Crossing Bow Channel, the old road was to the right (headed south) of the railroad. On Sugarloaf Key, the old road crossed the railroad and headed south. You can make a left on this road today, but it will take you only to the KOA Kampground and shortly after that the road is gated off and you can not go any further. The old road followed the east side of the island, curved to the west, then followed the southern shore of Sugarloaf all the way to its western edge.
Directly across the street from the turnoff to the old road is Mangrove Mama's. Mangrove Mama's is another watering hole worth stopping at on your way down the road. At night they have live music.
The map above shows the path of the current road and the old road (in red). There was little population and no development on Sugarloaf until 1910 when the Chase family founded the Florida Keys Sponge Factory in the area of the present day Sugarloaf Lodge at MM 17. A small town of around 50 people spring up and was named Chase. A post office was built, and when the railroad opened in 1912, it included a stop at the town of Chase. But the sponging business did not work out so well, and by 1920 the factory was bankrupt and the Chase family had sold their property to Richter Clyde Perky.
Perky was a tourism visionary, and his vision of Sugarloaf Key was not one of industry, but one of tourism. Perky envisioned a luxurious hotel, casino and resort here. In 1928, the road arrived and Perky had a road constructed from what remained of the town of Chase down to the road along the southern shore. This road still exists as Sugarloaf Boulevard and passes through the highly-developed community of Sugarloaf Shores. The town of Chase, the post office, and the railroad depot were all renamed "Perky".
The major obstacle to Perky's success were the ever-present hoardes of hungry mosquitoes. As one resident of the time supposedly said "you could swing a pint cup and come up with a quart of mosquitoes." Meanwhile, Perky had read of a Dr. Charles Campbell of Texas who had allegedly had success controlling mosquitoes by building towers to house bats, which, in turn, were supposed to devour the mosquitoes. Perky baited the tower with a secret formula of bat-bait from Dr. Campbell, which was almost certainly nothing more than bat shit. Nevertheless, the bats are not there, and there is no evidence that they ever were. Perky ended up building a lodge anyway, but it burned along with most of the town of Perky in 1943.
The bat tower is one of the most peculiar sights in an already pretty peculiar area. It is located very close to the main road and is only a short detour off the path. To get there, make a right just past MM 17, past the modern-day Sugarloaf Lodge. There is (as of 2011 at least) a sign at the turn-off for the Sugarloaf Airport advertising flight-seeing tours. After turning off Route 1, stay to the left at the first fork, then stay to the right at the second fork. You can not miss the bat tower dead ahead of you.
No comments:
Post a Comment