation); Coconut Grove (Wikipedia).