OUR STORY
For over thirty years, this has been a family-owned park. My children grew up within the park and started working here at very young age. For both of them, their first job was bagging ice. As they aged, they worked in the store stocking shelves and working behind the register…
By Marilyn, Owner
Back in 1979...
My husband and I purchased the Road Runner Trailer Park on December 20, 1979. It was run down and the county was ready to close it. The park had 92 sites and was on 28 acres. Upon purchase, there were about 15 acres of broken down machinery, cars, boats, buses, and debris, littered across most of the park. When we began, we had 28 acres, but only about 6 acres developed. Large sections of the park was previously used for debris, dead trees, bushes, leaves, and other waste. All the trash was immediately cleaned up, and we also managed to add 16 more sites.
Shortly thereafter, we built a store/game room/registration building, moving our operations out of a small silver-bullet airstream. The development of the rest of the park began. “A” section had already been developed and from there, most of the back portion of the park was developed. Sections B, C, N, O, F, E, D, M, and L were completed.
For the first year we owned the park, we rented a house on the corner of Kings Highway and St Lucie Blvd, (St Route 608). The house and ten acres next door to the park became available and we were fortunate to purchase that addition to the park. There was a barn on that property, and it soon became the maintenance shed.
It became apparent that we needed a recreation hall. We built a small recreation hall which sufficed for a short while. Each year, it seemed to get smaller and smaller. Around this time, we also added the restaurant and offices onto the store.
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From 1980’s to the Early 2000’s
By this time, we had remodeled the bathhouse and laundry facility with new interior equipment, fixtures, and solar panels.
Sections H and P were now completed, and we recognized the need for another bathhouse and a much larger Recreation Hall. One of our customers, Howard Thompson, was a contractor up north, prior to coming to Florida. He and many of the men of the park worked on the rec hall. Since completion, this large structure has been updated from time to time but remains structurally pretty much the same. About eight years later, we expanded the large recreation hall and roofed over the enclosure between the two rec halls and the bathhouse. It is rather unique in that it has three Huge Oak trees in the center of the portion that we enclosed.
In 1983, we began developing the ten acres that we purchased with the house. We moved the lake slightly and put in an additional 91 lots. In 1984, we had a ribbon cutting ceremony for our new S section and opened those sites for rental. Also in that year, my husband ran for County Commission and won. For eight years, he was a St. Lucie County Commissioner.
We purchased 11 acres on Indrio Road approximately 6 miles away and began plans for a new home. It was finished during the summer of 1986. Our first Park Christmas Party was held at the house that year. These parties were held there for many years. Once it became too large for the party, we moved it back to the resort.
Once we moved out of the house in the resort, we utilized it as a recreation hall. It had a library, and many small rooms for cards, games, and just about anything, giving us three recreation halls.
Around 2001, we completed paving of all of the roads and put in street lights. We were finally on city water and sewer and decided to develop a three-acre golf course. Even if you don’t play golf, it is a beautiful, natural Florida habitat. We often have Sand Hill Cranes, Blue Heron, and Curly Bills visiting that area of the resort. The waterfall and bridge over the lake make the golf course challenging for those wanting to practice their game. -
Expansion and the last 18 years
In 2004 we had two hurricanes, Francis, and Jean with direct hits on the Treasure Coast. Across the city, there were many people without homes. Due to the destruction of many homes, we asked some of our regular customers to cancel their reservations that season and allowed the people without homes to stay until they could get help. We were fortunate in that we had precious little damage to the park. Only the house recreation hall roof was damaged. We later had to remove that building.
The hurricanes also tore the roof from the porch. It was a metal roof and not real attractive. In 2005, we completely tore down the porch area and replaced it with tongue-in-groove wood paneling on the interior roof. We also added fans, TVs, Wi-Fi for laptops, and an area for the entertainers to perform. It is now a far more attractive entrance coming into the park.
Speaking of entrances in 2003, we realized that motor homes and travel trailers were getting much, much larger. Due to this, we completely changed the entrance of the park, enlarging the culverts, widening the entrance to accommodate these much larger units that were now utilizing our facilities. We also added new signage, landscaping, and a gate.
In 2014, we completely remodeled D section adding twenty brand new 50-amp sites with new pads, solid level ground for parking RVs, and fresh landscaping. In 2015, we also completely remodeled the pull-through section, creating concrete driveways for parking RVs and fireplaces on the patios of every site.
Through the years that we have been in operation, we have strived to make our resort the best quality experience possible for our customers. Our employees strive to make our guests feel welcome and at home.
We hope you enjoy your stay with us!
