Merritt Island, Florida

About 55 miles east of Orlando, unincorporated Merritt Island is part of Florida’s “Space Coast” and sits on the southern end of a two pronged peninsula (once an island) of the same name. The northern part of the peninsula is home to the Kennedy Space Center and the 140,000-acre Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge with its nearly 12,000 feral hogs. To the northeast is the stunning Canaveral National Seashore.

For many years, this region was known for its grapefruit and oranges. When the Space Race began in the 1950s, NASA expanded into the area, and entire towns disappeared. Merritt Island, once known as Merritt City, remained. It is a mellow, unassuming residential place where boating is a big part of the lifestyle.

There is no real downtown, but Merritt Square is a mall with national retailers and chain restaurants. The northern area of “town” has retailers, light industrial parks and planned communities with tract homes, most built in the 1970s and some along canals. The southern section has stunning custom homes on a strip of land so narrow that all residences sit on either the Banana River or on the Indian River and have a boat dock.

SpaceX now launches rockets from the Kennedy Space Center, and tourists still come to visit. Wildlife, in addition to the wild pigs, is abundant, with dolphins, bobcats, alligators, manatees, sea turtles, bald eagles, ospreys and panthers all nearby.

The island is connected to the mainland via busy causeways, and residents often travel to neighboring Cocoa or Rockledge for services, dining and shopping. Cocoa Beach’s six miles of sparkling oceanfront sands are about a mile to the east via the Martin Anderson Beachline Expressway or the West Cocoa Beach Causeway.