Sharing Briny Breeze Memories
Memories of Briny Breezes from Residents, Visitors and Fans
Briny Breezes ~ “The Best Location in the Nation”
Celebrating the Memories, Trivia and History of Briny Breezes, Florida.
Briny Breezes Trailer Home at "the Best Location in the Nation"
1956 Briny Breezes Family Swim - copyright Lynn Seeley-Thomas
I spent much of my youth living in Briny Breezes. Our family would arrive after Christmas and stay until Easter.
We would have a wonderful time visiting the area, touring Florida and Cuba, and most of all… enjoying the sand & sea.
More stories by Lynn Thomas at
http://www.briny-breezes.com/blog/briny-articles-by-lynn-thomas
If you have ever had the good fortune to spend any time in Briny Breezes… or if you were just passing through the area…
I invite you to post your memories and comments to our blog.
Comments on Briny Breezes Memories
Add Your Briny Breeze Memories
(If you would like to add your photo to the comment, email me the photo (150×150 max size).
If you would like to add several of your Briny Breezes photos to our blog, let me know by email, so we can build a special page for your images – thank you! info @ briny-breezes .com
Diane Halloran
My grandfather was Paul Miller who was of the developers of the property in the early 1920s. I was excited when my cousin sent information about this blog. I have so many, many childhood memories of the park and the wonderful residents. I remember when the “new” rec hall was built and being with my grandfather as he excitedly looked forward to its completion. As a child, I remember some of the dances there and I have very fond memories of the wonderful residents. ~
Shelly Ellison
With great sadness in my heart, I now reflect on another great memory of Briny. My dear Uncle Jay (Jay Beardslee) passed away last week. He and my Grandfather Don Coir loved Briny with a passion rarely seen. Uncle Jay loved to play shuffleboard, he was also the President for Briny for a time. He loved to talk to me about the Pelicans by the boats. Both he and my Grandfather will be greatly missed. Briny is such a special place, I will never forget the magic Uncle Jay and Grandpa found here. I too know what a magical place this is. Thank You BRINY!!
Update: The Magic of Briny Breezes
Bob Voss
My parents bought into Briny in the 70s and retired down there 2 years later. Spent most winters there. My dad passed away in 1990, but my mom stayed there another 9 winters until she passed away around 2000. I spent most winter holidays there. I kidded folks and said I wanted a ‘white xmas’…that was white sand between my toes on the beach on Xmas day as I took annual dip in the ocean in December, no matter what…
See article by Bob Voss: http://www.briny-breezes.com/blog/a-sandy-white-christmas/
Sue Rheinfrank
After my husband’s death in 2000, my relatives, Ken Nicholson, Eda Wood and Herb and Cynthia Nye, invited me to spend a week at Briny to help me cope with my loss. Being surrounded by loving family and kind new friends there was a source of great comfort to me then.
I returned to Briny with my cousin, Donna Clarke, during the summer of 2008. Once again, I found the people to be as nice and the setting to be as beautiful as I remembered it. What a wonderful sanctuary it is to everyone who loves it.
Dave
I remember coming down to Briny Breezes from Kokomo, Indiana back around 1973 playing Rock n Roll with our band... playing at Dante’s Den… always amazed at Carvin behind the bar… he was a great multi-tasker… we loved the place.. Great People there in Briny… Great Memories !
Jack Lee
My favorite memories of growing up in Briny were playing in the woods where Crown Colony Stands, Janet Flosom teaching me how to scuba dive and eating Lobster from the 2nd reef. We would go out with an inner tube and a net which is where the lobsters would go. In the 50’s Marine life was plentiful. I also have slides that I scanned of that era.
Marilyn Young
Your Briny Breezes articles are just wonderful, very descriptive, very nostalgic. I hope they are enjoyed by the residents and their families who have had these memories and experiences. I really enjoyed it.
Mary Kate
I’ve really been enjoying your web site – keep the memories coming!
Harold Kelley
I have enjoyed your postings about Briny Breezes. We have lived in Briny for nearly 30 years. Your article on the Quonset huts was well done and the pics were great. However, the ribs that support the structure are not steel. There was no available metal during the war and they used wood ribs. The ones in Briny are wood. Some deterioration has set in after 65 years of service and work has been done on some of the ribs.
Micky Morgan
My family moved into Briny in 1954 and my folks both worked for the Millers. Dad, John Swan, worked in the office and some outside ‘jocking’ trailers until his death in 1956. Back then one’s trailer didn’t stay on the lot year round; it was moved to storage, either in the Quonsets or outside of them.
As a kid we had lots of room to play in the summer and most summer residents moved their trailer up near the beach and back again to the ‘cheaper’ lots in the winter. Mom, Charlotte Swan Knaus, was the Social Director for some years and directed the various plays and productions in the old auditorium that burned and then the new one which replaced it for many years. Many thanks!
Fred House
I grew up in Briny, well almost. We found paradise in 1958 after moving down from Wisconsin. The park was filled with kids my age, we had forts under a lot of trailers, plus the north side was still wild with huge banyan trees, inlets, and our forts. ~ Fred House
Note: Please read Fred’s wonderful Briny Breeze articles at: http://www.briny-breezes.com/blog/briny-articles-by-fred-house/
This web site is a wonderful way to keep in touch! I lost touch with Peter Folsom many years ago after moving here to Mexico. Last month I received an email from him–he had found this web site and read my article about his mom. It turned out he had come here to San Miguel one year with his mom and lived here. I’ve also sent this link to various friends from Briny in the old days, including Lindy and Ellen Grannis, Greg kessman, Clare Ohland, Dana Littlefield– so hope they check it out.
