Founding
Cape Haze
Marine Laboratory

Having read Lady with a Spear, Anne and William H. Vanderbilt invited Genie to Florida to give a lecture. The Vanderbilts were intrigued by the lab in Egypt where Genie had studied and asked if she would be interested in opening such a lab in Florida. They tasked her with a simple goal: “Start a place where people can learn more about the sea.” And so the Cape Haze Marine Laboratory was born.

Cape Haze Marine Laboratory, which would later be renamed Mote Marine Laboratory, began as a 12’ x 20’ (3.5m x 6m) wooden building with a sink, shelves for specimens, and a dock out back into the bay. The size of the lab doubled within the first year, and tripled by year two. Community members loved being able to learn about their local marine environment, and school groups visited the lab regularly.