Cape Canaveral

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This article is about the area of Florida. For the city, see Cape Canaveral, Florida. For the port, see Port Canaveral.
For the rocket launch sites, see Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and Kennedy Space Center.
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Cape Canaveral from space. August 7, 1991

Cape Canaveral, from the Spanish Cabo Cañaveral, is a headland in Brevard County, Florida, United States, near the center of the state's Atlantic coast. Known as Cape Kennedy from 1963 to 1973, it lies east of Merritt Island, separated from it by the Banana River.

It is part of a region known as the Space Coast, and is the site of the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Since many U.S. spacecraft are launched from both the station and the Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, the terms "Cape Canaveral," "Canaveral", or "the Cape" have become metonyms that refer to both as the launch site of spacecraft. In homage to its spacefaring heritage, the Florida Public Service Commission allocated area code 321 to the Cape Canaveral area.[citation needed]

Other features of the cape include the Cape Canaveral lighthouse and Port Canaveral. The city of Cape Canaveral is a few miles south of the cape. Mosquito Lagoon, the Indian River, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and Canaveral National Seashore are also features of this area.

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History[edit]

During the middle Archaic period, from 5000 BCE to 2000 BCE, the Mount Taylor period culture region covered northeast Florida, including the area around Cape Canaveral. Late in the Archaic period, from 2000 BCE to 500 BCE, the Mount Taylor culture was succeeded by the Orange culture, which was among the earliest cultures in North America to produce pottery. The Orange culture was followed by the St. Johns culture, from 500 BCE until after European contact. The area around the Indian River was in the Indian River variant of the St. Johns culture, with influences from the Belle Glade culture to the south.[1]

During the first Spanish colonial period the area around the Indian River, to the south of Cape Canaveral, was occupied by the Ais people, while the area around the Mosquito Lagoon, to the north of the Cape, was occupied by the Surruque people. The Surruque were allied with the Ais, but it is not clear whether the Surruque spoke a Timucua language, or a language related to the Ais language.[2]

In the early 16th century Cape Canaveral was noted on maps, although without being named. It was named by Spanish explorers in the first half of the 16th century as Cabo Cañareal. The name "Canaveral" (Cañaveral in Spanish, meaning "reed bed" or "sugarcane plantation") is the third oldest surviving European place name in the US.[3] The first application of the name, according to the Smithsonian Institution, was from the 1521–1525 explorations of Spanish explorer Francisco Gordillo.[4] A point of land jutting out into an area of the Atlantic Ocean with swift currents, it became a landing spot for many shipwrecked sailors. An early alternate name was "Cape of Currents." By at least 1564, the name appeared on maps.[4]

English privateer John Hawkins and his journalist John Sparke gave an account of their landing at Cape Canaveral in the 16th century.[5] A Presbyterian missionary was wrecked here and lived among the Indians.[6] Other histories tell of French survivors from Jean Ribault's colony at Fort Caroline, whose ship the Trinite wrecked on the shores of Cape Canaveral in 1565, and who built a fort from its timbers.[7][citation needed]

The last naval battle of the American Revolutionary War was fought off the shores of Cape Canaveral in 1783, between the USS Alliance and the HMS Sybill,[8] the American frigate being captained by Captain John Barry.[9]

Because of the hazards of the cape from coral shoals to shipping, the first Cape Canaveral Lighthouse was built and completed in January 1848.[10]

The 1890 graduating class of Harvard University started a gun club called the "Canaveral Club" at the Cape. This was founded by C.B. Horton of Boston and George H. Reed. A number of distinguished visitors including presidents Grover Cleveland and Benjamin Harrison were reported to have stayed here. In the 1920s the grand building fell in disrepair and later burned to the ground.[11]

In the 20th century several communities sprang up in Cape Canaveral with names like Canaveral, Canaveral Harbor, and Artesia. [12]

While the area was predominantly a farming and fishing community, some visionaries saw its potential as a resort for vacationers.

In the 1930s a group of wealthy journalists started a community called "Journalista" which is now called Avon by the Sea. The Brossier brothers built houses in this area and started a publication entitled the Evening Star Reporter that was the forerunner of the Orlando Sentinel.[13]

Rocket launch site[edit]

The first rocket launch from the Cape was Bumper 8 from Launch Complex 3 on July 24, 1950. On February 6, 1959 the first successful test firing of a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile was accomplished. NASA's Project Mercury and Gemini space flights were launched from Cape Canaveral, as were all of the Apollo flights and Space Shuttles.