Clare and I have been looking for Chellie Long Varcoe for many years so if anyone has a clue please let me know. Perhaps the whereabouts of Joyce Varcoe? thanks
Another update–recently Clare emailed me that she is interested in coming to San Miguel to see how life in the slow lane is. I haven’t seen her since the 60’s so it will be interesting. I just moved into a brand new house here, a few minutes out of town in the country. I have a horse parked across the street. I call him my fertilizer machine. Of course I don’t get too near but send my gardener over to collect the nuggets.
Ellen great memories. We pulled down a 40 by 8 foot trailer from Wisconsin. My bedroom was the hall between the front and bath and bedroom in back. Doors on either end would close with a dresser on one side and bed on the other. In my new house here I have a huge bedroom–I was giving a tour to friends and mentioned growing up in a trailer and my bedroom..My gosh you would have thought I grew up abused. I finally told them about Briny and all the wonderful things we had. I also told them about my “lucky” day when the tornado swept through and destroyed our trailer. Well it turned out okay as the insurance paid for a double wide and I had my own bedroom. My next door neighbor, Martha Johnson, arranged for me to stay on the sofa of her sister and husband in a small apt. near Briny. I did learn not to keep love letters from my girlfriend as they blew up and down the street, giving my neighbors a few good laughs.
We were very lucky–we had planned to leave under evacuation orders around 6 pm, after dinner. However at 4 pm some Brinyites and good friends called. They had just driven in from Michigan and wanted us to meet them for dinner. So we left early for the Boynton Motel and had dinner with them. The tornado hit around 6 as I recall, when we drove home the next morning I’ll never forget what our street looked like, nor my mom bursting out in tears.
Shelly Ellison
I love Briny and always will. I have been coming since I was small. My great grandparents and my grandparents the Coirs have been here forever. My beloved Grandfather loved Briny so much. He loved to talk, visit work in the art shop, he could hardly wait till winter started. He now lives in the waters off of Briny, always waiting for us to come down.
Now my own parents and my dog brother winter here. I come down to share memories with my Gram, and begin new ones with my parents. My heart lights up at the thought of Briny. THANK YOU for such heart warming memories.
Fred House
Hi thanks for writing about the early days –I remember your grandfather very well. We moved into the “adult” section in 1957-8 I was ten years old. Under the age limit. However Paul Miller liked me and said it was okay. A nosy neighbor said to my mother one day that I didn’t look old enough–she replied that everyone in our family was short! Not much the neighbor could say to that–What a magical place to grow up.
Doni Caldwell (Cookie Grannis)
When I tell people about my childhood in Briny, they give me an incredulous look. To have been able to run around naked and shoeless (except the ubiquitous mask and fins) until I had to wear clothes for pre-school,is something most cannot fathom. What a different time and place that was. We had the good luck (thanks Mom and Dad) to be brought up in a place with unlimited nature access and the most interesting group of talented artists (thanks Mary Smith, and all). Mind and body. We were truly raised by the village (thanks Davids and Hamms and so many others). When Mom, Lindy, Ellen and I get together, we bring out the pictures and have a good laugh down memory lane….it was the best.
Nancy Whittingham
My parents used to live in your park…and loved it.
John Irish
I remember playing at Dante’s Den around 1976 when it was the mecca of rock in the area. We came in from Colorado (band was Swan, Led Zeppelin afficionados) and immediately loved the place. It was the best place to play! Dave, I remember your band Cherry Hump from Kokomo, Ind. and you guys were legends at Dantes Den! I remember Carvin and Debbie the bartenders (don’t ask me how I remember…) I lived in the small cottages behind the surf shop (still there!!) and have a lot of great memories.
Filed under Briny Breeze Memories by 
We moved to Briny in February 1953. I would be 3 and my sister would be 5 in April of that year. Growing up at the beach in Briny was the best . . . and I have the skin cancer to prove it!
We rented year-round. In the winter when the snowbirds came down, we would find an empty spot to park our trailer and in the summer would move up by the beach. We always lived near the beach because that’s where mom wanted to be. When I was in junior high school, we moved to a house my father built on Douglas Drive, on the north side of Briny, and around 1970 he built our 2nd home on Surf Road, on the south side of Briny.
We still have movies of the Christmas recitals put on by the dance students of Aleta Dore (sp?) . . . yes, in the quonset huts. Does anyone remember our director? I will have to ask my mom and sister who directed those recitals. If memory serves, those participating included Judy, Diane and Denise (and possibly David) David, Eric and Tommy Ham, Dana Littlefield, Clare Ohland, a Bashaw or 2 and Diantha Inn.
Those Quonset huts also housed the multi-denominational church where we attended Sunday School.
We lived in Briny long before double wides were invented. We were 6 in a single trailer. My older sister and I slept on a pullout couch on the screened-in patio with the 2 youngest kids in the bunk-beds, mid-trailer. On cold mornings, we would be hard put to get out from under the covers and into the warmth of the trailer, where mom would be warming our undies in the oven as well as taking the chill off the trailer.
In the summertime we would fall asleep to the heady fragrance of night-blooming jasmine and the sound of the ocean. the only thing that sounded better than the ocean waves lapping the shore was the sound of rain on our tin roof or canvas awning.
I doubt I could have found a better place to grow up.