Notes:

Homesteaded at what is now called Canova Beach, Florida.

[The following notes are from Louie Clarence Canova (lcc3@@msn.com) from his memory.] It is believed that Carlos was an engineer with the railroad. It is also thought that he was the first engineering graduate of the University of Florida.

[The following is from "Crossroad Towns Remembered, A look back at Brevard & Indian River pioneer communities", by Weona Cleveland, 1994, Florida Today, Melbourne, FL, pp 22-23. Originally published in "The Evening Times" on June 20, 1973 under the title "Oceanside landmark once a winter resort".]

Carlos F. Canova was a vivacious young man of 37, with sparkling dark eyes and a charisma about him that no girl could resist. A young widow with a small daughter met him and came to Florida in the year 1923 to be his bride.

'It was all very romantic,' says Patricia (Patsy) Kosinski. 'Here was a young man, a native Florida cracker, homesteading on 160 acres, trying to hack an existence out of the wilderness of the East Coast.'

Kosinski is the daughter of that woman who became Canova's bride. She says she can barely remember those early years of the 1920s, but she has heard Canova tell the stories of those hard days many times.

'That little wooden building that is connected to the big building down there,' she says motioning southward to the beach that bears Canova's name, 'was where Canova first lived. It originally stood by itself over near the Indian river, about half a block south of what is now the Eauy Gallie Causeway. then he moved it nearer the beach, as he began work on the pier.'

Canova had the usual 160 acres on which he was homesteading. It spread out in both a northward and southward direction from what is now the Eau Gallie Causeway. There was nothing much but palmetto scrub from Sebastian Inlet north to Cocoa Beach. A man by the name of Coleman, who had a pineapple plantation at the east end of Mathers Bridge, was probably his nearest neighbor.

About 1925 or 1926 ... Canova built what he called 'the casino.' It is the large square structure still standing high over the sands of Canova Beach. Upstairs were seven light housekeeping apartments and the downstairs was a huge cavernous area reserved for dances and entertainment. The Canova family occupied one of the small apartments, while the rest were rented out to winter guests.

It was about this time that Canova moved the little wooden house he had first lived in to the rear of the casino and the family used it as their kitchen and dining room.

The casino and what remains of the pier no longer belong to the Canova family., The property has been sold and 87-year-old Carlos Canova resides in Medic Home Health Center.