Merritt Island is a

peninsula A peninsula is a landform that extends from a mainland and is only connected to land on one side. Peninsulas exist on each continent. The largest peninsula in the world is the Arabian Peninsula. Etymology The word ''peninsula'' derives , . T ...

, commonly referred to as an island, in

Brevard County, Florida Brevard County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Florida. It is on the Atlantic coast of eastern Central Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 606,612, making it the 10th-most populated county in Florida. The official county s ...

, United States, located on the eastern Florida coast, along the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

. It is also the name of an unincorporated town in the central and southern parts of the island and a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

(CDP). The population was 34,518 at the 2020 census, down from 34,743 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Palm Bay–Melbourne–Titusville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area.

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

John F. Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten NASA facilities#List of field c ...

is located on Merritt Island to the north of the town, and

Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge is a United States, U.S. National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of Florida's largest barrier island. NASA's Kennedy Space Center and visitor complex are also situated on the ...

is located north of the space center. The central part of Merritt Island, previously known as Merritt City, is home to the majority of the population and includes the local high school, library, and shopping district. The southern area is heavily residential, with centralized light

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

and light industrial areas.

History

Etymology

Merritt Island owes its name to the

King of Spain The monarchy of Spain or Spanish monarchy () is the constitutional form of government of Spain. It consists of a Hereditary monarchy, hereditary monarch who reigns as the head of state, being the highest office of the country. The Spanish ...

. The entire island was part of a land grant given by the King to a nobleman named Merritt.

Prehistory

Paleontological excavations in the area have unearthed the remains of numerous

megafauna In zoology, megafauna (from Ancient Greek, Greek μέγας ''megas'' "large" and Neo-Latin ''fauna'' "animal life") are large animals. The precise definition of the term varies widely, though a common threshold is approximately , this lower en ...

and other extinct species, including many

herbivorous A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically evolved to feed on plants, especially upon vascular tissues such as foliage, fruits or seeds, as the main component of its diet. These more broadly also encompass animals that eat n ...

ungulate Ungulates ( ) are members of the diverse clade Euungulata ("true ungulates"), which primarily consists of large mammals with Hoof, hooves. Once part of the clade "Ungulata" along with the clade Paenungulata, "Ungulata" has since been determined ...

artiodactyl Artiodactyls are placental mammals belonging to the order Artiodactyla ( , ). Typically, they are ungulates which bear weight equally on two (an even number) of their five toes (the third and fourth, often in the form of a hoof). The other t ...

s ( camelids, peccaries), perissodactyls ( equids,

tapir Tapirs ( ) are large, herbivorous mammals belonging to the family Tapiridae. They are similar in shape to a Suidae, pig, with a short, prehensile nose trunk (proboscis). Tapirs inhabit jungle and forest regions of South America, South and Centr ...

s),

proboscidea Proboscidea (; , ) is a taxonomic order of afrotherian mammals containing one living family (Elephantidae) and several extinct families. First described by J. Illiger in 1811, it encompasses the elephants and their close relatives. Three l ...

ns (

mammoth A mammoth is any species of the extinct elephantid genus ''Mammuthus.'' They lived from the late Miocene epoch (from around 6.2 million years ago) into the Holocene until about 4,000 years ago, with mammoth species at various times inhabi ...

mastodon A mastodon, from Ancient Greek μαστός (''mastós''), meaning "breast", and ὀδούς (''odoús'') "tooth", is a member of the genus ''Mammut'' (German for 'mammoth'), which was endemic to North America and lived from the late Miocene to ...

s),

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the Order (biology), order Rodentia ( ), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and Mandible, lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal specie ...

s (

beaver Beavers (genus ''Castor'') are large, semiaquatic rodents of the Northern Hemisphere. There are two existing species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers are the second-large ...

capybara The capybara or greater capybara (''Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris'') is the largest living rodent, native to South America. It is a member of the genus '' Hydrochoerus''. The only other extant member is the lesser capybara (''Hydrochoerus isthmi ...