Cape Canaveral was chosen for rocket launches to take advantage of the Earth's rotation. The linear velocity of the Earth's surface is greatest towards the equator; the relatively southerly location of the cape allows rockets to take advantage of this by launching eastward, in the same direction as the Earth's rotation. It is also highly desirable to have the downrange area sparsely populated, in case of accidents; an ocean is ideal for this. The east coast of Florida has logistical advantages over potential competing sites. The Spaceport Florida Launch Complex 46 of the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station is at the tip of the cape.

Name changes[edit]

A post office in the area was built and listed in the US Post Office application as Artesia.[14] and retained this name from 1893–1954; and then went into service for Port Canaveral from 1954-1962; and lastly the City of Cape Canaveral from 1962 to 1963 when a larger post office was built.

From 1963 to 1973 the area had a different name as US President Lyndon Johnson by executive order renamed the area "Cape Kennedy." President John F. Kennedy set the goal of landing on the moon. After his assassination in 1963, his widow, Jacqueline Kennedy, suggested to President Lyndon Johnson that renaming the Cape Canaveral facility would be an appropriate memorial. Johnson recommended the renaming of the entire cape, announced in a televised address six days after the assassination. Accordingly, Cape Canaveral was officially renamed Cape Kennedy.

Although the name change was approved by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names of the Interior Department in December 1963,[15] it was not popular in Florida, especially in the neighboring city of Cape Canaveral. In 1973, the Florida Legislature passed a law restoring the former 400-year-old name, and the Board went along. The name restoration to Cape Canaveral became official on October 9, 1973.[16] The Kennedy family issued a letter stating they "understood the decision". NASA's Kennedy Space Center retains the "Kennedy" name.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Milanich, Jerald T. (1994). Archaeology of Precolumbian Florida. Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida. pp. 887–95, 244–247. ISBN 0-8130-1273-2. 
  2. ^ Hann, John H. (2003). Indians of Central and South Florida 1513-1763. Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida. p. 6. ISBN 0-8130-2645-8. 
  3. ^ Florida was named earlier, April 2, 1513, by Ponce de Leon, whose men also named Las Tortugas, now Dry Tortugas. From the account by Spanish historian Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas, published in 1601. Source: Stewart, George (1945). Names on the Land: An Historical Account of Place-Naming in the United States. New York: Random House. pp. 11–13. 
  4. ^ a b "The History of Cape Canaveral, Chapter 1: Cape Canaveral Before Rockets (B.C.–1948)". Spaceline, Inc. Retrieved 2008-12-29. 
  5. ^ Chatelain, Verne E (1941), The defenses of Spanish Florida : 1565 to 1763, Carnegie Institution of Washington publication, Nr. 511, Carnegie Institution, p. 10, OCLC 603544979 
  6. ^ Ranson, Robert (1989), East Coast Florida Memoirs 1837 to 1886 (reprint ed.), Florida Classics Library, ISBN 9780912451091 
  7. ^ Osborne, Ray (2008). Cape Canaveral. Images of America. Arcadia Publishing. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-7385-5327-6. 
  8. ^ Sonnenberg, Maria (January 22, 2007). Group pays homage to the past. Florida Today, page 3B. 
  9. ^ Osborne, Ray (2008). Cape Canaveral. Images of America. Arcadia Publishing. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-7385-5327-6. 
  10. ^ "Img_0338 (Cape Canaveral Lighthouse Florida heritage marker)". Cape Canaveral Lighthouse Foundation. Retrieved on 2012-11-10.
  11. ^ Osborne, Ray (2008). Cape Canaveral. Images of America. Arcadia Publishing. p. 18-20. ISBN 978-0-7385-5327-6. 
  12. ^ Osborne, Ray (2008). Cape Canaveral. Images of America. Arcadia Publishing. p. 39-42. ISBN 978-0-7385-5327-6. 
  13. ^ Osborne, Ray (2008). Cape Canaveral. Images of America. Arcadia Publishing. p. 40. ISBN 978-0-7385-5327-6. 
  14. ^ Osborne, Ray (2008). Cape Canaveral. Images of America. Arcadia Publishing. p. 42. ISBN 978-0-7385-5327-6. 
  15. ^ Osborne, Ray (2008). Cape Canaveral. Images of America. Arcadia Publishing. p. 88. ISBN 978-0-7385-5327-6. 
  16. ^ Spaceline.org - Cape History - accessed 2011-03-23

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Cape Canaveral

Coordinates: 28°27′20″N 80°31′40″W / 28.45556°N 80.52778°W / 28.45556; -80.52778

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