On March 19, 1875, William H. Hunt of Dade County granted the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury a lien of 20 years for the piece of land at Saint Lucie Rocks known as Gilbert's Bar as a site for a house of refuge on the sea coast.

Crews of surfmen are not needed here, but the keepers and members of their families are required to go along the beach, in both directions, in search of castaways immediately after a storm.

On October 17, during the same storm the Spanish ship Cosme Calzado wrecked three miles north of the Georges Valentine, but fifteen of the sixteen men survived.

Four other men were stationed at the house, and during World War I the post of five was supplemented by local youths belonging to the Home Guard.

Areas available for public viewing are the boathouse, kitchen, dining room, parlor, bedroom and a lookout tower constructed during World War II.