Person:Henry Wardwell (10)

"In 1947, the Atlantic Ocean met the Indian River - Amateur photographer Henry Wardwell had been helping workers lug explosives through the sand all day. Then his friend, Roy Couch of Grant, turned to him and asked, "Would you like to punch the plunger?" Wardwell, now 88, pauses and grins. "I said, 'I sure would,' " he said. "The year was 1947 and that's how we reopened the Sebastian Inlet." Living a stone's throw north of the inlet for the past 29 years, Wardwell and his wife, Dorothy, 84, of Melbourne Beach, have been part of history and have seen many changes at the channel where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Indian River. "This is our favorite place in the world," Mrs. Wardwell said of her oceanfront home. "We bought here when the lots were cheap." Wardwell said he paid $22,000 in 1972 for his 100-foot by 300-foot lot. "This (State Road A1A) was a dirt road leading to the inlet," he said. "There was no traffic, no buildings and only one store. We were the last sign of civilization." In September 1947, the Wardwells lived on Lincoln Avenue in Melbourne. After marrying in 1943, the couple went to Chicago where he worked in a foundry. At age 35, he retired and moved back to Melbourne to find engineers using state and Brevard County funds to reopen the inlet. The opening originally was made in 1923 with mules, shovels and crude dredges. "We used to have parties and serve oysters from the river - oh, the oysters - they were beautiful," Wardwell said. "Roy Couch was a friend of my wife's father and he'd come to the parties. He was interested in opening the inlet to improve fishing in the area." Because he knew Couch, Wardwell was allowed to photograph the blast. To get over to the island, Wardwell drove his 1934 V-8 Ford across a wooden bridge in Melbourne, where the Melbourne Causeway stands today. Once on the barrier island, "it was every man for himself," he said with a laugh. "There were sand drifts, plenty of rattlesnakes and bear." Mrs. Wardwell said, "You didn't drive that road unless you knew how to get yourself unstuck." Once Wardwell managed to follow the dirt road to where the engineers were working, he said he saw a dredge boat in the Indian River. "It dug as close to the ocean as the captain dared," he said. Bulldozers loaned by county ranchers trenched the neck of land before Couch placed the explosives in the sand. That's when he asked Wardwell if he wanted to push the dynamite plunger. Wardwell said he didn't think much at the time about making history. "I was thinking about making noise," he said. "The dredge-boat captain wouldn't get anywhere near there." Wardwell stood about 300 feet from the blast, continually shooting black and white pictures of the event with his trusty camera, he said. "It wasn't so loud," he said. "It threw up a lot of dirt and it went way up in the air." Then the men shoveled out the last barrier between the Indian River and the Atlantic Ocean. Wardwell said the tide did the rest. Sebastian Inlet District Administrator Ray LeRoux said the 1947 explosion made the channel quite deep and such a blast would not be permitted by today's standards. "Before the blast, the rock reef was only 4 to 6 feet under water level," he said. "It took it down a level." The re-established channel was located along a more westerly direction - more toward Grant than today's channel - with a depth of 8 feet and a width of 100 feet, according to Sebastian Inlet Tax District records. Wardwell said it seemed more like 200 feet to him. The inlet has remained open continually ever since. Since that big day, the Wardwells said they haven't paid much attention to the politics of the inlet, only the recreational aspects. "We've enjoyed taking the children and grandchildren there," Mrs. Wardwell said. "It's a great place for kids." -Press Journal (Vero Beach, FL) March 4, 2001

Henry Wardwell II, 89, passed away Saturday, Sept. 14, 2002 surrounded by his loving family. He was sent on his journey with heartfelt laughter and memories that we know would make him smile. He was a very proud dignified man who loved his family, friends and a very large extended family including his beloved pets. Henry was a man of many talents. Born in Chicago in 1912, he was a Lt. Commander in the United States Navy as a Naval Aviator. President of Burnside Steel Foundry in Chicago, pilot, poet, acclaimed treasure hunter, inventor and avid outdoors man. One of his many great accomplishments was being present and pressing the plunger for the blasting open of the Sebastian Inlet in 1947. Henry is survived by his wife of 59 years, Dorothy; son, Henry (Diana) Wardwell III; daughters, Susan (Jack) Rossate, Mary Jane (Dan) Eigel and Catherine (George) Kitz; grandchildren, Sarah, Mary Jane, John, Maggie, Jamie, Catherine, Jessie and Paul; and an assortment of loved pets. Interment will be Saturday, Sept. 28 in North Chatham, NH. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to your local animal shelter. Published in the Chicago Tribune on 9/17/2002.

Henry Wardwell II, 89, a former president of Burnside Steel Foundry in Chicago who had retired in Florida, died of a heart attack Saturday, Sept. 14, in a Florida hospital. Born and raised in Chicago, Mr. Wardwell followed his father into the foundry business, but his passions were hunting, fishing and other outdoor pursuits. In 1979 he moved with his wife, Dorothy, to Florida, where they lived when they first married. Most mornings he could be found on the beach with a metal detector searching for buried gold and silver coins from shipwrecked Spanish ships. His collection included 500 coins, said his daughter Catherine Kitz. Mr. Wardwell was known for his creative pursuits, including long poems he dedicated to his wife and four children, and a homemade shark-fishing boat that he equipped with an alarm. "We'd watch him row out with bait and a big hook, and when he got a shark, a bell would go off in the house," said his daughter. He met his future wife during a summer visit to Chatham, N.H., when he was 5. They continued to meet over two decades and married in 1942. After graduating from the Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston, Mr. Wardwell enlisted in the Navy during World War II and delivered aircraft to naval bases worldwide. Besides his wife and daughter, survivors include a son, Henry III; two other daughters, Susan Rossate and Mary Jane Eigel; and eight grandchildren. Services will be held Sept. 28 in New Hampshire. Chicago Tribune 18 September 2002

1. ↑ Social Security Death Index.

   Chicago Tribune 17 September 2002

2. ↑ Social Security Death Index.
3. ↑ Chicago Tribune 17 September 2002.