Indianola is a historic unincorporated community on Merritt Island in Brevard County, Florida, United States. It is centered on Indianola Drive, which is about half a mile south of where State Road 528, the Bennett Causeway across the Indian River, enters Merritt Island. It extends north of 528 a short distance to include the Indianola Cemetery near the Barge Canal, and east to State Road 3 [1]
In 1868, Martha Ann Justice the wife of J.R. Field, named the spot they picked to settle on the east shore of the Indian River, "Indianola." Indianola dates from the latter part of the 19th century and is the home of the Dr. George E. Hill House and the J. R. Field Homestead, both of which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
On November 4, 1898, Thomas H. Sanders and his wife Mary donated land to the community of Indianola for a cemetery as long as a group of Trustees was formed to care and manage the property for that purpose. Indianola Pioneer Cemetery (a.k.a. Williams Cemetery and formerly referred to as Evergreen Cemetery) is located next to a marina and bordered on the north by the Barge Canal and the south by State Rod 528 in Brevard County, Florida. The cemetery is 4.36 acres and is owned and maintained by PIONEER CEMETERY CORP TRUSTEES. Cemetery address is Marine Harbor Dr., Merritt Island, Brevard County, Florida, 32953 USA; GPS Latitude 28.4059360. Longitude -80.7110010. There are 329 grave sites, the oldest being John Moss Field (1 Sep 1809 – 1 Dec 1891.) A masonry wall with gate was constructed and a bronze plaque mounted to dedicate the wall to David and Sallie Williams and the name "Williams" began to be attached to the cemetery. Coordinates are 28.406105, +30.710401.
A U.S. post office was established on January 22, 1889, at Indianola. It closed on May 15, 1926, and the area was transferred to the Cocoa post office. [2]
Emory L. Bennett - medal of honor winner. Lived here briefly as a child
Brevard County is a county located in the east central portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020, the population was 606,612, making it the 10th-most populated county in Florida. The official county seat has been located in Titusville since 1894. Brevard County comprises the Palm Bay–Melbourne–Titusville, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is located along the east Florida coast and bordered by the Atlantic Ocean.
Cocoa is a city in Brevard County, Florida. The population was 19,041 at the 2020 United States Census. It is part of the Palm Bay–Melbourne–Titusville Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Merritt Island is a census-designated place (CDP) in Brevard County, Florida, United States, located on the eastern Floridian coast, along the Atlantic Ocean. The population was 34,518 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Palm Bay – Melbourne – Titusville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The name "Merritt Island" also refers to the extent of the peninsula, misnamed an "island".
The Banana River is a 31-mile-long (50 km) lagoon that lies between Cape Canaveral and Merritt Island in Brevard County, Florida in the United States. It is part of the Indian River Lagoon system, and connects at its south end to the Indian River; it is the only part of the lagoon system not in the Intracoastal Waterway. It also has an outlet to the Atlantic Ocean via a lock into Port Canaveral. The lagoon includes salt marshes, mangrove swamps, seagrass beds, drift algae, oyster bars, tidal flats, and spoil islands, providing habitats for many marine species. These are brackish waters mixed of salt and fresh water; waist deep with a soft bottom sand/grass. Commercial and recreational activities in the lagoon generate more than US$ 800 million annually for the local economy.
The Canaveral Barge Canal is an active canal in Brevard County, Florida, cutting east-west across northern Merritt Island just south of Cape Canaveral. It connects the Atlantic Ocean and Port Canaveral with the Indian River and wider Indian River Lagoon, part of the Intracoastal Waterway. The canal consists of two segments separated by the Banana River.
State Road 3, known locally as North Courtenay Parkway, is a north–south road located entirely on Merritt Island, serving as the southern access for the Kennedy Space Center near Cape Canaveral, Florida. The shortest of the one-digit Florida State Roads, its southern terminus is an intersection with SR 520 on Merritt Island, east of Cocoa.
State Road 520 (SR 520) is a 34.5-mile (55.5 km) east–west state highway in central Florida, United States, connecting with SR 50 in the Orlando area with SR A1A in Cocoa Beach.
The Merritt Island Causeway, mostly in Merritt Island, connects Cocoa, Merritt Island, Florida, and Cocoa Beach, Florida. The causeway transits the Willard Peebles bridge over the Banana River Lagoon. In the 1960s, SR A1A was routed over the eastern causeway from present day SR 520 and SR A1A, to the present day intersection of SR 520 and SR 3 on Merritt Island. The eastern section is known as the Cocoa Beach Causeway.
Ernest Kouwen-Hoven (1875–1940) came to the U.S at the age of 20 from the Netherlands. In 1908, his son, Jack, was born. His daughter, Phylis, followed in 1910. In 1915, the family arrived in Melbourne, Florida from California. He purchased land and platted it in 1916, thus founding Indialantic, Florida. The plat was later revised in 1919. In the same year, he began construction of his toll bridge across the Indian River. His original "Indialantic, Florida Land Sales" office, which was destroyed by fire in 1919, was built on Front Street in Melbourne.
Courtenay, an unincorporated community on Merritt Island in Brevard County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Palm Bay–Melbourne–Titusville Metropolitan Statistical Area. Courtenay was settled in the 1870s and 1880s by people from Charleston, South Carolina, and was named for William Ashmead Courtenay, a native of Charleston, Confederate veteran and Charleston businessman who later served two terms as Mayor of Charleston.
The Haulover Canal is a waterway north of Merritt Island, Florida, near the former site of Allenhurst, that connects Mosquito Lagoon with the Indian River, and is part of the Intracoastal Waterway.
St. Luke's Episcopal Church and Cemetery is an historic Carpenter Gothic style Episcopal church building built in 1888 and its adjacent cemetery located at 5555 North Tropical Trail, in Courtenay, on Merritt Island, Brevard County, Florida, in the United States. On June 15, 1990, St. Luke's and its cemetery were added to the National Register of Historic Places as Old St. Luke's Episcopal Church and Cemetery.
The Porcher House is a historic home in Cocoa, Florida. It is located at 434 Delannoy Avenue. On January 6, 1986, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
The Dr. George E. Hill House is an historic house located at 870 Indianola Drive in Indianola on Merritt Island, Florida. On March 3, 1994, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
Field Manor, located at 750 Field Manor Drive in Indianola on Merritt Island, Florida was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on September 11, 1997, as the J.R. Field Homestead. It is one of the oldest standing structures on Merritt Island, dating to the 1880s. The property and structure now serve as a historic house museum.
Brevard County, Florida has transportation available in the usual modes for a coastal county - highways, shipping, and airlines.
Georgiana is a populated place located on Merritt Island in Brevard County, Florida at latitude 28.288673N and longitude 80.671398W. The elevation is 10 feet. It is about five miles south of the 520 Causeway, situated where the island is about a half-mile wide.
John Fletcher Ankeny is best known as the founder of Ankeny, Iowa. He was the oldest child of Joseph and Harriet Giese Ankeny. He was born in Somerset County, Pennsylvania on May 6, 1824 on the farm owned by his father and his grandfather, Peter Ankeny. Peter was the one of the founders of Somerset, Pennsylvania. When Ankeny was seven years old, his father moved the family from Somerset, Pennsylvania to Millersburg, Ohio.
North Merritt Island is a census-designated place (CDP) in Brevard County, Florida, United States. It occupies a portion of the physical Merritt Island, north of the CDP of Merritt Island and south of Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. Florida State Road 3 is the main highway through the community, leading north to Florida State Road 405 and south to Florida State Road 528.