House of Refuge Stuart

House of Refuge Stuart

The place:

The Martin County House of Refuge is the sole surviving house for shipwrecked sailors along the east coast of Florida (there were 10 of these).  

There is a stretch of about 1 mile of coquina rock formations along the beach near the southern tip of Hutchinson Island.  Coquina is a form of sandstone..  

Capturing this place with a camera:

  • My suggestion is to park in the Santa Lucea Beach parking area, and walk south beside the rock structures.  They make a fine foreground for sunrise photos.
  • Plan to arrive half an hour prior to the sunrise event itself and keep looking for photos an hour after.  It is this next hour where a lot of the best photo opps happen.
  • The seabirds, of all types are very common and excellent subjects.  Use a fast shutter speed when photographing them.
  • For the ocean, I would suggest the reverse, lately I have been slowing down my shutter speeds for the waves themselves as well as the waves hitting the rocks.
  • During storms, this area is a lot of fun but use an older camera due to all of the windswept salty seaspray


Interesting fact about this place:

The House of Refuge tower was constructed in 1942 for the purposes of keeping watch for German U-boats during WWII.  

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