Ted Moorhead Lagoon House — Palm Bay, Florida

The Ted Moorhead Lagoon House is a city-owned welcome center at 3275 Dixie Highway (US 1) in Palm Bay, run by the Marine Resources Council as the front door to the Indian River Lagoon National Scenic Byway.

The City of Palm Bay recreation page describes the building as the welcome center for the Indian River Lagoon National Scenic Byway and says it is owned by the City of Palm Bay and run by the Marine Resources Council (City of Palm Bay). The grounds hold a mangrove nursery, native rain gardens and a short trail with lagoon overlooks. The city lists five amenities at the Palm Bay site: river frontage, an education center, a fishing pier or area, a meeting room and restrooms.

Hours are short and the same six days a week. The Lagoon House is open Monday through Saturday from 9 AM to 1 PM, and the city points questions to the Marine Resources Council at (321) 725-7775 (City of Palm Bay). The council gives the same schedule and tells visitors to enter through the gate at the north end of the campus just east of US1 (Marine Resources Council). There is no admission fee listed on either the Palm Bay page or the council page.

In Palm Bay's own facilities inventory the Lagoon House is filed as a Parks & Rec facility at 3275 Dixie Highway (US1), not as a park (City of Palm Bay facilities list). The same list places Stearns Point Park at 4295 Dixie Highway (US1) and Castaways Point Park at 2990 Bay Boulevard NE.

The Lagoon House is the Palm Bay welcome center for the Indian River Lagoon National Scenic Byway, a Florida Scenic Highway listed at 233 miles that follows US 1 and A1A.

The Florida Department of Transportation's Florida Scenic Highways Program lists the byway at 233 miles, designated June 13, 2000, with national designation in 2002, in FDOT Districts 4 and 5 (Florida Scenic Highways Program). The program page describes the route as two roadways, A1A and US 1, with several causeways linking them, and names Melbourne and Sebastian among its US 1 towns. The Lagoon House sits on that US 1 leg, on Dixie Highway in Palm Bay.

A byway coalition presentation posted on the Florida Scenic Highways Program site in April 2026 gives rounder numbers: a byway of 200+ miles in Volusia, Brevard and Indian River counties, passing through more than 15 municipalities (byway coalition presentation). The city recreation page names the Palm Bay Lagoon House as the byway's welcome center.

Federal byway directions start at Ais Lookout Point in Palm Bay. The Recreation.gov listing, which says the byway is managed by the Department of Transportation, begins its route description from Palm Bay, at the Ais Lookout Point, then sends travelers south on US-1 to Sebastian, east on the Wabasso Causeway to State Route A1A, and north toward the Sebastian Inlet State Recreational Area (Recreation.gov).

Ted Moorhead, a Marine Resources Council founding member and Chairman of the Florida Inland Navigation District, led the 1999 push for the scenic highway and first proposed a learning center on the Palm Bay bluff in 1998.

The byway coalition's account says the idea began in 1998, when Moorhead learned of plans for a retention pond at the Palm Bay site and judged the bluff overlooking the lagoon an ideal place for an environmental learning center (Indian River Lagoon National Scenic Byway). A working group met on April 14, 1999, and organized a scenic highway corridor advocacy group under Marine Resources Council sponsorship. The coalition's 2012 board manual names Moorhead as the leader of that effort and lists his roles as a founding member of the Marine Resources Council and Chairman of the Florida Inland Navigation District (byway coalition manual, page 5).

Designation came fast. The Florida Department of Transportation designated the Indian River Lagoon Scenic Highway on June 13, 2000, and the 2012 manual dates federal National Scenic Byway recognition to 2002 (byway coalition manual). The same manual credits the coalition, working with the Marine Resources Council, FDOT and the City of Palm Bay, with building the Lagoon House Environmental Learning Center and byway welcome center, and with park and pedway projects in the City of Palm Bay.

Most of the money came from the National Scenic Byways Program. The Palm Bay City Council approved grant applications for the building, and construction was paid for with $100,000 from the Florida Inland Navigation District, $800,000 from the National Scenic Byways Program and $100,000 from FDOT (Indian River Lagoon National Scenic Byway). A further $97,000 from the estate of the site's original owners, from when the site was a motel, helped furnish the building. The Lagoon House opened formally to the public on April 2, 2005, with displays on the history of the Indian River Lagoon National Scenic Byway region.

The Marine Resources Council uses the Palm Bay Lagoon House as its headquarters and runs monthly volunteer workdays and monthly Lagoon at Noon education programs from the building and its 11-acre campus.

The council's Lagoon House page lists monthly mangrove, concrete creation and litter patrol volunteer events, plus monthly Lagoon at Noon education programs (Marine Resources Council). It also describes the Palm Bay building as a location for civic, non-profit, educational and other community-oriented special events, and as the headquarters of the Marine Resources Council. Inquiries go to 321.725.7775 or council@mrcirl.org.

The campus is used as a teaching example. The council describes the Lagoon House as an environmental learning center and visitor center, and as a showcase of low-impact living and development and of living shoreline stabilization and restoration techniques (Marine Resources Council). The council identifies itself as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that has worked to protect and restore the Indian River Lagoon since 1983, from the 3275 Dixie Hwy NE address in Palm Bay.

The City of Palm Bay treats the council as a partner in its own lagoon work. In his April 2024 message, Mayor Rob Medina wrote that he spoke at a Marine Resources Council celebration for the Ted Moorhead Lagoon House and that the MRC and the City are proud to be partners in improving Indian River Lagoon water quality (April 2024 Mayor's Message). The same message cites the installation of seven nutrient-separating baffle boxes in northeast Palm Bay.

Palm Bay owns the Lagoon House, and its Parks & Facilities capital plan carries a $38,165 Lagoon House Shoreline project funded from the General Fund.

The City of Palm Bay five-year capital improvement plan for FY 2025 to 2029 lists project 24PK28, Lagoon House Shoreline, under Parks & Facilities, in priority category 2, Asset Preservation or Replacement, funded from General Fund 001, with $38,165 shown in the 2024 and prior column (Palm Bay CIP FY 2025-2029, page 4).

On the city's own page, day-to-day contact for the Palm Bay building runs through the council. The Palm Bay recreation page names the Marine Resources Council as the party that runs the building and gives the council's number, not a city desk, for information (City of Palm Bay). The general city contact on the same page is 120 Malabar Road, (321) 952-3400, which the city facilities list identifies as City Hall & Council Chambers (City of Palm Bay facilities list).

Last verified: October 12, 2026, on the City of Palm Bay and Marine Resources Council websites.