porcupine Porcupines are large rodents with coats of sharp Spine (zoology), spines, or quills, that protect them against predation. The term covers two Family (biology), families of animals: the Old World porcupines of the family Hystricidae, and the New ...

tortoise Tortoises ( ) are reptiles of the family Testudinidae of the order Testudines (Latin for "tortoise"). Like other turtles, tortoises have a shell to protect from predation and other threats. The shell in tortoises is generally hard, and like o ...

s and

xenarthra Xenarthra (; from Ancient Greek ξένος, xénos, "foreign, alien" + ἄρθρον, árthron, "joint") is a superorder and major clade of placental mammals native to the Americas. There are 31 living species: the anteaters, tree sloths, and ...

ns (

armadillo Armadillos () are New World placental mammals in the order (biology), order Cingulata. They form part of the superorder Xenarthra, along with the anteaters and sloths. 21 extant species of armadillo have been described, some of which are dis ...

glyptodont Glyptodonts are an extinct clade of large, heavily armoured armadillos, reaching up to in height, and maximum body masses of around 2 tonnes. They had short, deep skulls, a fused vertebral column, and a large bony carapace made up of hundreds o ...

s). These species, and many more, thrived in the region up to approx. 11,000 years ago, when a larger North-American

extinction event An extinction event (also known as a mass extinction or biotic crisis) is a widespread and rapid decrease in the biodiversity on Earth. Such an event is identified by a sharp fall in the diversity and abundance of multicellular organisms. It occ ...

caused the majority of native megafauna to die out; this was possibly due to

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

caused by the advancing and/or retreating of the glacial maximum, thus affecting

natural resource Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest, and cultural value. ...

s and weather conditions. Later, more pressures on wildlife would have come from the arrival of the

Clovis culture The Clovis culture is an archaeological culture from the Paleoindian period of North America, spanning around 13,050 to 12,750 years Before Present (BP). The type site is Blackwater Draw locality No. 1 near Clovis, New Mexico, where stone too ...

, who became prolific hunters with their distinct, fluted stone weaponry—including some of the earliest

spear A spear is a polearm consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with Fire hardening, fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable materia ...

s and

arrowhead An arrowhead or point is the usually sharpened and hardened tip of an arrow, which contributes a majority of the projectile mass and is responsible for impacting and penetrating a target, or sometimes for special purposes such as signaling. ...

s. Biochemical analyses have shown, for example, that Clovis tools were used in the hunting of camelids. The

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

, or

Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), as well as the current and most recent of the twelve periods of the ...

, megafaunal extinction also coincided, roughly, with the appearance of the Clovis culture. By between 800- 900 BC, permanent Native American structures were erected in the area. Their

mounds A mound is an artificial heap or pile, especially of earth, rocks, or sand. Mound and Mounds may also refer to: Places * Mound, Louisiana, United States * Mound, Minnesota, United States * Mound, Texas, United States * Mound, West Virginia * Moun ...

populated the lagoon margin.

Post-Columbian

In 1605, Spanish explorer Álvaro Mexía visited the local tribes living in the Indian River area. He interacted with the local tribe of

Ais people The Ais or Ays were a Native American people of eastern Florida. Their territory included coastal areas and islands from approximately Cape Canaveral to the Indian River. The Ais chiefdom consisted of a number of towns, each led by a chief w ...

, part of the native province of Ulumay. Merritt Island is the prominent island on a color map he drew of the area, a copy of which is in the archives at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

and the archives in

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. Within a few years, all but a handful of these natives were dead from an

epidemic An epidemic (from Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of hosts in a given population within a short period of time. For example, in meningococcal infection ...

that plagued the area after a British merchant ship ran aground. In the 1760s, the Elliott Plantation grew and processed

sugar cane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fib ...

. Remains of the plantation can be found in the

Wildlife Refuge A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geolog ...

