Florida Historical Markers Programs - Marker Detail

Description: Constructed on this site in 1888, Myrtle Cottage was built by Mrs. Hannah Cummings and her daughter Grace, and was the first house in the area known as Melbourne Beach. The house's construction was made difficult by the lack of roads or docks, and while it was being built the Cummings family camped on the beach at the nearby House of Refuge, a shipwreck lifesaving station. After its completion, the family lived in the large house and took in boarders, including Major Cyrus Graves, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Whiting, Mr. Alfred Wilcox, and others who helped found Melbourne Beach. Myrtle Cottage was always an important part of the community. Church services and Sunday school classes were held there until 1892 when the Community Chapel was built. However if repairs were needed to the chapel or bad weather threatened, church services and classes were temporarily held in Myrtle Cottage. In later years the house served as a rooming house for students from the Florida Institute of Technology. In 1982, the house caught fire and burned to the ground as a large number of people watched in dismay. There are still residents of Melbourne Beach who fondly remember the "Grand Old Building."