Under the United States Government Homestead Act of 1862, brothers Robert Toombs Smith and Charley Smith laid claim to 158.79 acres on Mullet Creek in 1887 after discovering the property while searching the Indian River Lagoon shoreline by sailboat for land to homestead. They improved the land by clearing it by hand, building a permanent structure of palmetto cabbage logs with a thatched roof, and planting crops. In 1899, a two-story Florida Cracker “I” house with a wraparound porch on three sides was built on the site. Made from heart pine, with lapboard siding and tongue-and-groove floors, the house rests on coquina pilings, and a separate kitchen structure was attached. More than 15 years later, on March 17, 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt signed the deed to their homestead. Today the property is known as Honest John’s Fish Camp. Honest John Smith, the son of R.T. Smith, and their descendants currently own the homestead. Also on the site are a sugar cane mill, a barn/net house, and a railroad depot used as a packing house for citrus grown on the property.