In 1887, a group of residents formed the Biscayne Bay Yacht Club and elected Ralph Munroe as Commodore, a title he held for 22 years. Boats were the primary mode of transportation in Coconut Grove at that time, and the Yacht Club was a place of prominence in community life.

The Peacocks, who operated a meat business, left England in 1875 to come to the wilds of Florida with their three boys, Charles, Alfred and Harry.“We conducted a trading post and exchanged merchandise and commodities with the Indians who brought in gopher skins, plumes, corn and pumpkins,” recalled Harry Peacock in 1917 (Metropolis, July 27, 1917). “Besides trading, we also manufactured starch from komtie [coontie] selling that in Key West.” Life in the settlement seemed to suit pioneer Isabella. She helped found the Church of the Union Chapel where Henry Ward Beecher’s nephew once preached and where she held the first Sunday school class in South Florida.