A few years back I had an assignment from Dade Heritage Trust to write an article about the area’s Heritage Parks. There are seven. In spite of the decades I had lived here, having visited most of them, I did not know their backstories or that we even had designated Heritage Parks. It was an exciting discovery.

Now I have delved a bit deeper into the details of each site and put together a driving tour so anyone, visitor or local, can easily find these very special parks. You can get to my tour of Miami-Dade County’s 7 Heritage Parks just by clicking the tour name. Even if you can’t visit in person, this virtual tour will take you from Miami Beach’s Haulover Beach Park to Greynolds Park in North Miami Beach, out to Key Biscayne and the expansive Crandon Park, to Coral Gables and Matheson Hammock Park, Miami’s Deering Estate, farther south to the Fruit & Spice Park in Redland and, finally to Homestead’s Bayfront Park.

If you are not familiar with Clio Tours you should check out this great resource for history and culture. You can find all sorts of walking, driving, and biking tours on this free site. It is supported through a foundation and has a lot of academic input, but also thrives on community participation. I have done my entries in the name of a preservation group close to my heart – The (Miami) Villagers.