Gilbert's Masterful Gumbo Recipe
Forty years after Gordon Gilbert's vision became a reality, the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center still stands as one of the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District's most important accomplishments.
A high school environmental science teacher and a District Commissioner from 1978-2008, Gilbert began his push to preserve a natural hammock along the Intracoastal within the Shine Tract - most of which became Red Reef Park - shortly after the purchase finalized.
Gilbert spent the better part of a decade raising funds for his project. Many, including some of his fellow Commissioners who were more focused on developing Patch Reef Park, doubted the wisdom of a nature preserve and education center.
“I said, 'Gordon, it's a swamp. Nobody will ever go there,'” said former Commissioner Al Travasos, chuckling. “And so finally I said, 'Gordon, if you agree to do Patch Reef the following year, we'll start funding your swamp project.”
That deal looks better and better as time passes.
The District pledged nearly $1 million to create the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, named after a tree indigenous to the hammock that is often called the “Tourist Tree” because its red bark peels away like a sunburned visitor from the north.
Other funding came from city and national grants, and even a 1983 charity softball game between members of the Miami Dolphins (including running backs Tony Nathan and Eddie Hill, defensive back Mike Kozlowski, tight end Dan Johnson and assistant coach David Shula) and a team from the Wildflower restaurant - a defunct 1980s hot spot located in what is now the recently opened Wildflower Park.
Wildflower actually won that game 21-8, prompting Shula to quip to the Fort Lauderdale News, “Who are those guys?”
Gumbo Limbo officially opened in 1984, with Gilbert serving as its director.
“I think from the very beginning it has been more than I expected,” Gilbert said. “There's been some great people involved over the years. When asked, everybody seemed to have jumped in.”
Gilbert served as Gumbo Limbo's director for the facility's first 20 years. He was the face of the place.
“Gordon was, certainly, an environmentalist, certainly was a big fan of Gumbo Limbo, and I think that his big claim to fame, really, is Gumbo Limbo,” said current Commissioner Bob Rollins, who served alongside Gilbert for more than a decade. “He's one of the nicest men that you ever want to meet.”
Upon opening, Gumbo Limbo featured exhibits, a classroom and tanks filled with local aquatic animals.
In the years that followed Gumbo Limbo added a boardwalk that allows visitors to walk through the hammock without disturbing the native vegetation. A man-made 40-foot high observation tower also sprouted within the hammock.
An agreement with the Palm Beach Country School District allowed for thousands of local children to learn about the environment, including indigenous plants and animals, at Gumbo Limbo.
An agreement with Florida Atlantic University created a highly regarded marine research facility.
Hundreds of injured sea turtles passed through Gumbo Limbo on their way back to their normal sea-going lives.
Gumbo Limbo was barely a decade old when it received the Howland Award for Urban Enhancement from the National League of Cities.
The District continues to fund Gumbo Limbo daily operations, as well as various special projects.
In recent years the District funded the replacement of pipes and pumps that bring seawater from the nearby Atlantic Ocean into Gumbo Limbo's tanks. Recently the District helped replace the weathered observation tower that had to be torn down in 2016. Jacob's Outlook opened in June.
Now in his 90s, Gilbert is currently living in Tennessee near his daughter, Sandy Stafford.
Though Gilbert couldn't attend the ribbon cutting for Jacob's Outlook in person, his friend Connie Talcott Smith brought him there via Facetime, allowing the man with the vision see the sights and reminisce with friends.
“It's been my life,” Gilbert said. “One of the greatest things I have accomplished is Gumbo Limbo. I look back and I just marvel how things worked out for me.”
This story is part of series that will run through the remainder of 2024 highlighting the District's Top Accomplishments during its first 50 years. Other stories as part of the series include:
Front of the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center
Flowers highlight the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center's entrance sign.
Gordon Gilbert attends the opening of Jacob's Outlook courtesy of Facetime and his friend Connie Talcott Smith.
An early brochure for the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton.