Can’t enjoy a long day of sightseeing without having a decent breakfast under your belt! So with a Buy One Get One Free birthday coupon that was emailed to me several weeks before in hand, off we went to Berry Fresh Cafe in Stuart. Tough deciding what to have – there are so many delicious sounding items on the menu from which to choose.

Decision made, it would be their special –  Ultimate Monte Cristo served with home fries ($14.95) for both of us. We’ve eaten at Berry Fresh on previous visits to Florida, the food has always been good and it certainly held true on this particular morning.

After breakfast, we headed to the downtown area. Yikes, what’s going on?? So very crowded, not a parking space to be found anywhere! The cause of the crowds we quickly learned the Market on Main, a community-based farmer’s market for local farmers, artists, crafters, and other artisans. Jeesh, coming on a Sunday was bad timing on our part, no wonder there wasn’t a parking spot anywhere!

Yippee, finally we found one! In front of the Stuart Heritage Museum. It had a one hour limit but that was okay we didn’t need much more time than that to visit the museum. Hmmm, funny that in all the times we have visited Stuart, we had never visited this free museum.

Wow! What an interesting place!

Located in a historic 2-story frame building which was built in 1901 by George W. Parks, initially, the building was used as the Geo. W. Parks Grocery and General Merchandise Store. His home was located on the second floor.

In 1913, the building became the Stuart Mercantile Company and in the 1960s after a series of uses, it became the Stuart Feed Store. In 1988, the city purchased the building which they wanted to convert into the museum. To help with expenses, the front portion of the building was rented to Mrs. Peter’s Smoked Fish House.

As soon as we walked in, two older women greeted us (volunteers?), so helpful, very eager to share information and answer our questions. To be honest, we didn’t know where to look first! We felt like we had been transported back in time!

With over 10,000 artifacts, every inch of the interior had a display of some type of memorabilia – photos, maps, old signs, antique appliances, a diorama of what the town used to look like and so much more, all providing a comprehensive view of the region’s history and culture from the past.

Before we left, one of the women made a recommendation of another historic attraction that we should visit during our stay. It sounded interesting so it was quickly added to our list of must do’s before leaving the area, but more about that later.

We still had a little time left before our parking spot hour was up, so we took a quick walk down to the mile long Stuart Riverwalk which runs along the St. Lucie River on one side, bordered by an assortment of parks and restaurants on the shore side. We had been here several times before during previous visits.

It was getting late, so to avoid traffic, we left downtown and headed back to the coach where we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing. But we weren’t done with our exploring yet.

The next day we would make the scenic drive to another favorite spot, Sandsprit Park, located at the intersection of St. Lucie Inlet and Manatee Pocket, a sheltered bay that is about a mile long and about 1/5 of a mile wide.

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Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

The boat ramp had recently undergone a $1.8 million renovation which began in September of 2023 and was expected to take 4 to 6 months to complete. Plans were to rebuild both two-lane boat ramps and and replace the fixed docks with floating docks to better withstand storms and rising tides. New fish cleaning stations would also be installed. When we were there in December, there was still construction going on. But that didn’t stop us from hanging out while watching the birds, boats and people. Speaking of birds, when we had been here on previous visits, there were wild parrots everywhere but none to be seen during this visit.

The next day we stopped at the Morning Glory Cafe in Stuart where we both had their Two For The Show Breakfast ($9.99), eggs, 2 bacon or sausage, and choice of two pancakes, two slices French toast or half a waffle. Okay breakfast, nothing special. Then we headed for Fort Pierce to scout out potential marinas.

During our previous stays in the area in 2013 and 2014,  Fort Pierce was added to our list of our favorite places in Florida.

It has so much to offer – a bustling downtown area with a historic waterfront and the charm of Old Florida, quaint boutiques, art galleries, a weekly farmers market in Mariner’s Square, water tours, a Manatee Observation and Education Center, Heathcote Botanical Gardens, fantastic restaurants, miles of beaches, fishing opportunities…the list goes on and on!

With so much to do and its close proximity to the downtown area, the Fort Pierce City Marina was our top choice for potential destinations if we cruise to Florida next winter aboard our boat. Other marinas looked decent but they weren’t within walking distance of downtown so we quickly ruled them out.

Since we’ve never planned an extensive cruise, we had no idea how far in advance reservations had to be made and what the cost would be for a slip or mooring. To get the answers to our questions, we stopped in the office. To make a reservation, we were told that we would have to call at 8:00 a.m. sharp on July 1st. Even if we get through to talk to someone, we won’t know for several months if there is availability or not. Jeesh, that makes planning very difficult. Their rates are dependent on how long you stay and are posted on their website.

Tired of walking around, we left downtown and headed towards Fort Pierce South Bridge along Seaway Drive to Jetty Park, located on the edge of South Hutchinson Island and the Fort Pierce Inlet.

It was pretty busy but it still was a great spot to soak up the beautiful views of the inlet, watch the fishermen pull in a fish or two, and the people.

Although the timing wasn’t right for us, it’s also a great place to grab a bite to eat at one of the restaurants.

We had one more really interesting sightseeing adventure in Fort Pierce but more about that in our next post.