This #MuseumMonday, we’re spotlighting one of the Deering Estate’s most iconic features: the Boat Turning Basin. After Charles Deering purchased the Richmond Cottage, work began in 1916 to reshape six to seven acres of the surrounding grounds. This ambitious project created the sweeping lawn and the circular boat basin that visitors see today. Designed to accommodate Deering’s two boats—the Barbee and the Mar-y-Cel—the basin spans roughly 200 feet, connected to Biscayne Bay by an eight‑foot‑deep channel carved directly from the porous Miami limestone. The construction process was anything but quiet; occasional dynamite blasts sent dramatic plumes of black mud rising into the air, marking the transformation of the landscape into the serene basin we know now. Unfortunately, one dynamite charge went off sooner than expected, killing four men and injuring five more. Today, the Boat Turning Basin stands as both a remarkable engineering achievement and a serene focal point of the landscap...