Ginger Seabrook grew up walking the same Coconut Grove streets her great-great-grandfather, Commodore Ralph Munroe, who settled there in the 1880s. Now the 18-year-old Ransom Everglades graduate has turned that family legacy into a tool any neighbor can use: a smartphone app called Coconut Grove Roots and a 21-page training manual for walking-tour guides along the Commodore Trail.
The project earned Seabrook a Girl Scout Gold Award, the organization's highest honor. She was one of 11 Gold Award winners across Miami and the Florida Keys, Girl Scouts of Tropical Florida announced July 23.
Seabrook partnered with Friends of the Commodore Trail, the nonprofit co-founded by her mother, Mary Munroe Seabrook, to build a guided walking tour covering 14 historic sites along the five-mile path. The trail runs from the Rickenbacker Causeway along South Bayshore Drive, past 11 parks and eight schools, through the Grove's business district, and continues along Main Highway and Douglas Road to Cocoplum Circle in Coral Gables.
The companion app goes further, highlighting nearly 40 historic locations for self-guided exploration. Seabrook contributed to its development but was not its sole creator, according to the Coconut Grove Spotlight, which first reported the story. Details on downloading the app are available through Friends of the Commodore Trail.
A research trail with few digital shortcuts
"The hardest part was finding the information because so much of it wasn't online," Seabrook told the Coconut Grove Spotlight. "I relied on historians, archives and people in the community who knew the history."
She consulted local historian Iris Kolaya, a trail leader with Friends of the Commodore Trail, and spent hours at the University of Miami's archival collections studying historic maps, photographs and documents unavailable digitally.
The research yielded a personal surprise. Seabrook's family had long believed writer and conservationist Kirk Munroe, another early Grove settler, was unrelated to them. Archival records proved otherwise.
A project born from fear of losing history
Seabrook said the project was motivated partly by what preservationists call "demolition by neglect," where historic buildings deteriorate after years of limited maintenance. She pointed to the Coconut Grove Playhouse, which opened in 1927, closed in 2006 and saw roughly 80% of its structure demolished in April 2025 despite public opposition, according to The Art Newspaper. She also cited Miami's first schoolhouse, built in 1887 by pioneer Charles Peacock and located on the grounds of Plymouth Congregational Church at 3429 Devon Road.
Her ancestor's home, The Barnacle, built in 1891 at 3485 Main Highway, is the oldest house in its original location in Miami-Dade County and is now a Florida State Park. Seabrook's grandfather, Charlie Munroe, grew up there.
Walking the five-mile trail on your own
No upcoming guided-tour dates have been announced, but residents can walk the Commodore Trail on their own using the app's map of nearly 40 sites. The trail starts at the Rickenbacker Causeway and ends at Cocoplum Circle, with The Barnacle, the Playhouse site and Plymouth Congregational Church among the stops.
Chelsea Wilkerson, CEO of Girl Scouts of Tropical Florida, said Seabrook "saw an opportunity to protect and share the story of a local treasure and she ran with it."
