![]() Soon, its Coast Guardsmen would protect American cargo ships from German U-boats off Florida during World War II. In the 1930s, the Coast Guard station was built. To visit the bunker, about 200 tourists a week take a short boat ride to manmade Peanut Island, named for an aborted attempt to use it to ship peanut oil almost a century ago. He said the $500,000 would have been "a drop in the bucket" compared to the millions in repairs he says the site needs and the museum has failed to make. He said the museum's board is in disarray, citing lawsuits members have filed against each other. Greg Picken, the port commission's lawyer, said the port has no intention of razing the bunker or Coast Guard buildings, but hopes to find a better caretaker when the museum's lease expires. "They have been trying to kick us off for 20 years by starving us of money," Miller said. He says the port wants to tear down the facility, citing communications he says the museum has had with the commission. The maritime museum's lease ($100 a year, plus 4 percent of gross sales) ends next year. The site's $200,000 annual maintenance budget is barely covered by admissions and donations, he said. The county limited the number of weddings that can be performed at the picturesque Coast Guard boat house to three per year, down from 30, and banned the construction of a restaurant. He said the commission thwarted a $500,000 grant last year. The once top-secret fallout shelter, code name "Hotel," and the retired Coast Guard station on Peanut Island are now a tourist attraction and the focal point of a long-running legal war between the Port of Palm Beach, which owns the island, and Palm Beach Maritime Museum, which leases the attraction.Īnthony Miller, who operates the site for the museum, said the port's commission and Palm Beach County have blocked attempts to make the attraction financially stable. Kennedy would have been put if World War II erupted while he was in Florida may be shuttered. (CBSMiami/AP) - The bunker where President John F. ![]()
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