Small Town, USA · Draft feature
Fort Pierce, Florida: The Treasure Coast Town Writing Its Next Chapter
Fort Pierce has a way of bringing its stories together: a downtown street shaded by palms, the Indian River Lagoon catching the afternoon light, and the Atlantic just across the way. It’s a place where history isn’t tucked away in a book. It’s part of the landscape, and part of a community still deciding what comes next.
Known as the Sunrise City, Fort Pierce is one of those Historic Places in the USA that rewards a slower look. Come for the water and the warm coastal air, and you’ll find a layered story of American History, local ingenuity, and a working waterfront with big plans ahead.
HISTORY: From army outpost to Treasure Coast town
The story of Fort Pierce begins in 1838, during the Second Seminole War. The U.S. Army established an outpost on the Indian River, named for Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Kendrick Pierce, who commanded the post. He was the older brother of Franklin Pierce, later the 14th president of the United States. The military post was abandoned in 1842, but its name remained. Settlers began arriving in the area in the 1860s, and the town was officially incorporated on February 2, 1901. The City of Fort Pierce’s history page (external link) offers more on the city’s beginnings.
The coastline carries an older story, too. The region’s name, the Treasure Coast, comes from a Spanish treasure fleet lost in a hurricane offshore in 1715. That maritime past feels close when you’re looking out over the water: this coast has long been a meeting place for people, trade, and the unpredictable power of the sea.
Fort Pierce also played an important role in World War II. The U.S. Navy established an amphibious training base here, where servicemen prepared for difficult operations along shorelines. Naval Combat Demolition Units and the underwater demolition teams that followed trained in the area. Those teams helped lay the groundwork for the modern Navy SEALs, which is why Fort Pierce is widely known as their birthplace.
CURRENT: A waterfront in transition
When I look at downtown Fort Pierce right now, I see a waterfront that’s trying to grow without losing its footing. You can feel the ambition, but you can also see the real-world challenges that come with turning big ideas into finished places.
The headline proposal is King’s Landing, a major mixed-use waterfront development whose planned Marriott hotel component is estimated at $65 million. In September 2026, the city commission gave the developer a 180-day extension to secure $15 million in funding. Meanwhile, construction on luxury villas within the development is ongoing. To me, that makes this project feel hopeful but still very much in progress. The extension gives it more time; it isn’t a guarantee that the hotel or the broader plan will be completed.
Another proposed investment is a multi-phase waterfront park and parking garage. Current planning suggests construction could begin in late 2027, though that timing could still move. Fisherman’s Wharf, meanwhile, remains tied up in litigation. Those are real growing pains, and I don’t think it helps to pretend otherwise. Still, I also wouldn’t count Fort Pierce out. The city is working through complicated projects in a public, evolving downtown, and you can feel that the next chapter is still being shaped in real time.
For a feel for the downtown that’s already here, I’d start with a Saturday morning at the Downtown Fort Pierce Farmers’ Market (external link). It runs year-round on the waterfront, with seasonal hours, local vendors, produce, flowers, baked goods, and live music. It’s an easy place to take in the everyday life of the city while supporting the people who make and sell things close to home.
There’s plenty to explore beyond the market. I’d also make time for the National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum (external link), which tells the story of Naval Special Warfare in a way that feels both powerful and personal, and has an obstacle course inspired by the training course in Coronado. Downtown’s A.E. Backus Museum & Gallery (external link) celebrates Florida landscape painting and the Florida Highwaymen. And for a night out, the historic Sunrise Theatre (external link) hosts live performances in the heart of downtown.
For a change of pace, head to Fort Pierce Inlet State Park (external link) for swimming, fishing, hiking, and time by the shore. Heathcote Botanical Gardens (external link) offers a quieter wander among tropical plants. The Manatee Observation and Education Center (external link) connects visitors with the Indian River Lagoon and its wildlife. As of October 9, 2026, the center says it is temporarily closed while refreshing its exhibits, with reopening expected October 27; check its website before planning a visit.
Where the locals eat
Here’s the thing about Fort Pierce: some of the best places in town don’t announce themselves. You could drive right past them a hundred times and never know what you were missing. Two of them are worth a deliberate stop, and if you grew up here, you already know exactly where I mean.
