Generations of the Knight family were honored at the 16th annual Indian River County Pioneer Family Recognition Dinner last Saturday evening at Vero’s historic Heritage Center. The annual event is a fundraiser for Vero Heritage Inc. which maintains the landmark building. Built in 1935, the Heritage Center and its adjacent Indian River Citrus Museum have been the center of many community events through the decades.
Roughly 50 members of the extended Knight family were in attendance, along with another 150 guests who came to honor the family at the dinner, catered by Adrienne Drew. Many were old friends whose ancestry was intertwined through either marriage or lasting friendships.
“I am overwhelmed,” said Wanda Knight, widow of D. Victor Knight Sr., who co-founded Riverfront Groves with his brother Reed Knight.
“It’s just amazing, and we know everyone here so it is just so special,” said her daughter, Paula Hindert. “It truly is an honor to be recognized as one of the county’s founding families.”
Guests were anxious to watch a presentation put together by Reed Knight, which was played on four new flat-screen monitors spread throughout the room, enabling guests to watch no matter where they were seated.
“Reed delved deep and went back all the way to the 1300s, so I can’t wait to see what he has found,” said Wanda Knight.
John Knight moved to town from Jasper, FL, in 1911, hoping to get away from seven generations of farmers and find a career in something new and exciting. Like a lot of men he had heard there was big money to be made here, and he wanted to make his own fortune. He and wife Burma, whom he met in Vero, had seven children.
Knight soon recognized that the fertile soil lying beneath much of the swamp land out west of town was far too valuable to ignore. After initially trying his hand at pineapples and tomatoes, as well as a lumber sawmill and grocery, he eventually established an extensive citrus empire; a legacy continued by future generations.
Knight was one of the original founders of Indian River Farms, a development company which worked to sell thousands of acres in the county. He also helped plot out State Road 60 straight across the state, to bring more people to the area and to help move the citrus fruit more efficiently. At one time he personally owned 3,000 acres of citrus groves and another 3,000 acres for cattle.
“He was so knowledgeable in the muck and the soil and knew so much about which land was good that he was the man people went to when they wanted to find property,” said grandson Reed Knight Jr.
“He may have started at citrus, but I think his greatest asset to this town was that that he brought the farming technology to this area. And even though citrus has passed a bit now, he and his children and grandchildren have put a lot of people to work here.”
The Pioneer Dinners were established to honor local families who relocated to the area before the 1920s, and to assist in the conservation and preservation of the Heritage Center and Citrus Museum.
“What a great concept,” said Real Estate broker Buzz MacWilliam, whose family was honored at an earlier Pioneer Dinner. “A fundraiser celebrating heritage which also helps to keep a building alive that we have all grown up around, and celebrates the town’s heritage as well.”