Brickell Park

Located in the heart of the financial district in Miami, Brickell Park is a small park nestled among businesses, hotels, and condos, for those looking for some quick relaxation from living life in the fast lane — and we all need that! The park contains walking paths for those wanting to exercise or walk their dogs, and there’s also a tiny playground on site for the kids. It’s a waterfront park, so you can just sit here and watch the dolphins, which seem to enjoy swimming around here. Manatees may also be seen, so if your kids aren’t entertained enough with the playground, maybe looking for dolphins, manatees, pelicans, and other creatures may be of interest to them. According to my friend, some scenes for the movie «There’s Something About Mary» were filmed here, for those of you who love visiting former movie sites (and possibly recreating some of the scenes).
In true Miami craziness, next to a condo building and hotel hot spot is a resting spot for the Brickell family, Miami pioneers. Yes, dead bodies used to be here, in that fancy, white, marble «monument» on the lawn of the Icon Brickell condo, near their valet parking area. Cue the «Poltergeist» music. Luckily, for those who cannot face their own mortality and flee from anything related to death, in 1946, the bodies that were inside the mausoleum were moved to Woodlawn Park Cemetery (now Caballero Rivero Woodlawn North Park Cemetery and Mausoleum) by their daughter, Maud Brickell. I know a lot of people think this is simply some monument in tribute to the Brickell family, but as you can see, it has a bit of a darker history to it. It cannot be removed so any construction must be built around it, as it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.
The park itself was donated by the Brickell family to Miami in 1921 as a preserve for the family mausoleum. If that’s not historic enough for you, maybe this is – from 700 B.C. to 1000 A.D. Tequesta Indian Villages ran from Brickell Point up both sides of the Miami River as far west as Miami Avenue. Constructed mounds and cemeteries were part of the landscape until mid 1880s when pioneers began clearing and building there. So yes, in true Poltergeist fashion, high-​rises, condos and even the pathways may be built on top of Ancient Native American burial sites.
While we may not know the extent of the bodies underneath our feet, at least a portion of Native American relics is off-​limits. The Miami Circle, also known as The Miami River Circle, is located here. It consists of a perfect circle measuring 38 feet (11.5m) of 600 postmolds that contain 24 holes or basins cut into the limestone bedrock, on a coastal spit of land, surrounded by a large number of other ‘minor’ holes. It is believed to have been the location of a structure, built by the Tequesta Indians, in what was possibly their capital. Discovered in 1998, the site is believed to be somewhere between 1700 and 2000 years old. Some scholars have questioned both its age and its authenticity. Any and all artifacts recovered from the site can be found at HistoryMiami, if you’d like to see them for yourself. The circle itself remains buried to protect it. I do wish they would keep some of the artifacts on site, maybe in some indestructible plexiglass, to bring about interest. Right now, it just looks like a circle was paved into the dirt and has weeds growing inside of it.

This is Brickell’s Green Lung…
Very nice, but narrow, park in Brickell… next to the Icon Brickell.
A lot of mature shade trees, lots of grass, some nice benches, a play area for kids and of course it fronts a strip of Biscayne Bay. Even with all the high rises surrounding this park, you feel like you’re in a different world. I’m very fortunate to live right next door.

For an excellent review of the park’s significance please refer to Peter M.‘s, this area has a very important window to pre-​Cloumbian Tequesta burial grounds.
Aesthetically it’s wonderful. Miami’s move to be more green is certainly working well with this gem. A nice short walk to the bay, there’s a ton of green grass to look at before coming out to a nice view of Downtown & Brickell Key from across the water. I went during evening and I must say it’s very well lit and their were people doing a little yoga on the grass.
It’s located between the Icon Towers and the Cathedral. When it hits the water it swings around the Icon grounds.

Brickell Park contains both a pre-​Columbian archeological site and a historic mausoleum associated with the Brickell family. As early as the 1860s, pre-​Columbian sand mounds were noted here as part of a large hammock extending south from the Miami River. Recently, intact deposits of midden material (or refuse) associated with the pre-​Columbian Tequesta occupation were identified within this area. Several Native American burials also were identified that may be related to the inhabitants of the Miami Circle site. In fact, the density of burials suggests that this area was deliberately selected as a cemetery. The Brickell family located its mausoleum at this site. The mausoleum is the only surviving structure associated with one of Miami’s most important families. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.