The Grove

Coconut Grove

It's really true how nothin' matters
No mad, mad world and no mad hatters
No one's pitchin' cause there ain't no batters
In coconut grove

 Don't bar the door, there's no one comin'
The ocean's roar will dull the drummin'
Of any city thoughts and city ways

 The ocean breezes cool my mind
The salty days are hers and mine
To do what we wanna

 Tonight we'll find a dune that's ours
And softly she will speak the stars
Until sun-up

 It's all from havin' someone knowin'
Just which way your head is goin'
Who's always warm, like in the mornin'
In coconut grove

(Lyrics by John Sebastian and Zal Yanovsky, The Lovin’ Spoonful)

Coconut Grove is a groovy village in South Florida, boasting an eclectic mix of writers, artists, musicians, architects, eccentrics and free spirits.

To the locals (Grovites), it is simply called “The Grove.” Local Grovite Luke Fronefield beautifully articulates the unique charm of Coconut Grove in an article from The New Tropic, titled “The Coconut Grove We Love is Getting Wiped Out“ –

“With its high ground and abundant rainfall, the Grove is a unique subtropical rain forest ecosystem, unlike the rest of Miami which is essentially reclaimed swamp. This has allowed beautiful canopies like that of Main Highway to flourish with a semblance of manicured control, though left to its own devices the entire Grove would revert to jungle.

It’s that barely concealed wildness — jungle tucked inside the sprawling concrete metropolis of Miami — that makes the Grove like nothing else in the United States, and perhaps like nothing else in the world. It’s not sexy and it’s not slick. It’s the wild child of Miami.”

Yes, “the wild child of Miami.” Most definitely!

It’s a lovely place to live or to visit. There are some really good books about The Grove, such as:

Coconut Grove (Images of America)

by Arva Moore Parks and Bo Bennett