. In April 1788, French botanist

André Michaux André Michaux (' → ahn- mee-; sometimes Anglicisation, anglicised as Andrew Michaud; 8 March 174611 October 1802) was a French botanist and explorer. He is most noted for his study of North American flora. In addition Michaux collected specime ...

traveled to Merritt Island, near

Cape Canaveral Cape Canaveral () is a cape (geography), cape in Brevard County, Florida, in the United States, near the center of the state's Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. Officially Cape Kennedy from 1963 to 1973, it lies east of Merritt Island, separated ...

, and spent five days looking at the local plants. He wrote a letter on April 24, 1788, from St Augustine. He reported discovering the flag or bigflower paw-paw, '' Asimina obovata'' ('' Annona grandiflora'' Bartr.). In 1837, Fort Ann was constructed on the east coast of Merritt Island, near present-day Haulover Canal, to protect the area against the local Seminoles. Merritt Island's recent history dates back to the mid-19th century, and centers on the growth of

citrus ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the family Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, mandarins, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes. ''Citrus'' is nativ ...

, with an emphasis on the cultivation of oranges as well as

pineapple The pineapple (''Ananas comosus'') is a Tropical vegetation, tropical plant with an edible fruit; it is the most economically significant plant in the family Bromeliaceae. The pineapple is indigenous to South America, where it has been culti ...

s. The Indian River oranges and

grapefruit The grapefruit (''Citrus'' × ''paradisi'') is a subtropical citrus tree known for its relatively large, sour to semi-sweet, somewhat bitter fruit. The flesh of the fruit is segmented and varies in color from pale yellow to dark red. Grapefru ...

come from this sandy area. Freezes temporarily destroyed the local pineapple industry in the late 1890s. Freed slaves constructed small towns in the area after the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

, including Haulover, Clifton, and Shiloh. The island's population grew in the 1950s and 1960s as the

Space Race The Space Race (, ) was a 20th-century competition between the Cold War rivals, the United States and the Soviet Union, to achieve superior spaceflight capability. It had its origins in the ballistic missile-based nuclear arms race between t ...

began and nearby

expanded. Construction of a barge canal to the

Intracoastal Waterway The Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) is a Navigability, inland waterway along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the United States, running from Massachusetts southward along the Atlantic Seaboard and around the southern tip of Florida, the ...

from the

(for power plant oil shipments) cut off the northern half of the island for many years. To this day, the northern portion of the island remains slightly less developed, with a few areas remaining as cattle pasture or citrus land. The small towns on the island vanished with the coming of the

Space Age The Space Age is a period encompassing the activities related to the space race, space exploration, space technology, and the cultural developments influenced by these events, beginning with the launch of Sputnik 1 on October 4, 1957, and co ...

, and now only live on in the names of streets and historic churches. In 1988, citizens defeated a proposed incorporation into a city, 77% opposed to 23% in favor. Sea Ray Boats operated a factory on Merritt Island from 1978 to 2012. At one time it employed 1200 people. It closed the plant in 2013.

Geography

Merritt Island extends some from the Volusia County line to Dragon Point near

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. It connects to the Florida mainland where SR 3 now intersects US 1 in Volusia County. To the west it is separated from the mainland by the Indian River and the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. To the east it is separated by the Mosquito Lagoon and the

Banana River The Banana River is a lagoon that lies between the outer barrier islands and Merritt Island in Brevard County, Florida in the United States. It is part of the Indian River Lagoon system, and connects at its south end to the Indian River; it ...

from the

barrier island Barrier islands are a Coast#Landforms, coastal landform, a type of dune, dune system and sand island, where an area of sand has been formed by wave and tidal action parallel to the mainland coast. They usually occur in chains, consisting of an ...

on which

and Cocoa Beach stand. The east side of Merritt Island splits and is divided by Sykes Creek and Newfound Harbor. In the north, the Haulover Canal, first dug in the 19th century, separates the island from the mainland. To the west, the island is connected by causeways to mainland Brevard County near Titusville and Cocoa on its northern end, and in

on its southern end. To the east the island is connected to Cape Canaveral by the Crawlerway, and by causeways to Cocoa Beach and Satellite Beach. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the CDP has a total area of , of which is land and , or 62.88%, is water.

