Inlet at Pecks Lake (Stuart)

[billinstuart]

For years I'd heard that St. Lucie Inlet was at Pecks Lake. Well, yesterday I had it 'splained to me. In the early 1960's, a cut did indeed wash through there. After a couple years, some locals got together and dumped junk cars into the cut to stem the flow of water. This worked, and the inlet sanded over.

 

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[Neptunes Keep]

Port Saint Lucie or the present day Stewart inlet was first dug open in the mid 19th century.
some local settlers dug a trench first with just shovels. A major hurricane soon thereafter came though and did the rest.

Hence from then on the natural Indian River estuary leading to the sea first known as Geaga, Jeaga later Grenville inlet and now Jupiter Inlet which was always a natural estuary was robbed of the primary water flow to keep it a navigable inlet until 1921 - when the Jupiter Inlet special Taxing
District was first formed - not to open the inlet for navigational purposes but more so for public health reasons.

 

[billinstuart]

Lemme explain a little more. Historically, charts show natural locations for St. Lucie Inlet from north of its present location, about at the house of Refuge, to south a mile or so from where it is now, but none showed it at the Peck Lake area. This explains the continual contention from locals that there was indeed an inlet at Peck Lake. It was a recent, and temporary, opening. This ties into the question of..was the southern end of the 1715 fleet at Ft. Pierce inlet, or actually the 1715 location of St. Lucie Inlet? Personally, looking at Romans map, where he says "opposite this site lies the flagship of the 1715 fleet", there is a river there (Sebastian?), but it also shows the juncture of the Banana and Indian rivers, much like Eau Gallie/Melbourne. Could the fleet actually be off of Melbourne Beach also? Remember, there was no Sebastian inlet for reference.

 

[billinstuart]

I guess I'm trying to explain the discrepancies in Romans map, to help justify his statement, and possibly open up other areas of the coast for closer scrutiny. My guess is..romans made notes and sketches on the ship, and finalized his maps once ashore. Without the aid of accurate positioning, photographs, or aerial perspective, I'm surprised at the accuracy he WAS able to achieve. The "bleechyard" apparently is just a visual reference, as has been pointed out here in this forum, but there is a similar geological feature north of Ft. Pierce.

As for St. Lucie/Pecks Lake, it's taken me years to track down the genesis of this local legend, and I'm just passing the info along.

 

[billinstuart]

No problem, Cornelius..

 

[mad4wrecks]

Bill, I thought you might find this interesting although it is obvious you were already aware of the Peck's Lake inlet. This article is from 1963.

No doubt that an inlet has opened and closed here for many, many years.


Tom

 

[billinstuart]

Thanks, Tom. That inlet is also adjacent to the "kingfish hole", an unusually deep (40') area surrounded by normal depth (20') areas and the longshore reef. None of the locals have indicated the hole was dredged, so we have to assume it's natural. Deep water close to the shore....hmmm. Recurring inlet??