Upper Matecumbe Key

69 days to go until we're back in the Keys!

The area around Islamorada is rich with history, and two of the bloodiest events in the history of the Keys happened right here on or around the Matecumbes.  This is one of my favorite parts of the island chain.

Lower Matecumbe Key had freshwater wells, and because of that, this part of the Keys was always of interest to transient seafarers.  The Spanish were exploring this area as early as the 1500's.  There is evidence of Indian populations even older than that.  By the 1820's, Indian Key, just south and east of Upper Matecumbe, was not only prospering, but was establishing itself as the seat of Dade County.  By the 1840's, it was all gone, however (more on that later).

By 1909, the railroad had reached the area, but there was little development or change. It wasn't until the highway arrived in 1928 that change would come.  Tourists now had easy access by car from Miami and south Florida to the great fishing, but all that was about to change.

The morning of September 1, 1935 started like any other morning in the Upper Keys.  There were no radar or advanced forecasting at the time.  On that day, residents got their first warning that a storm was on its way and might cross their paths.  On the night of Sunday the 1st, the storm crossed the Bahamas as a relatively small category I hurricane.  Over the next 24 hours, though, the storm exploded in strength until it became the strongest storm ever recorded, and approached the Upper Keys on Labor Day, September 2, 1935, with almost no warning of how strong it had become.

Track of the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 (NOAA)

At the time, a "bonus army" of World War I veterans were working in the Matecumbes on the Overseas Highway.  The veterans lived in work camps and fortunately, there were not many other full time residents at the time.  Late in the afternoon on the 2nd, the Florida East Coast Railroad dispatched a rescue train from Miami to evacuate the veterans and local families to higher ground.  However, it was Labor Day and manpower was short.  More time was lost as the train was turned around in Homestead to "back down" the Keys to allow for quicker return.  The train was now racing the hurricane to the Upper Keys.

By 5:30 that night, hurricane force winds were already battering Islamorada and the train was still working it's way down, stopping along the way to pick up anyone and everyone trying to flee the storm.  By 8:30, the train arrived at Upper Matecumbe at the same time the storm's fury started to peak.  Legend has it that the clocks in Islamorada stopped at 8:30 that night.  With winds as high as 200mph, the train was blown right off the tracks, except for the locomotive. Miles and miles of track was destroyed.  The highway was destroyed.  Parts of the Matecumbes were stripped down to bare coral.

More than 400 bodies were recovered after the storm, and countless others were swept to sea.  Those that survived did so by floating in houses or taking shelter in fixed structures like cisterns, and even in the locomotive itself.  With no means of getting into and out of the Keys to transport the bodies, they were burned in four large fires over the next several days, and today their ashes remain in the Hurricane Monument.

The Hurricane Monument stands just Oceanside of the highway right around MM 82.  It is worth the stop to take a look.  The monument sits atop a mass grave containing the ashes of the 400+ bodies burned in 1935.

In the aftermath of the storm, the railroad never rebuilt.  The right-of-way fell into receivership and was purchased by the state for $640,000.  The state used the railroad bed and many of the bridges to complete the missing links in the Overseas Highway.  Most of the bridges still stand to this day and are visible parallel to the newer, more modern bridges that now carry the highway.

Two miles below the monument, you'll cross the Tea Table Relief bridge (#6) and leave Upper Matecumbe Key for Tea Table Key and the "outlying" islands of Islamorada.