Old Cutler Road: Historic and Scenic Coral Gables

Considered by many to be one of the most picturesque byways in Florida, Old Cutler Road is shaded by ancient fig trees and runs south of downtown Miami. The road branches off into many of those private areas known for their prime Coral Gables real estate. These leafy enclaves embrace both waterfront and non-waterfront residences and they include: Cocoplum, Gables Estates, Journey’s End, Hammock Lakes, Hammock Oaks, Old Cutler Bay, Snapper Creek Lakes, Girasol, Cutler Oak Estates and the Golden Triangle.

Old Cutler Road is lush and beautiful and brimming with Old World charm. The finest public and private schools are easily accessed from this road as well as the villages of Coconut Grove, Coral Gables, South Miami and Pinecrest and Matheson Hammock Beach and Park. For those who own Coral Gables real estate and can claim Hammock Lakes as their backyard, boating pleasures are both unique and sublime. Only kayaks and canoes are permitted and the turtles, of course.

Old Cutler Bay and Old Cutler Road have a colorful and notable past, dating back to the 1870s when Dr. William C. Cutler, a leading practitioner of medicine and surgery in Chelsea, Massachusetts, visited the area and fell in love with it. Known as the Big Hunting Grounds to the native-Americans living in South Florida, Cutler bought a 600-acre tract of land for $1.25 per acre and wanted to establish a fruit and vegetable plantation.

Old Cutler Road covers an area of 9.7 square miles. In 1882, a friend of Dr. Cutler, Mr. Wiliam Fuzzard, explored the area and enamored with Coral Gables real estate, returned the following year and built a home for himself. It was Fuzzard who cut a path through the wilderness, which widened into a wagon trail that marked the beginning of what is now known as Old Cutler Road. It ran north from his home and then eastwards into what is today Coral Reef Drive. This early path was declared a public road in 1895. 

The land around the road wasn’t developed as an organized community until 1954 when the first housing development went up under the auspices of a man named Blumberg; the Cutler Ridge Mall opened in 1960. Street names in Cutler Ridge derive from holidays and different ports of call visited by Blumberg when he was a sailor in the US Navy.

Some of the newer homes built along the Old Cutler Corridor can be found on Destacada Avenue. The homes are lovely and provide many modern amenities desired by those seeking to buy Coral Gables real estate. A tennis court sits at the entrance to this particular sub-division. 

Other quiet enclaves in the proximity of Old Cutler Road include: luxurious Journey’s End, boater’s paradise, Old Cutler Bay, beautiful Girasol, Snapper Creek Lakes, Gables Estates, Cocoplum and Tahiti Beach. 

Come visit Old Cutler Road. You may not be interested in the road back.