The sand ridge that forms west Hobe Sound has been part of the north-south travel path for centuries. In modern times, US-1 was built on the ridge. This corner marks the intersection of US-1 with the narrowest part of the intracoastal waterway in the area. Bridge Road covers the gap between island and mainland over the narrow. In the late 30's and early 40's the convergence of the two natural paths seemed a prime location for a cafe, motel and gas pumps.
Built of native tidewater pecky cypress (cut from Kitchen Creek and milled locally), The Cypress Cabins and Restaurant opened December 7th, 1941 - not an auspicious day for opening a business catering to tourists. Hobe Sound proper had been developed two decades earlier at the Olympia stop on the Celestial Railroad. Hobe Sound boasted a four block downtown fronting the tracks, a winter population on Jupiter Island, and a community of service workers living in Hobe Sound, Gomez and Banner Lake. Things soon changed as Camp Murphy opened in the Jonathan Dickinson State Park. Camp Murphy housed troops training for jungle warfare. The Coast Guard had a rescue barracks on the beach a quarter mile north of Bridge Road. With little entertainment in Hobe Sound, the Rock-ola in the southwest corner lured ranchers, soldiers, and sailors to adopt this place as home.