A Piece of Old Florida

Far away from the hustle and bustle of big city life, hiding, yet in plain sight, are decades-old, little known remnants of “Old Florida” hunt camps located in the Florida Everglades. While the name alludes to the original purpose of the camps, they are currently more often used for weekend barbecues by those seeking adventure by way of air boats.

The camps began popping up in the 1950s. Today there are about 65 hunt camps in the Everglades Water Conservation Areas 2 and 3 located in Broward and Palm Beach counties. They are owned by the South Florida Water Management District or the state. In 2000, the state determined that each camp owner could obtain a 20-year lease.

DEP’s Southeast District staff member Damian Garramone is responsible for inspecting these hunt camps twice a month and has been doing so for the last two years. Following the 2004 hurricane season he found that many of the camps were either destroyed or suffered damage leaving behind broken planks and rotten pilings. Debris from one of the structures destroyed by the storm paints a picture of what was once a quite modern retreat sporting a wrap-around porch and satellite TV – a private oasis in the middle of Florida’s Everglades.

Although the job is filled with bugs, reptiles and plenty of sweat, Damian enjoys every minute. Some of his more notable experiences were seeing an airboat sinking with five guys aboard, witnessing the damage done to the hunt camps by Hurricane Wilma, the opportunity to photograph rare and endangered plants, watching a camp owner ‘pat’ an alligator and being chased from a site by Africanized bees -- all while working to bring the privately owned camps under regulation.

 “Each trip into the Everglades is interesting and unusual,” Damian said. “The ecosystem is so dynamic that every time is different. To be able to have a few minutes of quiet time, where all that you can hear is the wind and all you can see is the wide open expanse as nature comes out of hiding is what makes it all worth it.”