In the quiet coastal stretch of Florida known today as Hobe Sound, the rhythm of the past is never far from the surface. Sea oats bend in the Atlantic breeze, the Indian River Lagoon lies glassy and still to the west, and the landscape feels only lightly touched by time. Long before roads, railways, or winter estates, this was a place defined by water, wind, and the people who knew how to live with both. The First Inhabitants: The Ais and the Coastal World The earliest known inhabitants of this region were the Ais Indians, a coastal people who lived along what is now called the Indian River Lagoon. Unlike…