Dixie Cream Donuts is the kind of spot that feels like it’s been part of the neighborhood forever, because it basically has. Dixie Cream traces its roots to a 1929 brand out of Dallas, and the Fort Pierce shop on Orange Avenue has been turning out donuts since 1959. It’s privately owned now, run by Sarah Callis, a Fort Pierce native who started working behind the counter back in 2000 and took over the shop in 2019. That continuity is the whole point. The recipes are scratch-made, the hot glazed donuts come out warm, and the apple fritters have a following all their own. Swing by in the morning and you’ll find a line of regulars who don’t need to look at a menu.
Moonswiners Bar-B-Q is the other one. Tucked along Okeechobee Road, it’s been smoking barbecue the old way since 1981, and it’s earned a loyal, family-and-friends kind of crowd over those decades. This is wood-smoked, take-your-time barbecue: pork sandwiches, house-made sides, and their signature bottled sauces. The corn nuggets and the onion chips are the appetizers regulars order without thinking twice, and they’re every bit as much a part of the draw as the barbecue itself. It’s open Monday through Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., so it works whether you’re grabbing a quick lunch or feeding a crowd. Call ahead at 772-464-6766 if you want to be sure.
Neither of these is a tourist trap, and that’s exactly why they belong here. They’re the places people who live in Fort Pierce actually go, the sort of small, local, American-made-in-the-truest-sense businesses that carry a town’s character long after the trends move on.
FUTURE: Where it’s going, and what’s at stake
Fort Pierce isn’t short on plans. The 2026 Port of Fort Pierce Master Plan update looks at expanding mega-yacht maintenance, repair, and outfitting (work often shortened to MRO), and explores whether the port could support space-launch-vehicle recovery operations. The Kings Highway jobs corridor is another major priority, and an economic study projects it could generate about 21,000 direct jobs and nearly $6 billion in economic output. Those are projections, not finished results, and they’ll depend on practical steps like infrastructure, utilities, investment, and training. Even so, they point to a city trying to turn its maritime know-how and its location into new kinds of work. That’s genuinely energizing. It’s also, for a lot of people here, genuinely unsettling.
Because here’s the part that doesn’t always make the headlines: what has kept this region alive for well over a century is still here, and in many cases still thriving. Citrus remains a foundation of the Treasure Coast, and the University of Florida’s IFAS Indian River Research and Education Center in Fort Pierce is doing serious work to keep it that way. Its Millennium Block project, a 5,000-tree effort, is searching for citrus varieties that can stand up to greening disease. For a crop that has defined this coast for generations, that’s real hope.
Then there’s Adams Ranch, which tells the story better than any statistic can. A family cattle operation founded in 1937, run by four generations of the Adams family with a fifth now growing up on the land, it’s one of the largest cow-calf ranches in the country, and it’s known for developing the heat-tolerant Braford breed. That’s Old Florida and New Florida at the same time.
Indian River State College ties the two worlds together, training local people for the needs of area employers, old and new alike.
So the honest picture of Fort Pierce’s future isn’t a tidy story of out with the old. It’s a balancing act. How much of the character that made this place worth loving can you keep while you grow? How do you bring in new industry without crowding out the farms, the water, and the working waterfront that got you here in the first place? Those questions are already dividing the community, and they’ll shape every project that comes next. Getting that balance right may be the hardest thing this city has ever taken on. It may also be the most important.
That mix of past and possibility is what makes Fort Pierce compelling to me. It’s not a polished story with every detail resolved. It’s a living place: one where a historic downtown, a working port, local agriculture, and community institutions all have a part in what happens next. And as projects move forward, the important question is how growth can serve the people who already call this place home.
At Average Joe, we believe supporting American places means paying attention to the people, local businesses, and makers who give them character. Our clothing mission is to offer customers a choice of American-made apparel sourced from American-made products, and to share good news about the people and places worth celebrating. For more on that mission, visit avgjoe.com (external link). From American History to the next generation of American Made and Sourced Businesses, Fort Pierce is a reminder that the future of our communities is built by people who show up and do the work.