Fauna

To the north,

, along with a narrow

that make up Canaveral National Seashore, offer an unpopulated protected buffer area for rocket launches at

Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten NASA facilities#List of field c ...

. There are about 356 species of birds on the peninsula, one of the most diverse in the country.

Migratory birds Bird migration is a seasonal movement of birds between breeding and wintering grounds that occurs twice a year. It is typically from north to south or from south to north. Migration is inherently risky, due to predation and mortality. The ...

join the more resident

wildlife Wildlife refers to domestication, undomesticated animals and uncultivated plant species which can exist in their natural habitat, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wilderness, wild in an area without being species, introdu ...

, including alligators,

manatee Manatees (, family (biology), family Trichechidae, genus ''Trichechus'') are large, fully aquatic, mostly herbivory, herbivorous marine mammals sometimes known as sea cows. There are three accepted living species of Trichechidae, representing t ...

dolphin A dolphin is an aquatic mammal in the cetacean clade Odontoceti (toothed whale). Dolphins belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontopori ...

s, sea turtles,

bald eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche ...

osprey The osprey (; ''Pandion haliaetus''), historically known as sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor, reaching more than in length and a wingspan of . It ...

bobcat The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the wildcat, bay lynx, or red lynx, is one of the four extant species within the medium-sized wild cat genus '' Lynx''. Native to North America, it ranges from southern Canada through most of the c ...

s, and the elusive

Florida panther The Florida panther is a North American cougar (''P. c. couguar'') population in South Florida. It lives in pinelands, tropical hardwood hammocks and mixed freshwater swamp forests. Its range includes the Big Cypress National Preserve, Everglade ...

. A number of bald eagle nests are monitored atop power line poles along SR 3 within Kennedy Space Center. There are about 12,000

feral pig A feral pig is a domestic pig The pig (''Sus domesticus''), also called swine (: swine) or hog, is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is named the domestic pig when distinguishing it from other members of the g ...

s in North Merritt Island. Licensed trappers catch about 2,000 annually, which keeps the population even. The

United States Fish and Wildlife Service The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is a List of federal agencies in the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of the Interior which oversees the management of fish, wildlife, ...

would like to reduce the population.

Places on Merritt Island

Merritt Island has or had 23 named communities, all unincorporated, including:

Demographics

2010 and 2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 34,518 people, 13,790 households, and 8,600 families residing in the CDP. As of the 2010 United States census, there were 34,743 people, 14,247 households, and 9,385 families residing in the CDP.

2000 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 36,090 people, 14,955 households, and 10,049 families residing in the CDP. The population density was . There were 15,813 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the CDP was 90.22%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 5.31%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.41% Native American, 1.65% Asian, 0.06%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.68% from other races, and 1.66% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 3.83% of the population. In 2000, there were 14,955 households, out of which 27.1% had children under the age of 18, 52.9% were married couples living together, 10.7% had a female householder with no husband, and 32.8% were non-families. Of households, 26.8% were solely individuals and 11.4% had a lone resident of 65 or older. The average household size was 2.36 and the average family size was 2.86. In 2000, in the CDP, the population was spread out, with 21.8% under the age of 18, 6.1% from 18 to 24, 26.1% from 25 to 44, 26.2% from 45 to 64, and 19.8% of 65 or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.3 males.

Government

Merritt Island is under the administrative care of the local county government, with water being handled by the neighboring city of Cocoa. The county maintains operations for the sheriff's office, fire department, emergency medical services, and sewage systems.

Economy

Personal income

According to the 2000 Census: * Median household income = $43,532 * Median family income = $52,388 * Median income for males = $41,393 * Median income for females = $25,787 *

Per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

= $23,961 * Below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

: ** Families = 7.2% ** Population = 9.4% ** Those under age 18 = 13.8% ** Those over age 64 = 7.0%

Industry

There are light industrial fabrication centers on the Merritt Island Airport, and

-related industrial activities to support the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...

