The Pagoda was a lesbian residential community and cultural center on the beach near St. Augustine, Florida, from 1977 to 1999. Rose Norman interviewed founders, residents, and guests for the story of how it came to be and how it lasted so long.

Martine Giguère looking cool in 1985, at the New England Women’s Musical Retreat. Photo by Beth Karbe

Martine’s Pagoda memories: the ocean, carpentry, and collaboration with lesbians there, which “got me on my feet and gave a direction to my life.” 

Mindy Dyke sought out the dykes when she moved from the Bronx to Miami when she was twenty-two, and did she ever find them!

Gerry Green by Deborah W-B

Gerry Green cofounded a feminist counseling service and established Amelia’s, a feminist bookstore, both in Gainesville, Florida, in the 1970s.