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Foundations & Folklore

The real bones of South Florida.
Early settlement, development, prohibition, corruption, booms, busts, and the quiet deals that shaped everything.

Rumrunners & River Kings: How Prohibition Put Broward on the Map

2026-02-01
Foundations & FolkloreSmugglers Coast
By: John Payne
On: February 1, 2026

Prohibition didn’t make Americans stop drinking.It made them better planners. When the Volstead Act went into effect in 1920, Washington imagined a country sobering up out of respect for the law. South Florida imagined supply chains. You don’t ban a habit. You reroute it. And Broward County, quietly, was alreadyContinue Reading

The New River Knows Things: How Water Shaped Power in Fort Lauderdale

2026-01-28
Foundations & Folklore
By: John Payne
On: January 28, 2026

If you want to understand Fort Lauderdale, don’t start with the skyline.Look down. Before the towers, before the drawbridges learned their choreography, before anyone thought “waterfront” meant brunch, the river was already making decisions. The New River didn’t wait for permission. It didn’t follow a polite, linear plan. It bent,Continue Reading

Early 1900s New River waterfront in Fort Lauderdale

Founding Rumors: Why Fort Lauderdale Was Built on Whispers

2026-01-28
Foundations & Folklore
By: John Payne
On: January 28, 2026

Every city has a founding myth.Fort Lauderdale has a founding rumor. Not the kind involving buried treasure or noble pioneers shaking hands at sunset. This one is quieter. Less ceremonial. It sounds like a boat idling just out of sight, a ledger that never quite balances, a shrug followed byContinue Reading

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