Robert Is Here is a half century old fruit stand in the Redlands, west of Florida City. It's about 1.5 miles west of US-1 at the end of the Florida Turnpike.
When Robert was six years old, his dad put him on a farmland corner with a box of cucumbers to sell. At the end of the day, no cucumbers had been sold. He guessed that nobody could see the boy, so the next morning he put a sign next to Robert stating, "ROBERT IS HERE". The name stuck.
Directions, and more of the story, can be found here:
http://www.robertishere.com Here is the stand. Note the original Austin Mini!
There is a variety of local fruits and vegetables for sale:
What you find will depend upon the season.
I found walls of preserves, jams and fruit butters:
And, I found, Robert is Here:
We talked, and he is a real down-to-earth fellow. He told me there were plans, on hold for now, to build townhouses across the street on farm land. Evidently he is on the "wrong" side of the urban development boundary. He doesn't want to move, though. He said that he has too many regular customers that he has known for years.
Here is what I came for:
The only freshly-prepared food items are milk shakes, and they are famous. There are a variety of fruit flavors. I had a strawberry and key lime. It was thick, creamy and delicious. The key lime provided a tart counterpoint to the sweetness of the ice cream.
They also offer key lime pies, and they will cut up fruit for you to snack on during your travels.
In back, near the table where I took the picture of the shake, there are:
Goats! And other farm animals. Robert was brought up as a farm boy, and somewhere along the line someone convinced him to keep some farm animals on an acre or two in back.
If you are traveling to the Florida Keys, Robert is Here is a five minute detour from the only route south.