, which was retired in summer of 2011, and other rocket launches on

Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) is an installation of the United States Space Force's Space Launch Delta 45, located on Cape Canaveral in Brevard County, Florida. Headquartered at the nearby Patrick Space Force Base, the sta ...

Air Liquide Air Liquide S.A. ( , ; literally " liquid air") is a French multinational company which supplies industrial gases and services to various industries including medical, chemical and electronic manufacturers. Founded in 1902, after Linde it is ...

operates a plant there. Arnott Air Suspension Products, develops and sells aftermarket automotive air suspension products, is also headquartered in Merritt Island.

Redevelopment

Merritt Island has a redevelopment agency funded by the county.

Education

Merritt Island has several schools. Public schools are operated by Brevard Public Schools: * MILA Elementary * Tropical Elementary * Audubon Elementary * Robert Louis Stevenson School of the Arts * Lewis Carroll Elementary * Gardendale Elementary (Closed since 2014) * Thomas Jefferson Middle School * Edgewood Junior/Senior High School * Merritt Island High School Private schools: * Merritt Island Christian * Calvary Chapel Christian School * Brevard Private Academy

Library district

The Merritt Island Public Library, though a part of the Brevard County Library System, is a state-designated special library district. Since Merritt Island is an unincorporated area of Brevard County, in 1965 the area applied for, and was designated, a special library district under Chapter 65-1289 by the Florida Legislature. In 2005, the

Florida House of Representatives The Florida House of Representatives is the lower house of the Florida Legislature, the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida Senate being the upper house. Article III, Section 1 of the C ...

codified all special acts and amendments, in regards to the Merritt Island Public Library District, under HB 1079.

Infrastructure

Roads

The residential areas of Merritt Island, East and West Merritt Island, are only accessible by causeway or drawbridge at all points. The island is linked by causeways, Florida 520

SR 520 ( Merritt Island Causeway), Florida 404

, State Road 404 (Pineda Causeway), Florida 405

, State Road 405, Florida 406

, State Road 406, and Florida 528

SR 528, to the barrier island to its east and the mainland to the west. Mathers Bridge connects the southernmost area to the barrier island. Florida 3

SR 3, a four-lane highway, connects the

for workers from the more densely populated central and southern sections of the island.

Sewage

The lift station near the Pineda Causeway was built to handle per day. It became overloaded after

Hurricane Irma Hurricane Irma was an extremely powerful and devastating tropical cyclone that was the first Category 5 hurricane to strike the Leeward Islands on record, followed by Hurricane Maria, Maria two weeks later. At the time, it was considered ...

in 2017. Trucks were used to dispose of the excess which rose to daily.

Airports

Merritt Island Airport is a public general aviation airport located on South Merritt Island and run by the Titusville-Cocoa (TICO) Airport Authority.

Landmarks

* J. R. Field Homestead * Hacienda del Sol, large historic agricultural estate on South Merritt Island (home still exists, property is now a private estate) * Haulover Canal * Dr. George E. Hill House *

* Mather's Bridge Restaurant (now closed), previously Hacienda del Sol's workers mess hall, was joined by former field workers quarters (since destroyed) across South Tropical Trail at Mather's Bridge * Merritt Island Airport * Merritt Island (Canaveral) Barge Canal * Merritt Island Dragon *

* Kiwanis Island Park * Merritt Island Rotary Park Nature Trail and Center * Pine Island Conservation Area, preserve. Pine Island contains Sams House, built in 1875. It is Brevard's oldest standing structure. * Old St. Luke's Episcopal Church and Cemetery * Ulumay Wildlife Sanctuary * Futch Cove on Banana Creek (location of Apollo/Saturn Visitors Center) * Merritt Square Mall

Notable people

* Tim DeMorat, football player * Arias Deukmedjian, racing driver * Taylor Jordan, baseball player * Travis Kittleson, racing driver * Roy Padrick, actor and journalist

References

{{Authority control Census-designated places in Brevard County, Florida Former islands of the United States Landforms of Brevard County, Florida Peninsulas of Florida Populated places on the Intracoastal Waterway in Florida