Matheson Hammock Park, Miami

As s background, I have been visiting Matheson Hammock for 20 years, and my wife’s family for 60 years. While it was impacted by storm surge 11 months ago during Hurricane Irma, nearly a year later, it’s never been in a worse state of upkeep than now (in my experience). The bike/walking path the length of the driveway entrance is becoming overgrown with mangroves that should be routinely trimmed (they aren’t), and the pavement is broken up and literally submerged in water in many spots, even in low-tide. The parking lot has several areas that had 1-3 inches of accumulated rain water that was simply standing water, that didn’t seem to be able to drain. The Red Fish Grill has been closed since the storm, and it’s entrances and windows boarded up in haphazard fashion. The original lifeguard stands were seemingly washed away by the storm surge, and in its place are poor facsimiles. Much of the pedestrian path around the lagoon is closed and marked with yellow “caution” tape, and the beach lots worn out. Over the bridge to the marina, the sailing school concession is now long-closed, a victim of the storm according to staff, and the road that took you by car to the southern tip of the Hammock is now closed. Entrance during normal daylight hours is now $7 for a passenger vehicle, but once inside, there are “Pay by Phone” parking signs literally EVERYWHERE, even on grass, insisting that you must pay to park — there were NO disclosures to suggest anything other than you must pay a SECOND time for parking (this time, $7.20), which I dutifully did as my party assured me a ticket would otherwise result. Later, a lifeguard acknowledged that it wasn’t necessary to pay a second time, but also conceded that there was ZERO signage to make such an understanding clear to a visitor, and that Pay by Phone is only enforced after the park entrance attendant has “closed for the day”. That’s a blatant ripoff and I’m sure many visitors feel compelled to pay a second time. Matheson Hammock seems a poor imitation of itself from 5 years ago.

This park is amazing. I have loved going to this park for many years, it is family friendly, quiet and they keep it clean. They can definitely do better with the bathrooms considering in the area that this park is but hey it's a public park and the public does not exactly take good care of what Isn't theirs. With that being said this park is very cool I have seen people do weddings, pictures, and much more.