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Cape Canaveral is a funky little seaside town just north of Cocoa Beach. Bordered to the north by Port Canaveral (see it through the webcam), Port Canaveral is home port to Carnival Cruise Lines, Disney Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean International, & Norwegian Cruise Lines.
The little city is a mix of old and new, income levels range from high to low, with housing to match. Not-so-high-rise condos (city ordinances limit height to 45 feet), 1960’s-style concrete block apartment complexes, and single family homes sit side-by-side, shaded by ancient oaks contoured by the easterly ocean breezes, and several varieties of palms and flowering trees.
An interesting, but little known story about Cape Canaveral that illustrates the 10th Amendment in action:
From 1963 to 1973, the area was re-named Cape Kennedy. President John F. Kennedy set the goal of landing on the moon. After his assassination in 1963, his widow, Jacqueline Kennedy, suggested to President Lyndon Johnson that renaming the Cape Canaveral facility would be an appropriate memorial. Johnson recommended the renaming of the entire cape. Accordingly, Cape Canaveral was renamed Cape Kennedy.
Although the name change was approved by the United States Board on Geographic Names of the Interior Department in 1964, it was NOT popular in Florida, especially in the city of Cape Canaveral.
In 1973 the Florida Legislature passed a law restoring the former 400-year-old name, and the Board went along. The Kennedy family issued a letter stating they “understood the decision”; Jacqueline Kennedy also stated if she had known that the Canaveral name had existed for 400 years, she never would have supported changing the name. NASA’s Kennedy Space Center retains the “Kennedy” name.
This afternoon I walked to the Veterans Memorial Park adjacent to the Cape Canaveral public library before heading east to the beach two blocks away. The temperature was around 65 under bright sunshine and virtually no humidity. A perfect day for a Saturday in the park. Or a walk on the beach where a Carnival cruise ship was setting sail for the Bahamas. Disney’s Cruise Ship would soon follow behind, blowing its ship’s horn which sounds the opening notes of “When You Wish Upon a Star”. How cool is that? Appropriate, considering this is where we shoot rockets into the celestial heavens.
