Photo by Zoohouse, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Deering Estate’s seasonal Historic Ghost Tours continue on select Tuesday and Thursday evenings in October, offering visitors a guided look at the history, and reported paranormal activity, of one of South Florida’s best-known historic sites.
The remaining tours are scheduled for October 20, 22, 27 and 29, from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. The experience will take place at the Richmond Cottage, not the Stone House, which is closed for restoration. Tickets cost $45 per person and must be purchased online through Miami-Dade County Park Link.
The tours blend local history with stories of supernatural encounters reported by visitors and staff. They are recommended for ages 9 and up, and the county says paranormal investigation equipment (including EMF meters, pendulums, dowsing rods and cameras) is welcome.
Why the tour is at the Richmond Cottage
The change in venue is practical: the Stone House is unavailable while restoration work is underway. Instead, guests gather at the Richmond Cottage, an 1896 frame-vernacular building with a history that predates its place on Charles Deering’s estate.
The cottage was originally opened as an inn, part of the story guides use to introduce the site and its former inhabitants. Its age and layered past provide a fitting setting for an October program that links the estate’s documented history with reports of unexplained activity. The tour presents those accounts as reported experiences, rather than promising a paranormal encounter.
The Richmond Inn and surrounding grounds after renovation. Image from the University of Miami Libraries’ Charles Deering Collection.
The Richmond Cottage is part of the Deering Estate, a Miami-Dade County Heritage Park and National Register-listed landmark at 16701 SW 72 Avenue in Miami. The estate’s history and landscape are tied to the wider South Florida region, where the coastal environment and the Everglades are central to understanding the area’s natural and cultural heritage.
What visitors should expect
The two-hour program is guided. According to Miami-Dade County’s announcement, guides discuss historic events, former residents and paranormal activity reported by visitors and staff. The tour also draws on the stories of Indigenous people, early settlers and Charles Deering, connecting the evening’s ghost-tour theme with the people who shaped the site.
Visitors are welcome to bring equipment commonly used in paranormal investigations. That invitation does not change the tour’s focus: guides supply the historical context, while equipment is optional for guests who want to use it.
A few details to know before booking:
- Dates: October 20, 22, 27 and 29, 2026
- Time: 7:30–9:30 p.m.
- Location: Richmond Cottage, Deering Estate, 16701 SW 72 Avenue, Miami
- Price: $45 per person
- Recommended age: 9 and up
- Tickets: Purchase online through Miami-Dade County Park Link
The county says space is limited, so prospective attendees should check availability through the ticketing page. Since the Stone House is closed for restoration, guests should follow event instructions and plan to meet at the Richmond Cottage.
October’s cultural calendar offers other options
For Tuesday, October 20, the Toomai String Quintet is scheduled to perform a Latin American chamber program at Vizcaya Museum & Gardens. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., with the event listed from 6:30 to 9 p.m. The concert provides a different kind of evening in a historic Miami setting; its timing overlaps with the start of the ghost tour, so visitors will need to choose between the two. Later in the week, Ballet Palm Beach brings Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein to the Kravis Center’s Marshall E. Rinker, Sr. Playhouse in West Palm Beach, October 22–24. The Kravis Center schedule lists performances Thursday and Friday at 7 p.m., and Saturday at 2 and 7 p.m.
Toomai String Quintet performs at Vizcaya on October 20. Event details at Vizcaya Museum & Gardens.
Ballet Palm Beach’s Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is scheduled at the Kravis Center October 22–24. See the official performance listing for ticket availability and details.
Together, the events reflect the range of seasonal programming across the region: a history-focused evening in a county heritage park, chamber music at Vizcaya and a literary adaptation on the ballet stage. For readers planning an October outing, the Deering Estate tour offers a chance to explore a historic building while learning how local stories and reported paranormal experiences have become part of its public reputation.
More local culture coverage is available in South Florida Digest’s Arts & Entertainment section.
