The author recreates the history of Florida's "Space Coast," revealing how science and government conspired to reshape this piece of the state's Western shoreline permanently. (Science & Mathematics)

Melbourne and Eau Gallie tells the story of two pioneer towns and their coming of age during the last century. From tiny villages, whose early settlers depended on the Indian River for sustenance and travel, Melbourne and Eau Gallie has grown into a unified Space Coast city with more than 71,000 residents. With the railroad in the 1890s and US Highway 1 in the 1920s, tourism, agriculture, and industry blossomed in these midway towns along the Florida East Coast. World War II brought a military, aviation, and technological presence to Melbourne and Eau Gallie that was followed by a flood of new residents tied to America's Space Program. Through it all the Indian River Lagoon has maintained its importance in the lives of the area's people. History comes to life in these pages as readers discover familiar faces, names, places, and events that are distinct to each town and shared by today's unified city. Included are vintage photographs of the historic downtowns, riverfronts, and landmarks like the "Trysting Steps," Sunny Point, and the old bridges.

In 1950, an electronic company, Radiation, Inc, was founded in the rustic town of Melbourne, Florida. Over the next few years, Radiation achieved a remarkable reputation in many fields, including Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) Telemetry, Instrumentation Systems, large tracking antennas, radar reflectivity, and space hardware, including some still on the moon. This book documents some of the hardware and technological achievements of the company and its amazing cadre of employees. A number of personal memoirs and anecdotes are included, of and by many of these employees. The book also describes the local community of the 1950's and 1960's and how Radiation contributed to its development.In 1957, Radiation merged with Harris Corporation (then Harris-Intertype), whose present business still reflects the Radiation heritage.

A Land Remembered has become Florida's favorite novel. Now this Student Edition in two volumes makes this rich, rugged story of the American pioneer spirit more accessible to young readers. Patrick Smith tells of three generations of the MacIveys, a Florida family battling the hardships of the frontier. The story opens in 1858, when Tobias and Emma MacIvey arrive in the Florida wilderness with their son, Zech, to start a new life, and ends in 1968 with Solomon MacIvey, who realizes that his wealth has not been worth the cost to the land. Between is a sweeping story rich in Florida history with a cast of memorable characters who battle wild animals, rustlers, Confederate deserters, mosquitoes, starvation, hurricanes, and freezes to carve a kingdom out of the Florida swamp. In this volume, meet young Zech MacIvey, who learns to ride like the wind through the Florida scrub on Ishmael, his marshtackie horse, his dogs, Nip and Tuck, at this side. His parents, Tobias and Emma, scratch a living from the land, gathering wild cows from the swamp and herding them across the state to market. Zech learns the ways of the land from the Seminoles, with whom his life becomes entwined as he grows into manhood. Next in series > > See all of the books in this series