GARDENA

NAME: Gardena
COUNTY: Palm Beach
ROADS: 2WD
GRID: 4
CLIMATE: Hot and buggy most of the year
BEST TIME TO VISIT: Anytime
COMMENTS: Take State Road 80 to South Bay, then take US27 South to route 827, running parallel to the Hillsborough/Bolles Canal (this is the Okeelanta ghost town). Head west on 827 until you reach the Miami Locks canal (you will pass the site of Fruitcrest along the way here) Across the canal on the NW corner is the Gardena site. This can also be reached by taking SR80 west of Southbay to Miami Canal Rd, then south to Bolles Canal, though some portions of this road may be private property. Site is alternately spelled Gardenia or Gardinia
REMAINS: None known
Gardena was a small farming settlement near the southern edge of Lake Okeechobee, similar to Fruitcrest and Okeelanta. Little information is available about the site. Location pinpointed on Lawrence Will's map in "The Cracker History of Okeechobee�. Site is also mentioned in the book "Everglades River of Grass". Like many other farm communities along the south shore of the Lake it was destroyed in the Hurricane of 1928. Submitted by: Jim Pike


Former Gardena site, now sugarcane fields
Courtesy Jim Pike


Gardena site with Miami Lock canal in front and Bolles canal on left
Courtesy Jim Pike


Gardena 1920s
Courtesy Jim Pike

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